On our way to Scotland with Megabus...

A bunch of pink fox gloves adds colour  to this amazing landscape in Scotland. My camera managed to capture this photo while travelling on a fast coach.

The river's silver colour shines bright with the afternoon sunshine. This is a photograph with a lot of color

contrast.  I like those pink fox gloves.

Look at those hills in the distance with Heather looking at it's best in the afternoon sunshine.  

Can you spot some faded patches of wild pink flowers in this photo?

This photograph is my favourite one . I just managed to shoot this fast train on a fast moving bus quite

perfectly. I love the colour contrast of the yellow gorse and a touch of fading pink fox gloves with a train travelling in this beautiful part of Scotland.  

What a way to travel. I was busy playing around with my camera trying to capture a few perfect shots on a fast moving coach. Ten hours is a long time travelling all the way to Glasgow, but I managed to get a few nice shots of Scotland's beautiful country side.

I have a few  tips you may find useful, when travelling with young children on a long coach journey. To do a ten hour journey does take a lot of organising. It isn't just about packing your suitcase and that's it. If you want to enjoy a lovely long journey to Scotland, travelling by bus is the best way to do it.  

We've just come back from a holiday in Mallorca. We had a few days to rest before I finally decided to go away for a couple of days to Edinburgh to finish our Summer holiday. I was travelling with my older daughter, her fiance and my two youngest. In fact it was my daughter and fiance's idea to go to Scotland, now both had managed to squeeze a few days off from work. She wanted me to go and I wasn't so sure at first. Well... I suppose I could. I always wanted to visit Edinburgh Castle and it looked like it was going to happen. 

TIPS...

• We booked our accommodation for three nights through Booking.com. We thought it was better to stay in Glasgow than Edinburgh because it was cheaper. We stayed at the Ibis budget hotel. It was a clean and comfortable hotel situated very near to a few restaurants like Nando's and the Harvester next to the river Clyde.
• Staying in Glasgow gave us an opportunity to explore this lovely city, however our plan was to spend two whole days in Edinburgh.
• We researched  the cheapest way to travel from Glasgow to Edinburgh and Edinburgh to Glasgow while staying at the Ibis budget hotel.  I thought it was a great experience as part of our holiday to travel by train between these two cities. I'ts cheaper if you get the train back to Glasgow after 7 pm and children go free with two paying adults. 
• Travelling by train from London to Glasgow without a family ticket was expensive. Not worth, if you are going for a couple of days only. Travelling by plane was expensive, but less expensive than train and travelling by National Express was more expensive than Megabus but both cheaper than train. 
• In the end we all decided to travel with Megabus, but before we booked it I checked their reviews. Always check the reviews, good and bad ones to give you an idea what this bus company is all about. Well it was very, very cheap for two children and one adult. I was curious whether Megabus was going to deliver a good service? I'll let you know...
• One review mentioned the air conditioning in the coach wasn't good and then another review said the air conditioning was broken. Help! To late we had already booked our tickets. I thought it would be good to buy a couple of cheap little plastic fans with spray from Tiger just as a precaution while travelling on the coach. The children were happy with them. 
• The day before, I asked the children what would they like to eat on the coach. I was prepared not to spend any money in coffee shops before travelling on the coach, going and coming back. I packed a big plastic bag full of sandwiches, salad, two tubs of grapes, bananas, apples, yogurts, muffins, bag of crisps, two big bottles of water, biscuits, chocolates and not to forget my flask of hot coffee. My food bag was heavier than my suit case, however I was determined to keep my two little ones very happy on the coach with plenty of delicious food until we arived to Glasgow. 
• I always have a habit of taking a lot of toilet paper in my handbag just in case. You never know, especially travelling with young children and luckily I did on this occasion. There was no toilet paper in Megabus. Someone finished it all up and no soap and water either. Oh dear. Luckily Mummy had everything, toilet paper and antibacterial hand wash.
• One hour before our journey, we all took a motion sickness tablet. It is important to take one specially with young children. 
• Our coach left very early in the morning from Victoria coach station. It just happens my little ones went to bed late the night before however they made it up the following morning. Once inside the coach we all comfortably slept the first part of the journey. I told the children the views were more interesting while crossing the Pennines, the Yorkshire Dales and into Scotland. There were so many interesting things to see. So ideally it's better to sleep and watch movies until we arrived to Manchester Airport and Manchester.

TRAVEL INFORMATION

• Brought some blankets and cushions from Primark and eye masks from Tiger to sleep in comfort on the coach and it worked.
• Megabus has WiFi and sockets for phone chargers. We downloaded music and we all had Netflix on our phones. The children saw at least one movie on their phones and I saw a few things on You Tube however reception was interrupted in many places along the way. Before we arrived to Manchester we slept a great deal and then had lunch on the bus around one o'clock. 
• We snacked continuously and looked out of the window once we were on our way to Glasgow past the Pennines and Yorkshire Dales. 
• Our journey to Glasgow was smooth and pleasant. It wasn't boring. There was a lot to see and I managed to take a lot of photos and had fun filming. I felt my holiday had already started on the coach. The children enjoyed their time looking out of the window.
• We were fortunate enough to have front seats on the top deck of the bus. Make sure if you want to grab the best seats front-top deck, this mean you need to arrive at Victoria station two hours early. My daughter's fiance made an early head start and we then all followed one hour later before leaving. With children you shouldn't rush. 
• Our journey back from Glasgow to London was smooth and comfortable however we did arrive late to Victoria station. Frozen food isn't allowed on the coach. A woman tried to smuggle frozen fish on the coach sitting two seats behind us and she was caught at Manchester. We were delayed because of this incident and also there was an accident on the motorway so we were diverted to country lanes. The children enjoyed looking at farm animals.
• My final opinion travelling with Megabus didn't disappoint me at all. One last thing Megabus does insist everyone must wear a seat belt. I was happy they took it seriously specially travelling with young children. Would I travel with Megabus again? So far I would. It's super cheap. We didn't have any problems with drivers on both occasions. They were friendly and helpful when there was a problem with one of our tickets.
• Always ask your children before hand if they are prepared to travel on a coach for ten hours. Reassure them and plan together your journey properly in a fun way. I sat with my children and showed them the photographs of the coaches and read about the history of the company and a few reviews. We all had a bit of a laugh at the funny little Megabus man with his very welcoming cheeky grin.
• Travelling on Megabus was another great adventure.

Our coach at Buchanan bus station in Glasgow. I had to pay 30 pence to go to the toilet before boarding

the coach. Make sure you carry a few coins just in case, however the coach does have a very small toilet.

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