Getting around Europe...the hard way
Going to three countries in 15 days? Not a problem. Leaving out of four different stations/airports to get out of London? INSANE.
So my travel plan is to head from London Heathrow to Manchester, UK to visit my best friend. Only I've discovered that the cheapest (maybe not the most time efficient way) of getting there is to go on megabus.* It's 5 pounds one way which is roughly ten dollars,but with the pound falling steadily it could be closer to 9$ at this point. The downside is I have to take the tube from Heathrow to Victoria Coach Station which means I have to hop on the Picadilly line, switch at Acton Town or South Kensington and get onto the District or Circle Line to get off at Victoria. While this migh tseem like way out of the way of convenience, its way better than paying 40 quid aka 80 USD to take a OW train to Manchester. So once I hop on the bus, I have 4-5 hours on the bus to Manchester.
After spending about a week in Manchester, I'll be heading back to London on megabus again for about 5 quid. Getting dropped off at Victoria Station again, I then have to find the Eurostar rail station so that I can catch the chunnel train to Paris. No idea how to do this yet. Hopefully the tube will take me there.
After getting to Paris, I'll take the subway to Montmarte, where I'll be staying for 3 days. I chose a hostel that was within atleast 5 minutes walking distance of a subway so that I'm not too inconvenienced to get around the city. Montmarte is about a 15 minute subway ride into the city center where all the tourist crap is.
Heading back to London on the Chunnel, I then have to get to London Stansted airport in two hours. Easybus tickets take you from Victoria Coach Station as well so I'll be heading back that way. It's about 4 quid each way (approx 8 dollars). From London Stansted, it's a 2 1/2 hour flight to stockholm with my BFF. Unfortunately, it was cheaper to fly Ryanair to an airport in the Middle of Nowhere, Sweden. The total RT cost of a flight to Stockholm was (drum roll please) 55 bucks. Not too bad considering on SAS it was 200$. So once we land in Stockholm at noon, we catch the flygbussarna from VST airport which costs about 30$ RT and which drops us off...somewhere?? I'm not really sure where the drop off point is yet. But I'm guessing it's in the city of Stockholm which is on a different ISLAND from where we are staying in Sodermalm. We, I mean I, chose to stay in Sodermalm because it is full of hipster-esque kids my age (mid-20's) with lots of cool bars, shops and fun things to do. It's likened to the BK (brooklyn) of Stockholm...
Our hostel is insanely awesome. Looks like a mini ikea with brand new swedish tempur pedic mattresses. In fact, the entir ehostel is new. I'm very excited to not be sleeping in a so-so bed while travelling for once.
* I just took the megabus last weekend from philadelphia to new york for 20.50$ roundtrip which beats amtrak's gazillion dollar train tickets and the insane/smelly chinatown bus that costs $30 RT. (my trip to nyc would have been cheaper had i planned farther ahead). but ohwell, still cheaper.
So my travel plan is to head from London Heathrow to Manchester, UK to visit my best friend. Only I've discovered that the cheapest (maybe not the most time efficient way) of getting there is to go on megabus.* It's 5 pounds one way which is roughly ten dollars,but with the pound falling steadily it could be closer to 9$ at this point. The downside is I have to take the tube from Heathrow to Victoria Coach Station which means I have to hop on the Picadilly line, switch at Acton Town or South Kensington and get onto the District or Circle Line to get off at Victoria. While this migh tseem like way out of the way of convenience, its way better than paying 40 quid aka 80 USD to take a OW train to Manchester. So once I hop on the bus, I have 4-5 hours on the bus to Manchester.
After spending about a week in Manchester, I'll be heading back to London on megabus again for about 5 quid. Getting dropped off at Victoria Station again, I then have to find the Eurostar rail station so that I can catch the chunnel train to Paris. No idea how to do this yet. Hopefully the tube will take me there.
After getting to Paris, I'll take the subway to Montmarte, where I'll be staying for 3 days. I chose a hostel that was within atleast 5 minutes walking distance of a subway so that I'm not too inconvenienced to get around the city. Montmarte is about a 15 minute subway ride into the city center where all the tourist crap is.
Heading back to London on the Chunnel, I then have to get to London Stansted airport in two hours. Easybus tickets take you from Victoria Coach Station as well so I'll be heading back that way. It's about 4 quid each way (approx 8 dollars). From London Stansted, it's a 2 1/2 hour flight to stockholm with my BFF. Unfortunately, it was cheaper to fly Ryanair to an airport in the Middle of Nowhere, Sweden. The total RT cost of a flight to Stockholm was (drum roll please) 55 bucks. Not too bad considering on SAS it was 200$. So once we land in Stockholm at noon, we catch the flygbussarna from VST airport which costs about 30$ RT and which drops us off...somewhere?? I'm not really sure where the drop off point is yet. But I'm guessing it's in the city of Stockholm which is on a different ISLAND from where we are staying in Sodermalm. We, I mean I, chose to stay in Sodermalm because it is full of hipster-esque kids my age (mid-20's) with lots of cool bars, shops and fun things to do. It's likened to the BK (brooklyn) of Stockholm...
Our hostel is insanely awesome. Looks like a mini ikea with brand new swedish tempur pedic mattresses. In fact, the entir ehostel is new. I'm very excited to not be sleeping in a so-so bed while travelling for once.
* I just took the megabus last weekend from philadelphia to new york for 20.50$ roundtrip which beats amtrak's gazillion dollar train tickets and the insane/smelly chinatown bus that costs $30 RT. (my trip to nyc would have been cheaper had i planned farther ahead). but ohwell, still cheaper.
Labels: europe, london, manchester, paris, stockholm, sweden
posted by blonde redhead at
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