When I first heard about the Megabus sleeper service I must say I was intrigued. I’ve always preferred train travel to coach travel in the past. It’s usually more comfortable, particularly where night journeys are concerned. However, if a night bus service could provide a bed like they do in sleeper trains, then it could certainly compete! Especially if they were able to keep the prices down and lower than a typical train journey to/from the same destinations.
So what is it like? A bed on a bus you say!
I should first point out that Megabus are currently trialling this sleeper service between Glasgow and London. Things may change in the future. However based on my own experience over this trial period I found there to be both upsides and downsides for the traveller who decides to use this service.
I slept for 6 hours straight on the bus. For someone like me who finds it hard to sleep on night buses, this was certainly an improvement. There was lots of length to the bed, i.e. leg room, the beds are designed well to keep the light out, and the pillow and quilt was thick and warm. You also have little added extras like a socket for your laptop or phone, a bed light, and a croissant & orange juice in the morning.
With each bed that is allocated you are also allocated a seat at the back of the bus too. It’s just like the seat you would get on a regular coach service. This means if you want to sit up and read a book with the light on you can do so without waking anybody up! The only major downside is that it is impossible to sit up on the beds, and I can only assume this is why they have had to allocate seats too. There is very little height room. Even just lifting your head to try and turn sides was hard. On my return I found that there was more height room in the top bunks due to the extra curve on the roof of the bus, so my advice to anyone taking this service would be to ask for a top bunk.
What about price?
Megabus very kindly offered me my return trip for free for the purpose of this review, however, had I purchased this trip ordinarily it would have cost me 40 GBP each way. Considering you save a night on accommodation and you get a bed I think this is a very good price.
Comparatively to a regular night bus service with Megabus, i.e. where you just get a seat and no bed, you’re paying around 25 GBP more per journey. Personally I think this is worth the extra money for one journey as getting a good sleep is so much easier on the sleeper service than is is sat in a seated position with limited leg room next to someone on a bus for 6 or 7 hours.
What most people will probably be interested in however is the price in comparison to a typical rail sleeper service for the same journey. If I was to book a sleeper service with national rail for Friday 28th Jan, it would cost me 120 GBP. This is considerably more than what it costs for a Megabus journey. That being said, if you book well enough in advance by rail, and travel on selected promotional deals, then I have seen similar journeys advertised in the past by rail for as little as 16 GBP. Equally, I’ve also seen Megabus put on promotional deals for their sleeper service at 1 GBP a bed! I’m therefore not going to go by promotional offers as these might not be available when you attempt to book. Instead I’m going to take the average price for journeys from Glasgow to London, and for a one way ticket by rail it usually costs around 60 – 70 GBP at a few weeks notice. Based on this you’d make a saving of around 20 – 30 GBP on a Megabus sleeper service compared to the average sleeper rail journey of the same distance.
What I like about the Megabus service in general compared to rail travel is that prices tend to stay relatively low. With rail travel it can yo yo greatly, and you really have to book well in advance to get a good price. With Megabus, or coach travel in general it’s much more suited to the budget traveller who doesn’t like too far ahead, who likes to keep their plans flexible.
Service
I found the Megabus staff to be very friendly and helpful, and never experienced any problems on either of my journeys.
- If you want to book the sleeper service with Megabus between Glasgow and London and try it for yourself, then you can head over to their UK site www.megabus.co.uk and make a booking.
Last week I went to log onto my website just like I have done everyday for the past 2 years. Instead of the usual screen displaying my website’s homepage however, I got the page that appears when you’ve lost your internet connection. My eyes looked down to the corner of my computer screen to see 5 full bars of connectivity. I opened another browser, and up came the Google homepage. The internet was clearly working. I flicked back to my site, refreshed the browser, and still the same screen was staring right back at me. Hmm… what’s going on here then?
