MegaBus introduces sleeper bus overnight Glasgow-London

by Meg Nesterov on

Ever wanted to travel like a rock star? Now in the UK, you can travel on a sleeper bus between Scotland and England and pretend you’re on tour. This week, while budget transportation company MegaBus announced new routes in the southern United States, with free tickets to celebrate), they also introduced a new sleeper bus service between Glasgow and London.

The 400-mile journey is a bit slower by bus than train (just under 8 hours vs. 7 hours, 10 minutes on ScotRail’s overnight service), but it’s cheaper, with fares from 1 to 40 GBP each way. Along with free wi-fi, coffee and tea service, and a plug in each berth for laptops and cell phones, each passengers gets an amenity pack with toothbrush and toothpaste, an eye mask, luggage label, and bottle of water. The 24 beds each have a pillow, duvet, and blanket and there are 24 regular seats as well if you want to spend part of the journey upright.

The BBC took a ride on the new bus and reported that while the berths lack headroom, they are still more comfortable for an overnight journey than a regular seat. One passenger said, “I found myself waking up in a panic, very aware that the ceiling was directly above my head, and I found it very uncomfortable” but still said she’d ride again.

Have you ever ridden on a sleeper bus? Tell us how you slept in the comments.

Photo courtesy MegaBus.

Be safe in overnight trains – International travel tip

by Gadling Staff on

When traveling on overnight trains…

1.) Put your backpack/travel bag in a pillowcase while you sleep on it on an overnight train. It provides an obstacle for thieves.

2.) Also, set up the Coke-can warning system on your compartment door. Put some pennies in a drink can and tie it to the door.

Prepare for an overnight – Packing tip

by Gadling Staff on

No one wants to sleep in an airport, but it may be unavoidable if your plane is grounded. Pack the following items in your carry-on to improve an emergency overnight airport stay:

  1. a tightly folded fleece blanket and inflatable pillow will provide comfort and warmth;
  2. snacks (granola bars, 100-calorie packs) are essential since some airport restaurants close at night;
  3. prescriptions, as well as some cough drops and aspirin, should be in a carry-on because checked bags may not be accessible;
  4. include a cell phone charger and spare change for pay phones;
  5. bring something to do such as a crossword, laptop or book.

It’s unlikely that you’ll be stranded in an airport overnight, but it’s better to be safe than sorry.

Stay overnight at Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater

by Katie Hammel on

Architecture buffs and fans of Frank Lloyd Wright have long enjoyed a visit to the architect’s Fallingwater house, near Pittsburgh, and soon, true fanatics can pay a premium to spend two days and two nights on the famous property. The new overnight program will debut on weekends, welcoming up to 8 guests at a time, either this December or in early March of next year.

Guests won’t actually sleep in the house – they’ll retire at night to a newer four-bedroom home built on the grounds. They’ll take an in-depth tour one night and be treated to a dinner party with a special guest and the house curators the next. Days are free to spend at leisure, enjoying Fallingwater as the house’s director says it was meant to be. Guests can stroll the grounds, explore different rooms of the house, or simply relax as though the home was their own.

The going rate to sleep in an architectural masterpiece? $1,195 per person for double occupancy.

Few solutions offered for passengers trapped on plane overnight

by Alison Brick on

Even Gilligan used his creative wits better in crisis.

The 47 people on-board a Continental flight last Friday night found themselves on their own “three-hour tour,” a la Gilligan’s Island. Rather than taking three hours to fly from Houston to the Twin Cities, they were stuck on the tarmac in Rochester, Minnesota for nine hours overnight, not even leaving the aircraft. The flight, operated by ExpressJet, had been diverted to Rochester because of thunderstorms in the Twin Cities.

Nine hours is a really long time, don’t you think?

One passenger told the Minneapolis Star Tribune, “This was a sardine can, with a single row of seats on one side of the plane and two rows of seats on the other. And they’ve got about 50 people inside, including babies, for the whole night. It was a nightmare.”

The airline seems to have plenty of excuses, but few answers. Just a few: They couldn’t wait for the storm to pass because the crew had already reached their maximum work hours, and another crew had to be flown in. The passengers couldn’t just go into the airport, because they would have to undergo security screening, but the screeners had already gone home for the night. And the idea of at least letting passengers sleep on chairs in a certain area of the airport “wasn’t provided as an option.”

I’d be curious to know whether the passengers were throwing around the term “anarchy” after a few hours, or whether the original crew deplaned because they were at the end of their shift.

Poor, poor passengers. Rather than arriving in Minneapolis around midnight on Friday night, they eventually landed around 11 a.m. on Saturday morning.