£1 MEGABUS: PARIS TO BARCELONA

Blimey! Outrageous! For just £1 each, Mark and I traveled 645 miles from Paris to Barcelona. How did we get such a great deal? It’s called Megabus.

While we were in Mongolia we met a young British couple who introduced us to the U.K.’s budget bus company Megabus. They told us that it often posted £1 fares for its bus routes and that the trick was to look 20 days in advance. When we made it to the U.K. a month later we searched online for these so-called deals.

We expected to see £1 fares for short routes within the U.K., but it turned out that Megabus also ran buses internationally. Imagine our surprise when we found a £1 fare for a bus from Paris to Barcelona on September 23. This was too good to be true.

We didn’t jump on it right away, partly because we weren’t sure if the date would work for us, and also because we were skeptical about it. The next day we talked with our hosts about how we didn’t purchase the Megabus tickets. They joked, “£2 is at stake!” Although they were joking, we excused ourselves anyways to buy the tickets. We realized that even if we didn’t use them we’d only be out £2.

When we repeated the search the tickets were thankfully still available. As we went through the confirmation steps, we finally found a catch. A booking fee…of a pittly 50 pence. That meant two tickets from Paris to Barcleona came to a grand total of £2.50. Tickets were purchased and an email confirmation was received.

We were still skeptical as to whether this bus would actually run, and how our 14 hour bus ride would pan out. When September 23 came around we went to the international bus station in Paris and found the Megabus blinking “Barcelona” on the front window panel. The bus driver checked our printed confirmation email and let us board. This £1 bus was officially the real deal!

Not only were our tickets cheap, but there were other great surprises we found out on the bus:

• Free WiFi – We struggled with finding free WiFi in Paris. Even when we paid for internet it was always slow. So to have free Wi-Fi for 14 hours straight was a miracle.

• Power Outlets in Every Row – Since we were burning through our batteries with all the free WiFi, it was considerate to have a power outlet available for us to keep charging up.

• Only 5 Other Passengers – We were traveling during a low season, which meant only five other passengers boarded the bus with us. We had a quiet ride and plenty of room to spread out. More passengers boarded when we stopped in Toulouse, but most of the time it was just the seven of us on the bus.

• Two 45-Minute Breaks – We heard of other bus companies doing 10+ hour rides and giving no breaks to the passengers. We were grateful we were given breaks during the ride.

• Bathroom on Board – Usually a given, but still thought we’d mention that there was one.

Thumbs up! Our bus ride to Barcelona was better than we could’ve imagined. Megabus has many routes throughout the U.K. and international routes like the Paris-Barcelona we were on. Other major routes include Brussels-Amsterdam and London-Paris.

Barcelona didn’t disappoint!