Despite all my travels around the world of late, changing country, scenery, and accommodation most days of the week, my one sense of routine has belonged to my travel blog. Sure, I may decide to start writing at 4am some nights, and midday on others because that’s when the creativity strikes. Yet regardless of what I do, when I wake up, or where I go, the first thing I do every morning is check my blog stats. If ever there is a slight interruption to that I must admit, I do feel a little out of place. So when I woke up that morning to find that my website wasn’t working, I started to panic a little. The response from my host company made me panic further!
Me: “Why is my website down? Is there a problem with the server?” Host Company: “ No, it just takes a few days for new domains to propagate.” Me: “What do you mean by new domains? My site is 2 years old!” Host Company: “Umm… really? That’s not what it says here?” That’s not an exact word for word of my conversation with my Host Company, but it’s pretty much the gist of it.
My host company didn’t understand what was going on or how to fix it. In the end they told me to leave it 48 hours and see what happens. I wasn’t willing to do that. Eventually they did some tests and said “The server is fine. You need to speak to the company who registered your domain.” Me: “Isn’t my domain registered with you??”. Host Company: “No.”
As it turns out, back when I first started this website I was very briefly with another company called One.com. After a few weeks I transferred to Hostgator because at the time I didn’t know much about Word Press, and they offered an automatic install. Put it down to stupidity or a lack of knowledge on my part, but I was under the impression that if I registered & hosed my domain with one company, when I switched, that registration & hosting service would go to the next company. Apparently it didn’t. Only the hosting did. I paid 3 years in advance, and thought that was me paying to register my domain for 3 years too… but it wasn’t. Long story short, my domain name registration remained with the old company. It then expired in Jan 2012, and because I no longer hosted my site with them they failed to send me a reminder. As a result I was left to find out one day when the domain expired and I woke up to no site.
Like I said, this is partly my fault. I didn’t know a lot about websites when I first started out, and everything I know now is completely self taught, learned along the way. However, I must say the company that I am currently with (Hostgator) really weren’t a great deal of help, and I do not recommend them to anyone! I had to figure out what was wrong and tell them what to do. They also continually gave me random dates of when the problem would be resolved, to which it was never resolved by This also wasn’t the last of my problems…
Apparently because One.com only offer joint hosting and registration packages, this meant I couldn’t just simply renew RunwayJane.com as my website name. I had to transfer it and make payment with Host Gator. Transfers typically take up to 5 – 7 working days. Not only had my site been down for 2 days already by this point… it could potentially be the following week before I’d have it up and running again! At this point I felt I was really feeling the frustration. Never before had I been without my blog, and all my stats were on a nose dive as a result of the blackout.
In the end I just had to try to be patient, and play the waiting game. For someone as passionate about their travel blog as me, this was particularly frustrating. It also made me realise how fragile my whole business is with how much it relies on one site as a platform to make money. I guess I got the wake up call I needed to expand into generating separate sources of income! I also realised more than ever how important my blog is to me.
— So if you were trying to view the site over the past 7 days then this is what happened. I am very pleased to say that everything is back up and running, and I am blogging to you once again! I am also sorry if you couldn’t access any content or advice that you wanted to on the site during this time. As a result of a week offline Runaway Jane is has lost it’s page rank, and the RSS subscribers have greatly decreased. If you feel like sharing any content on this site via your social networks or doing a link exchange with your travel blog should you have one, it would be much appreciated! As always I’m happy to share any of your content in return should you have a blog! Also, if you were an RSS subscriber who couldn’t access content last week, please do subscribe again to the feed. Everything is well and truly resolved, and you can access content normally! 
Posted in Europe on January 12, 2012
Right now in my home country of Scotland there is debate over whether our country should become independent from the United Kingdom. As someone who has spent the majority of the last year in other countries, and who is most likely going to be based outside of Scotland in the near future, I’m not sure I have as much right to talk about this issue as someone who lives in Scotland 24/7. Still, I am Scottish, I pay my taxes, and I represent Scotland everywhere I go. So I’d like to raise the issue here and ask you, a past or potential visitor to Scotland… What do you think of Scotland? Would you be more inclined to visit Scotland if it became independent, or do you really care?
