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Bus My Way to France and Belgium: Travelling with Flixbus from London

posted in Budget Travel, City Escape, Solo Travel, Travel by lazylykee on

Ever since experiencing the 12-13-hour bus ride from Manila to Sagada about three years ago, every bus ride that’s less than that has become very tolerable, if not comfortable. So, when I saw there’s a bus from London to Paris in Victoria Coach Station while waiting for my bus to Nottingham, I got excited and mentally noted that.

FYI: That bus ride to Sagada was pretty comfortable because despite it going to a mountainous area, and given the conditions of roads in the Philippines, it’s a direct bus, fully airconditioned, butt-friendly seats and I remembered provides blankets for use.

I’ve always had nothing against long bus rides especially if I have the time. Apart from the scenic views along the way, bus rides allow me to think. Most ideas on things that I have created now have sprouted while my butt was deeply planted in a bus seat on an hour-long commute from my town Pototan to my work in Iloilo City.

Besides, I only had the confirmation of a granted Schengen visa a day before the Paris trip. I didn’t bother buying a plane ticket and just went ahead with the bus bookings I presented when I applied for the visa.



In this post, I’ll share my bus experience with Flixbus and include photos from this trip as well.

My departure time was 9PM from London Victoria Coach Station. I waited for the apple green bus and presented my ticket from the app.

Waiting area at Victoria Coach Station
Flixbus to Paris
I got a seat at the very back which was my favorite spot. I thought I might take over the whole row but eventually, all the other seats were taken 😔

At about 10:45, we arrived at the Port of Dover and immigration checks were done here at around 11PM. We waited a while then to board the 1AM ferry.

By that time, I realized I had no idea how we will cross the sea. Or at least I expected we’ll be passing through a tunnel or something. As it turns out, we’re taking the ferry, just like the RORO in the Philippines.

We got off the bus and into the ferry’s passenger area. There were vending machines, arcade games, a cash machine and a photo machine.
Lounge area with a bar (not on the photo but you can see a cue to the left 👈)

We arrived at the Calais Ferry Port at around 3:30AM, and by this time, my phone had automatically adjusted to time in France so I guess that would be an hour and a half crossing from one port to another.

We went back to the bus and we arrived at Bercy Bus Station by 7:40AM, so a total of almost 10 hours of travel. I was lost when I got off the bus and there was no info desk or something there. The first person I asked about the way to the nearest metro doesn’t speak English.

I just followed some of the passengers going out of the station, into a park. Fortunately from there were signs to lead you to the nearest metro and vice versa, from the metro to the bus station.

I met my friends who were already there. I wasn’t able to join them two days before because we had a miscommunication regarding the trip dates and I couldn’t fix my work schedule anymore.

Travel buddies in Paris. This was during the river cruise.
AccorHotels Arena just a few minutes walk from the Bercy bus station.
A view at the top of Arc de Triomphe
Selfie with the Eiffel tower from the top of Arc de Triomphe
I didn’t realize you have to actually exert effort to climb up top
Moulin Rouge, so sad shows cost more than my budget
I took this photo because I think this is the Paris that I have in my head, not the parts that I saw days earlier.
I fancied taking photos of these sculptures from different perspectives in Petit Palais.
A gloomy day at the Louvre
My friends went inside the Louvre. I didn’t. I stayed outside but it was so cold because it kept on raining that day. I was forced to buy an umbrella from a street seller.
Fascinated by this shop I passed by when I was just walking around looking for some snacks
One of their metros being cool with a graffiti art
Funiculaire de Montmartre, an elevator you can take to skip physical exhaustion to reach the Basilica of Sacre Coeur. You can use your Navigo or in my case, a ticket from my carnet.
The stairs we still have to conquer after the elevator ride
Inside the Sacre Coeur
Cathedrale Notre-Dame de Paris
Unfortunately, it’s temporarily closed due to the fire a few months earlier.
A small plaza for our Philippine national hero, Jose Rizal
My friend in her labas balikat version
I joined a pubcrawl on the second night when my friends left already 😔
A friend who came to Paris a few months ago suggested for me to try this drink



So I was back at Bercy bus station for my bus to Brussels, Belgium with a mild headache from last night’s pubcrawl. Gladly, I was able to wake up and arrive before 8:30AM. I arrived in Brussels North Station before or a little after 1PM.

