National Express: a big surprise on the overnight coach from London Victoria to Glasgow! 

i love the national express cos i feel like wherever i go i can express myself nationally

The NE is an amazing service now. I used to make the London to Glasgow journey around 15 times a year back in the 90s and it was hell. Cramped, full of smoke and the bus would overheat like a tin can. Took the journey recently after a 20 year break and I was vastly impressed. Boy has it moved on since then

I've travelled National Express from London to Birmingham. Ontime, good value and comfortable journey. As a tourist I think they're great.

I think national express is doing great job, one of best transport services in uk. Even on other seats there is still some space for legs.

When I was a student, I used National Express almost every week from 1987 to about 1998 - mainly travelling on the London to Birmingham route (for 6 years) and then from Cambridge to Birmingham (5 years). In the late '80's - they were still doing the tea trolley and video on the Rapide coaches. I loved the double decker Rapide coaches - they were luxurious - blue velour seats and carpets. All the London to B'ham coaches had a toilet. The Cambridge to B'ham coaches were single deckers, a bit more spartan - and the journey was much longer (3 hours!). Anyway - it was cheap, reliable and stress-free.

I travelled by coach from London to Munich, was a 24 hour ride but as I was under 25 at the time the cost was a big saving. I think then it worked out being something like £35. For what it was, a fantastic service, truly an experience I will never forget. I will do it again.

National express doing a great job. Had a wonderful experience travelling From Cardiff to London.

I always use National Express when travelling between London and any other city in England. The buses are comfortable and I have never had a single issue with the service. I will do the London-Glasgow route someday.

A lovely , gentle video for a Sunday morning

My go-to service directly from Uni of Notts to London every other week! Cheap and reliable!

Love National Express... Many a Good Journey. Thank You.

I do love the coach journey vlog's. It enables me to reminice about my non stop over journeys to Spain from Hull in the 80s with siesta travel. 33 hours with the occasional service station stop, and ferry crossing.

Your videos are always great, discovered your channel by accident, many years ago (early 2000’s) I was a driver for parks of Hamilton (based in Rochdale) doing national express services, we just had the neoplan skyliners when I started and I used to do Manchester airport to Aberdeen service, I’d go as far as Hamilton and then another driver took over from there to continue to Aberdeen, it seems like the modern day national express isn’t too bad at all, I don’t think I could do that job now but like how it works, keep up the great content, it’s just simple easy to understand and no nonsense, I really like that, all the best.

Used the 2A tip for a rail-strike avoiding trip from Heathrow to South Wales this weekend - made the journey so much better - cheers.

I know a few drivers on the National Express coaches and also some of the Mega bus drivers. My hubby is a bus driver in the west midlands 🙂. We have used national express coaches many times and they never let us down, always fair priced travel. All the best on your future travels my friend! Look forward to all of your new uploads 🙂

Thanks for your sharing!

Excellent !

Planning this journey and thanks for your advice.

National Express is great! I haven't taken a very long route, as I do London - Stansted Airport and Stansted to London, but always find it very comfortable and always manage to sleep a bit!

That was surprisingly relaxing to watch.

Thanks for the upload, I find your cadence and videos in general very calming for some reason. Keep up the good work

Thanks for sharing!

Thank you for the info I think its something a lot people might find useful cheers.

Good looking Bus seats looked real comfortable always love your adventures 😁😁😁💟

Great price and a new bus looked way more comfortable than i thought

Great trip

I do think you could have done a bridge piece between the start and and end of your journey. Maybe you could have shown what it was like in the motorway services the coach stopped at for example. Just a minute of that would have be long enough.

Thank you for all your work. When I get myself organised, i

I used to live next to the Buchanan Bus Station, and that final cut was giving me major nostalgia.