The reason I ask is that Scotland becoming independent could have some advantages and disadvantages for visitors coming to the country. For instance, the Scottish government has made indications that they would adopt the Euro instead of the British Pound should independence become a reality. Would this make things easier for you as a visitor? I suppose if you are going to a lot of countries who already use the Euro then this would make things a lot simpler, although you’d still have to exchange them for pounds should you be planning on visiting England too…
From a Scottish travellers point of view I think there could be both positives and negatives. On one hand, having a British Embassy or Consulate in just about every country I could possibly travel to is a big plus of being a British Citizen. I know this only too well after the problems I had with having my passport stolen in Amsterdam in 2010. Being British certainly has it’s benefits. With Scotland having a minuscule population in comparison to the rest of the British population combined, would we be able to generate enough funds, or have a large enough population to really merit such an extensive help & support network around the world?
Then there is also the issue of identity. I very much feel Scottish. When people ask me where I’m from as I travel I say Scotland. It’s only if people don’t know where Scotland is that I say Britain. Most Scottish people I know are the same. Which brings me onto my next issue…
When I first started travelling back in 2006 I was surprised by the amount of people I met who had never heard of Scotland. This was particularly so outside of Western Europe. I couldn’t understand it at first. I guess you assume you know where most countries in the world are, most people will know yours, but of course it doesn’t work like that. Then I realised Scotland is a small country. We have a population of around 5 million. When you compare that to around 50 million people living in England, we are tiny! This makes me worry slightly. Without the United Kingdom, would be really command any weight anywhere? Would we be presented with the opportunities we have as being part of the UK. I’m not saying we wouldn’t, I’m simply asking the question.
Another worry I have is that there are some people in Scotland, and particularly members of the Scottish National Party, who for the record I think have done a very good in job in Scotland so far, but are so consumed with taking power they haven’t actually thought about what they are going to do if Scotland was to go independent! I remember listening to Nicola Sturgeon, the 2nd in command of the SNP, answering questions on what she would do with the banks (owned partially by UK tax payers), the military, and other basic questions that would need to be answered. She couldn’t give a direct answer to any. It was like they were just thinking of the benefits without really thinking of the consequences or potential problems that could come about should the plan actually go ahead. It was almost like she didn’t really believe it herself that Scotland would become independent if I was being completely honest in my perceptions.
For local Scottish people there is a genuine argument for Scottish independence. We have oil, the ability to produce a lot renewable energy, a huge amount of tourism for a country so small, and we have major exports of things like Whisky to emerging markets such as China. I am by no means a unionist, but I’m also not a nationalist either. Like a lot of Scottish people, I kind of don’t know if I see the point in going independent? Do we really have such a bad deal already? We are no longer running about in our kilts fighting the English. Isn’t it time to move on?
What do you think? Whether you are Scottish or not, maybe you have an opinion? I know some Canadians reading this may do with the debate going on right now in Quebec? What do you think?
One common problem many female travellers such as myself face on a regular basis is trying to brush off the advances from strange men! Depending on the country you are in, the way men treat women can be very different. Some may be very gentlemanly and well mannered, where in other countries you may experience a bit of wolf whistling or down right disrespect. A lot this has to do with the local culture, but it can also be to do with the stereotype of girls of a particular nationality and a misplaced pre-concieved idea of what girls with a certain hair colour or look me be.
The same goes for touts. You’ll find in tourist destinations you can be hounded by people trying to sell you stuff. In most cases it’s just for tacky tourist souvenirs, but it can also go as far as people trying to scam you for paying way more than the average price of a particular service, or for goods that never actually appear. In general, I tend to view the advances from all these types of people under the same blanket, and that is unwanted attention.
