Newcastle to Portsmouth return journey £1.16!

Poppy64

OH and I went to Yorkshire for August BH weekend for a family do, (we live on the South coast) and decided to take our caravan. We have always wanted to explore that part of the country, and it seemed the ideal opportunity to make a proper holiday of it.

The only obstacle in our way was that I had an important appointment near Portsmouth in the second week of September. It would have been a shame to change our plans and miss seeing the beauties of the Yorkshire/Northumberland countryside, but this appointment was something that could not be missed or amended.

I looked into how to get back to Hampshire independently.

Flying Newcastle to Southampton was a possible, at £90 return. However, the flight timings at this price didn't fit in with train times, and flights that would enable me to travel closer to home by public transport were around £150.
Train? £167 return. That is a lot of money!!
National Express? Very affordable at £30 return, but NE coaches travel via Kings Cross, with a 1 hour delay before catching my connection to Portsmouth. If there were a delay on the road from Newcastle to London....I might miss this connection.... and I didn't really fancy hanging around in Kings Cross waiting for who knew how long.
Then OH found Megabus. Not only did it go direct from Newcastle to Portsmouth, but it was also cheaper *and* took Tesco vouchers!
So it worked out ....
Newcastle to Portsmouth return (including Booking Fee) £28.16
£9 worth of Tesco Vouchers -£27.00
Cost to me £1.16

I took a packed lunch, a flask of tea, and lots of books and plays on my phone to keep me entertained. The journey took 12 hours one way and 11 hours the other, but there was a toilet on board, and electrical points to charge up my phone. The coach, which was clean and comfortable, also arrived and left spot on schedule.

I did what I had to in Hampshire, and OH spent a few days on his own exploring Northumberland in the glorious early September sunshine. Very happy!!

Can anyone beat this for a MSE saving?

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth

No, but did you take coals back?

Greenglockenspiel

I can - we went from Reading to Edinburgh a couple of months back which cost over £200 return for the pair of us even with our railcards, but as we were so delayed each way we got a full refund and so traveled entirely for free!

maman

I can't beat that but it is possible to get cheap train fare if you can travel any time. A couple of years ago I drove to Torquay on Good Friday but DH couldn't get away until next day. His fare Southampton to Torquay arriving at about 8.30pm cost just £8.

I checked with trainline and saw a similar fare this Sunday evening (adjusted for inflation) at about £12.

While I think OP had a good deal, it was very time consuming.

PasturesNew

I couldn't run the risk of being trapped with very annoying people for 12 hours..... e.g. if I were next to a perpetual phone-fiddler/selfie-taker/loud call maker.

I'd want to shove their phone up their jacksy, stop the bus and get off and walk

Islandmaid

PasturesNew wrote: »

I couldn't run the risk of being trapped with very annoying people for 12 hours..... e.g. if I were next to a perpetual phone-fiddler/selfie-taker/loud call maker.

I'd want to shove their phone up their jacksy, stop the bus and get off and walk

Like the charming ‘gent’ sat to my left on our last coach trip from Southampton to London who watched very iffy p orn all the way there before enthusiastically greeting his (I assume) his wife and young children at Victoria :shocked:

Did only cost £8 return though

PasturesNew

Islandmaid wrote: »

.... enthusiastically greeting ...

Thank your lucky stars he wasn't enthusiastically supporting the actresses and finishing with a happy ending

Poppy64

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth wrote: »

No, but did you take coals back?

Dammit!!! Too late now .....:rotfl:

Poppy64

Greenglockenspiel wrote: »

I can - we went from Reading to Edinburgh a couple of months back which cost over £200 return for the pair of us even with our railcards, but as we were so delayed each way we got a full refund and so traveled entirely for free!

Wow!! You definitely win! :money:

Poppy64

maman wrote: »

I can't beat that but it is possible to get cheap train fare if you can travel any time. A couple of years ago I drove to Torquay on Good Friday but DH couldn't get away until next day. His fare Southampton to Torquay arriving at about 8.30pm cost just £8.

I checked with trainline and saw a similar fare this Sunday evening (adjusted for inflation) at about £12.

While I think OP had a good deal, it was very time consuming.

I agree that it's very time consuming to organise, it's also annoying to have lots of train changes and waiting around . That is a great deal though, well done!

Poppy64

Islandmaid wrote: »

Like the charming ‘gent’ sat to my left on our last coach trip from Southampton to London who watched very iffy p orn all the way there before enthusiastically greeting his (I assume) his wife and young children at Victoria :shocked:

Did only cost £8 return though

Euww!! Luckily everyone behaved themselves on my journey.