Great video, love your sense of adventure, keep up the good work

Did Leeds to Stockport many times as a kid…..loved them

good job guy!!!👍👋👋👋

Have done the 595 London-Glasgow route a fair few times now. I always manage to get some sleep, I have never had a delay on any of the coaches and the drivers are always so friendly! NE do coach cards for some (young persons, disabled and pensioners I believe) and I pretty much made my money back in the first trip - well worth looking into if you use NE often!

Here is a tip for you on the national express coaches. On the drivers side towards the back of the bus, their are 2 seats with more legroom. Because of the toilet on the other side, their is enough room on that side for an extra row of seats but not enough room for 2 extra rows. If you don't believe me check it out next time you are on one of their coaches.

I love video . Devon is good to visit 😀 😀

Interesting information thank you, and for a previous video where I wasn't even aware flixbus had UK operations ! Thanks again, safe travels 👍

Respect!!🫡

As a person with mobility issues I always ring ahead time and book one of the front seats as I need the leg room because of my spinal injury/surgery. Sitting for long periods of time is difficult.N express have been very good to me

Great vdo Thanks

Good information

legend.....i couldnt do that....love the video

A long time ago (1983) I travelled with Stagecoach from Glasgow to London overnight. We stopped near Preston where you could get out and have a coffee, and had another stop at Toddington services. Slept for an hour or two. Can't remember how much I paid, maybe a fiver each way, but it was a good trip.

Great video

I use the National Express often, doing a Swansea - Birmingham run a few weeks back only cost me just under £10, it'd been treble that amount in fuel if I'd driven instead. Plus my son loves a "coach trip" on the National Express every so often too. Again, the price for 1adult and 1 child for the journey still works out cheaper than it would for petrol if taking the car.

I did this trip three weeks ago though we only had one break at Knutsford for half an hour , still a good trip with National express I enjoy traveling with them.

Thanks Scott. I've only been on an overnight coach once in 1985, London Victoria to Glasgow. Looks like the coaches are much more modern now. I want to get to Edinburgh and may give NE a try, if I don't like it I can gly back to Gatwick. I enjoy your videos, keep them coming

I tried this for the first time the other night. Overall the quality of service is excellent. The driver and his colleagues were very friendly. Everything ran to time. Indeed we arrived into Glasgow early. Apparently our bus was one of the older fleet - but it was fine. Was assured the new fleet is better. I managed to acquire the desirable seat 2A. Thanks for the tip Scott. (Incidentally, seat 2A on the new fleet also has the best leg room.) I have no hesitation in recommending it. My only problem was that I could not sleep. It doesn’t matter if I use a train or plane, I cannot settle properly.

Really enjoyed that 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

thank you very much for the info best regards Martin King

I recently did Sunderland to Manchester on national express couple of weeks back was really comfortable & cheap aswell about £20

And great tip 👍🏻

Enjoyed the video, and glad this travel arrangement is now a very distant memory. Mind you, the price is compelling.

And 2a is booked.. Thanks mate!!

Nice video, u look very rested at the end, good for u, love your videos, lol.

So many memories of trips to Scotland and the North of England and using Scottish Citylink Anglo-Scottish services.

I travelled two three time national bus very bored journey.. Now I traveld liner train London to edunburg great train great journey I love liner coach

I've done return trips from Newcastle to London, Nottingham, Cardiff and Manchester (several times). Never had an issue. Tickets are always clear. The buses clean, the seats comfy and the traveling fine. Every aspect is 100% brilliant and far cheaper than the overrated and overpriced trains. No wonder on many videos I've seen recently about travelling on trains up and down the country, more than half the seats are empty

Really enjoyed your vid mate. Ray in London

u soothe me .. thank u for soothing me

I´ve used NE a lot of times to London either from Stansted or Luton airports, recencely I took NE to Bournemouth, Portsmouth and once to Plymouth and never had any issue. Good prices, comfortable buses, good ride.