So how do you deal with it if you are put in a position where someone may be hassling you abroad as a female and/or solo traveller?
Blank them
It may seem rude but by enlarge the most successful way of getting a tout or hassling guy away from you in my personal experience has been to completely blank them. If I’m walking on my own along a road and someone who is clearly selling stuff comes up to me and says hello… I don’t respond. I don’t even give eye-contact. I just keep on walking. I know these people are just doing a job, but in my opinion if you know you are never going to buy whatever they’re selling you’re saving yourself time as well as theirs.
The occasions where I’ve responded with a “thanks but no thanks”response I’ve always had touts spend longer trying to pressure me into a sale. Equally, when I’ve turned to look at them when they say hello I’ve had the same thing. If you completely blank them they know they are going to get nothing from you and very quickly move on to the next person.
The same also goes for guys trying to hassle you. I do sometimes feel bad if the guy seems nice enough, but if I’m walking along the street doing my shopping for instance, I don’t see how that constitutes a sign to come up and hassle me. By hassle I mean if I say I’m not interested, then I should be left alone. I have no problem with someone who comes to chat me up, I say no, and they leave me alone. It’s the people who don’t initially take no as an answer. Generally speaking I find if you give them a conversation they’ll see that as an indication that you’re interested, even if you were just being polite. So I cut to the chase and don’t respond to the hello when out and about. This is especially so when in big cities.
It may seem rude, and I do wish I didn’t have to do this, but if you want to avoid unwanted attention, usually this is the quickest and easiest way to do it.
Make it loud and clear
If you’ve said no to someone, or walked away and they continue to follow you then it’s at this point you need to get loud, and make it clear. Tell them firmly NO. Tell them to fuck off if you have to. Generally when blanking someone I am never left with this scenario, but when on occasion you do have to tell someone where to go. If you get loud it brings attention to yourself and the situation. People around start to look. This scares the person off in most cases if they had any ideas about doing something dodgy because now lots of people are able to identify them, and have noticed something is going on.
If placed in this position I usually just “go all Glasgow” as they say in my family. People from the city of Glasgow have a reputation of being “hard” where I come from. An angry Glasgow accent is one of the scariest voices you’ll ever hear second only to an angry German voice in my opinion! I speak more with a soft Edinburgh accent, but with Glaswegians in the family I can pull out the Glasgow in me when needed! It’s always entertaining to see a big guy shit himself! 
Get help if you need to
I’ve never had anything escalate to this point before on my travels, certainly not from a tout or guy on the street, but if you really feel in danger by someone who won’t leave you alone then never be afraid to call the police or call for help. It’s better to be safe than sorry.
Today’s post was written by the team at TravelSupermarket.com.
Rock Restaurant, Zanzibar
Renowned for wonderful beaches and a relaxed atmosphere, Zanzibar also features one of the most unusual and perhaps most picturesque restaurants in the world. In the south of the island lies The Rock Restaurant. The name says it all. The restaurant literally sits on top of a large rock, which is situated in the middle of a beach. At low tide you can walk out to the rock, but at high tide, it becomes marooned. When you reach the rock you climb a wooden ladder to reach the restaurant. It is a small, with only three tables in the dining room, and is owned by the local village. It is very much a local affair, where you are likely to be served a platter of seafood, prepared with a few beers to wash it down.
Red Sea Star Restaurant, Israel
Rather than sitting above the sea, you can dine underneath it at the Red Sea Star Restaurant. Situated just off the coast of Eilat, the restaurant offers diners the chance to eat and watch the fascinating marine and coral life at the same time. The restaurant is located five meters below sea level. Each table has two windows offering diners a chance to watch an ever changing view of the local marine life swimming past in the brightly coloured coral garden. One window is located in the wall and the other in the ceiling above the diners’ heads, offering a unique dining experience. The food served in the Red Sea Star restaurant is a mix of exotic meat and seafood dishes. There is room for 105 guests in the seated area and a bar where guests can relax afterwards. Opening hours are from 10am – 1am. At night, the restaurant is softly lit so that the local marine life is not disturbed but can still be seen by diners.
