The return coach journey was a gifted PR service, however, all views are my own.
This week, my boyfriend Joe and I went on a press visit to London with National Express coaches. In this blog post I will be sharing my day with you and what we got up to, while also reviewing my return coach journey.
First of all, we got our coach into London from Bournemouth bright and early at 6:30am. We got into Victoria Coach Station at 9:50am so we could spend a lot of time in London. Our coach had phone charging facilities which was needed for a day out in London, air conditioning, leather seats and a toilet (also needed).
National Express have competitive prices and are often cheaper than trains. It didn't even take much longer than the train journey from Bournemouth to London and it didn't feel too long at all. Coaches are also the most environmentally friendly form of public transport, so well worth considering for your next trip away. I'll be honest, I never really thought of travelling anywhere by coach until this experience but it's definitely worth doing for a day trip like this.
Related: UK cities you need to visit
Exploring London
The first thing we saw when we left Victoria Coach Station was Peggy Porschen cakes. I had seen it all over Instagram so we decided to go in and try a cake. We had the salted caramel and popcorn cupcakes and it was the best cupcake I've had in my life. It should have been for £4.50 per cake but I didn't mind spending that as I enjoyed it so much in the end.
After sitting in Hyde Park for a short while eating our cakes, we decided to go to Covent Garden. We had a walk round there, then Leicester Square and finally China Town. I had to refrain from going into M&M world because I always want to go in but never buy anything. London was actually quite quiet, probably because it was a Monday, but I thought it would be a lot busier than it was being the first day indoor places were open.
Camden Market
We then went to Camden and looked around the market for a while. Of course, we ended up getting food at the market! I got a cheeseburger from Burger and Beyond which was amazing, and mac and cheese from The Mac Factory which was also amazing. We had planned a boat trip on the canal that goes around the zoo and ends up in Little Venice, but we didn't get to go because it started pouring down just as we were about to depart. Classic.
When the weather turned and we couldn't get on our boat trip, we ended up just going inside places to stay and stay dry, and away from the thunder and lightning. Our coach back was at 7pm so we just made our way to Victoria again and went inside pubs to stay dry.
Related: 48 hours in Lincoln
Home time
We then got the coach back and ended up back in Bournemouth at around 9:20pm, it was a lot quicker on the day home due to less traffic. By this point we were so tired from getting up so early, but a good tired as we had a lovely day out. We walked almost 8 miles and over 20,000 steps.
We both went straight to sleep when we got in and I had the best sleep I've had in so long! It was such a lovely day, despite not going quite to plan with the weather, and getting the coach was so easy too. It was also very well socially distanced on the coach which I was happy with, I felt safe due to the limited seating and wearing of face coverings.
Related: 3 days in Suffolk
Thank you to the National Express for a lovely journey, we had a great day.
Have you ever travelled by coach before?
13 comments
Oh I love a day mooching around London! I haven't been on a National Express in so long. It sounds like you had the best day xx
ReplyDeleteCan’t beat a day trip to london! I don’t live too far from london so I usually just take the train. Never thought about using a coach! Sounds like you had a wonderful and exhausting time
ReplyDeleteYou visited some of our favourites! The last time I was on a National Express they were not as great! Time to book something x
ReplyDeleteThose Peggy Porschen cakes look amazing, I'm glad you had a good day out in London! I've used National Express coaches before and I've never had any trouble! x
ReplyDeleteLucy | www.lucymary.co.uk
Sounds like such a lovely day, I've used National Express to go to London and back - love that they have chargers 🥳 I really like exploring Camden market, those cupcakes look so lush too xx
ReplyDeleteThis is such a lovely idea, and it's so nice to get out and about now that things are opening up a bit! Thank you for sharing your thoughts x
ReplyDeleteI'd love to do some coach trips by myself this year, I've heard GREAT things about National Express so I'll have to go with them. Looks like you had a wonderful day out! x
ReplyDeleteI've always found travelling by coach more chill than by train. Looks like you had a great time! xx
ReplyDeleteWhen I first moved to London in the 1980s I always took the coach back home to visit my family in Newcastle. It took around 7 hours, rather longer than the 3 hour train journey, but it was great. They served coffee and sandwiches on board and showed movies! Not sure if that kind of service still runs nowadays (it wasn't National Express).
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your trip to London, I have not used coaches before to do UK Trips always the train as I live quite close to London, I'm glad that you had a good time the burger look lovely :)
ReplyDeleteNic | Nic's Adventures & Bakes
Yay, glad you had such a fab time. It's odd seeing London so quiet though isn't it. Always so tempted by The Mac Factory in Camden but haven't tried it yet.
ReplyDeleteOh I miss London! I used to have to get the National Express bus every other week when I was at uni!
ReplyDeleteRosie
Its been a while since I got on a National Express. But there was a time when we had a special relationship with LHR and LGW. Always tidy, always on time.
ReplyDeleteBut that burger hun!
https://www.girlwelltravelled.net/post/what-happens-on-a-cruise-stays-on-the-cruise-part-7