I sometimes got the National Express to and from uni (this was about 10 years ago now). I discovered it was cheaper if you went mid-week and bought a ticket from the start point to the end point. What I used to do though was (in London) get off 1 or 2 stops early near an overground station which meant I got home quicker. In relation to coaches the Caetano Levante the drivers always used to say 'These are a piece of plastic, uncomfortable to sit in - we prefered the Scania irzia's.' Megabus used to do a Gold Sleeper service to Scotland. They don't do that any more but it would have been nice to try.

About 8 years ago I had a car delivery job and I delivered a vehicle to the Norwich area coach depot. They sorted me out with a free ride back to London which was excellent sat behind the driver to learn the route!

Excellent bit of advice that pal, I've used megabus quite alot over the last few years and I'm 6'4" so yeah a bit cramped. I will definitely be giving National Express a go 👍

I’ll be working for NX in a few weeks. Moving over from bus driving. Am looking forward to a new adventure, driving these nice vehicles and meeting nice people. I’ve traveled as a passenger on NX. They are lovely coaches and really cosy at night with the interior low lighting.

That seat has tons of legroom. 2A is a great tip for everyone!

Thanks , liked and subbed , I always travel NEX between Cornwall and London .

This is a really cute video, thanks for sharing! Chanced upon it while looking for reviews of the overnight from London to Edinburgh

Thanks very much for the insight of the National express, I quite enjoyed the way you put your self and explained in an easy manner. where is the next journey? thank you.

I use the same seat for my trips,,, loads of leg room 👍

Happy to see you so happy doing something you love! Still see your face and think @rustynails is ye name! lol Sending you my best Scott!

Great insight my friend. I had one of these booked as a back up for my train 🚂 journey from London during the heatwave. It was a mega bus tho which I can imagine is not a great as national !

And their drivers actually like and enjoy the driving, and having passengers too! Some other companies don't! 🙂🙂🙂🙂

I used to do this journey frequently, like twice a month, as I was dating a girl in Glasgow who was from Norwich (where I live). I also traveled from Norwich to Cambridge by train and from Cambridge London Victoria by NatEx coach, changing at Victoria before heading up to Glasgow. I did this twice a month (sometimes 3 times) for well over a year! All for the princely sum of £36 return each time (before travel card discount)

I travel National Express every couple of weeks on the overnight London to Scotland service and they are so much better than the opposition.

good video

Like how you can see the border in the road at 4:31 with the visible change in road standard...

I used to work in Birmingham and used Digbeth coach station almost weekly for football and for trips back to Dublin (Where I'm from).

Great 👍

National Express's hidden jewel must be the quality and professionalism of their Driving Crews. Travelling from Portsmouth to Glasgow via Victoria Coach Station (on the day coach) my Coach got caught up in a traffic jam and was running slightly late but the driver called through to Dispatch at Victoria Departures explaining my position and where he was currently, keeping them informed all the way to Arrivals. On running (then I could do it!) to Departures across the road I arrived at the Stance to find the Coach had departed the Stance but had pulled in to the side nearby. On arriving breathless at the Coach I came across a smiling driver who said, "we knew you were coming" before taking my bag and stowing it in the hold". Brilliant Operators.

I have used this many times between LHR and Glasgow----they have a National Express card for different age groups ie Senior etc. I agree seat 2A or B is the only way to go. I find the other seats a little cramped regarding leg room and I am not tall. They have several breaks along the way when you can have coffee. The price is great compared to air or train prices. The trick is to book as early as possible, pay extra to reserve your seat.

Thanks for this video! I've actually just booked a long trip from Dundee to Cardiff, using National Express for Glasgow to London and London to Edinburgh on your recommendation. It was only a few pound more and I got seat 2A too. Hoping for a better trip (and quieter clientele) than the Megabus.

Great video, I tried Magabus & National Express, and think National Express tend to be better, but that's in part due to people are using Megabus due to it being generally cheaper, so different clientele.