Redwoods Treehouse Restaurant, New Zealand
Another restaurant that gives a sense of its surroundings is the Redwoods Treehouse Restaurant in New Zealand. Located in a pod structure suspended ten meters high in a Redwood tree, diners reach the restaurant along an elevated treetop walkway. It has capacity for thirty guests and can also be used for a buffet style event.
Ristorante da Pancrazio, Italy
The Ristorante da Pancrazio gives a unique sense of history to diners. The restaurant is located above the arcades of the remains of the old theatre of Pompey, built 2000 years ago. The menu is extensive and features traditional Roman specialities.
The Hospitalis Restaurant, Latvia
The Hospitalis Restaurant in Riga, Latvia depends on a theme rather than location to attract visitors. The whole restaurant has been designed and themed as a hospital. Tables and chairs are designed to look like hospital wards or operating rooms. The waitresses are all dressed up as nurses and customers can even be tied up in straitjackets. The food is served in flasks or on operating dishes, which come complete with surgical implements including syringes, tweezers and scissors. The colour scheme of the restaurant is red and white.
Modern Toilet Restaurant, Taiwan
The Modern Toilet in Taipei, Taiwan is also a restaurant which relies on a theme to attract customers. As with Hospitalis, it is a theme that can put people off as much as attract. As the name suggests, everything in the restaurant has a toilet theme. The restaurant can seat 100 diners but rather than use chairs, all customers sit on a toilet bowl. Even the food carries on this theme, with mains being served in dishes shaped as a mini toilet and a desert menu where you can order ice cream that comes shaped as faeces. Definitely not to everyone’s taste!
The Alcatraz, Japan
The Alcatraz restaurant in Tokyo, Japan is another restaurant where the concept is not immediately attractive to everyone. The restaurant is themed to be like Alcatraz prison. Diners are escorted to their cells and served with a cocktail called lethal injection before being served their food.
Dans Le Noir, England
Dans Le Noir is a restaurant in London which has a very unusual selling point – everything is done in the dark. All the waiting staff are blind and lead diners to their place. Tables are shared with other diners, which allows guests to share their experiences and chat with strangers. The total darkness apparently encourages guests to talk to one another more freely as there are no distractions. Guests are given a choice of different coloured menus where white means it could include anything, green means it is vegetarian, red means no seafood and blue means seafood. Beyond that there is no choice and diners eat what they are given. As it is in complete darkness, there is no cutlery and all diners eat with their fingers. Part of the fun of going to the restaurant is trying to guess what you are eating. After guests have finished eating they are taken to the bar and told what they have eaten.
De Kas, Holland
De Kas in Amsterdam takes freshness of ingredients to another level. The restaurant is located in a converted greenhouse. Surrounding the greenhouse is a nursery where most of the food served in the restaurant is grown. The restaurant aims to serve produce that has been picked from their own grounds only hours before. What they can’t grow themselves, they source from local suppliers. Food in the restaurant is based on rustic Mediterranean food with a strong emphasis on fresh local vegetables.
Hotel Sidi Driss, Tunisia
Fans of Star Wars will already be familiar with the final restaurant on our list, which was used during filming as the location for Lars Homestead on Tatooine, the home of Luke Skywalker. Located in an ancient Berber troglodyte dwelling, the Hotel Sidi Driss restaurant in Mamata, Tunisia, is ideal for those who like films and unusual eating locations. The restaurant is in one of the five pits and is still decorated as the Lars dining room.
A unique location or theme can definitely help your dining experience. Even if the food served in some of these locations is not to your particular taste, each restaurant is definitely worth visiting at least once for the experience.
If you’re planning on travelling to any of the above holiday destinations in 2012, be sure to schedule in a visit to the quirky restaurant during your trip!