This is the bus station in Brussels, you pretty much have to wait for your bus in this street.
It’s close to this metro station.
I was really hungry when I arrived that seeing KFC was such a relief. Unfortunately, this branch just opened and as you can see, there was a long queue. So I just went to the metro to go straight to my hostel.
Finally, food! And look, seafood overload! This was such an orgasmic food experience for me.
Belgium loves their comics so there were quite a few of these comic book stores.
Belgian Comic Strip Center, the only museum I explored
The store where you can buy some of the graphic novels featured in the museum and more
This is a part of a series on the stages of creating a graphic novel.
Clever.
Something for the kiddo visitors to play with and at the same time exploring their storytelling skills
Comics on the walls scattered all around Brussels. Hunting for them was fun!
A skateboard place with heavily painted tracks
Witnessing how they make chocolates and trying some free samples 😀
Parc du Cinquantenaire
This was highly recommended online, as the queue proved so.
The Manneken Pis. So if you didn’t know about this, you might wonder why the souvenir shops are full of a peeing boy stuff and some restaurants or shops with a silhouette of it. I entertained myself by hunting for the other 2 Pis statues.
Jeanneke Pis, a counterpart of the Manneken Pis
Zinneke Pis
My favorite building out of everything that I’ve seen in this trip
I think a cool sculpture in this very quiet street.
I was craving for something Asian and this was what I had in a small restaurant at a corner street in Brussels
Atomium

I left Brussels at 5PM and arrived at Lille nearly 7PM. Like in Brussels, the bus station was just on this street:

Mini-Louvre structure in Lille
Cathedrale Notre-Dame de la Treille. This was where I attended a mass in French. Imagine an angelic voice singing the hymns in French, it just really felt like a solemn, sophisticated mass.

The mass just finished in time for me to walk to the bus stop. The bus departed 1PM at Lille and arrived at Calais Ferry Port around 3PM. Passport control, I was asked a few questions and required me to show my BRP.



Then by this time, I thought we’re doing the ferry again, but no. This time, the double-decker bus entered a shuttle train through the Eurotunnel. It’s amazing how a big vehicle fits just right. Passengers were not allowed to get off the bus throughout the journey. It was a bit claustrophobic but it was really fast, like less than an hour, I think about 40 minutes. This time, the route was Calais to Folkestone.

I arrived 6-ish in London Victoria Coach Station, making that a 5-hour bus ride back.

Here is a really helpful read about the services of Flixbus from a frequent Flixbus traveler. I just can’t help myself nodding to the pros and cons mentioned that I have encountered. Some of these are:

  • The drivers don’t necessarily speak English or may not give you formal instructions. When we were approaching Brussels North Station, I was waiting for an English translation after the French one but there was none. Stopping for the passport control, the bus driver said, “Okay, ladies and gentlemen, take out your passports… you know what to do.”
  • The safety of bags because once you arrive at your destinations, anyone can just literally pick up your bag.
  • Changes in booking was really easy. Initially, I bought a round-trip London-Paris and vice versa but I changed my plans. So I went on to have my Paris-London ticket refunded. Booking change was just €1 and they gave me a voucher code to use until a certain date. I used that to buy my Lille-London ticket.
  • Really cheap fares but you get what you paid for. I mean, with my £35, I have been to Paris and Brussels and Lille and back to London, what more can I ask for? Some discomforts were a part of it but I really didn’t mind.

I’m not making any Flixbus commissions here, LOL, but it’s a travel hack that I recommend. They cover countries, apart from France and Belgium, cities in Netherlands, Germany, Czech Republic, Austria, Hungary, and Romania. It’s highly likely that I will use Flixbus in the future.

How about you? Would you dare do bus rides like that?

arc de triomphe art hunting belgium bercy bus station Brussels brussels comic center brussels transportation bus Calais ferry port Cathedrale Notre-Dame de la Treille cheap ways to travel fees flixbus france land travel lille Manneken pis mort subite Parc du cinquentenaire paris Paris metro paris pubcrawl petit palais Port of dover Riviera bar crawl paris sacre coeur Street art travel hack
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