I relied on the National Express heavily when I lived in Manchester and had to visit my mum in Brighton . It was nice to see Victoria Coach Station again in this video , but I am very glad to be back home and not need the service anymore. But bless them , they saved me from shocking train fares .

Many Memories! Given that I worked in the Industry for many many years! All before privatation of local NBC bus companies, and then of Course actually National Express.... We were innovators back in the day!

In 2002 I did Edinburgh to Penzance with National Express. The bus drivers were shocked that we were going all the way. 19 & 1/2 hours on the one coach leaving at 9:30pm & arriving into Penzance at 5pm. The worst part was when it was morning & realising that there was still hours & hours to go.

Wow I used to do this travel 20 years ago it was £25 open return back then, always had a pleasant journey , tea trolleys and sandwiches available, 2 stops for 30-45mins each , National Express 👍🏻

Awesome video buddy from Alan Shelley in Lowestoft

Done the seat 2A trick myself. It worked . Completely worth an extra £3 for a 7 1/2 hour journey.

In the late 70's and 80's I worked for the Scottish Bus Group at a depot in Arbroath. We had a responsibility as a depot to provide a second driver for coaches from Aberdeen to London. The vehicles we used were without doubt the most comfortable for passengers of the many types I drove and travelled on. The chassis and driving position were old Leyland Leopards and were pretty tough so since they were running at 70mph for most of the time were very low-stressed. The body was built by Alexanders works in Edinburgh and the seats were huge. To start with there were only I think 42 or 44 seats which meant plenty of legroom. The seats themselves were very well padded and relatively soft and for me the best aspect was that the headrest wrapped around your head. With the soft cushioning it stopped your head rolling around so sleep was easy. The toilet was in the rear corner and also had plenty of room - for the teenage child who managed to get himself locked in. I still bear the scar from trying to break in to free him... The replacement vehicles looked nice from the outside but were much harder on the passengers feeble pink bodies so sleep was more difficult.

National Express coach for the journey

When I firstly visited the UK, I traveled from Heathrow Terminal 4 to Sheffield by national express.

Traveled to Bradford ..best service from National Express

10 years ago I swore I'd never get on a NE bus again - some kid threw up in the aisle, spent the 4 hour journey on a hot bus with the smell. I'm using it in a few weeks to Scotland so this has made me feel better. £30 direct, where train was £90 and I had to change 3 times.

I'm 6'3" and have no trouble at all on all the National Express coaches, plenty of leg room on all of the seats ..wifi and a usb point to keep your phone charged ,,I travel at least once a month to London and every 6 weeks down to Torquay and you can't beat them ..a bit slower than the train but the cost saving is substantial....off round the UK again with them nexxt week!

Last time I got the bus from Glasgow to London was for a U2 Gig, possibly 1997 ish Was ok going down but nightmare coming home, pretty sure it was with Citylink Most drivers on those buses are extremely experienced drivers who sadly don't get the credit they deserve.

I ve done loads of trip to Cardiff- Sunderland sector...😊

Wow. They look a lot better than the old cramped seats with fuzzy covering type that I last went on - about 30 years ago

I generally don't like coach travel (although been to Spain on the coach a few times) as I suffer from toilet anxiety. However used the National Express from Manchester to Birmingham and back a few weeks ago and I could not fault the service. Both were on time but going it was very busy due to the strain strike on that day. It helped that both Manchester and Birmingham have a proper national express station so lots o staff around if there is any delays etc. I would never use Megabus again as I had too many bad experiences with it. I have used Flixbus in Europe on a couple of journeys with no issues.

Top tip usually if you go to rear of coach and sit by emergency exit door usually drivers side, Or offside , depending on vehicle they do vary, seats are removed by emergency door to allow for access, so you get huge space in front of you. ( yes I drive them for my job) unlimited leg room, although like I say vehicles do vary a little….

National Express will always beat the train on price. The coach from Whitehaven to London was ended by the pandemic, but when it ran, the fare was a third of what Virgin quoted and the coaches were quite nice.