For many people, holidays and short breaks are the last thing they want to sacrifice in times of austerity.  They might have to shop in cheaper supermarkets, or buy fewer new clothes, perhaps even go down to having just one car for the family, but most people hang on to their precious time away and save hard to make sure they can still have a proper break.

Even so, people are considering cheaper alternatives to the traditional fortnight abroad, all-inclusive hotel package holidays.  If you are considering your alternatives at the moment, then take some time to think about the cheapest way to travel.  You won’t have to think for very long before you realise that with the ever-increasing cost of petrol and car insurance, and the ever-increasing taxes placed on air travel, that travelling by car and plane might not be affordable any more.  That leaves you with: walking (obviously rather limiting in terms of how far you can travel), the train and bus.

Trains and buses are both excellent forms of transport, being easier on the environment than most of the other options.  Trains are a little limited, though, in terms of where they can take you, whereas buses tend to have more stops and access more areas.  Buying a bus pass will save you money if you are a regular traveller, so check out Stagecoach’s website for full details on how to get the best value for your money.

If you choose Stagecoach buses, there is an amazingly cheap option: the Megabus.  You’ve probably seen their distinctive blue and yellow buses travelling up and down the motorways and their familiar large-print offers advertising almost unbelievable prices for their intercity travel (Leeds to London for £1.00 plus 50p booking fee???).  Although it might seem too good to be true, it really is true.

Megabus.com is an intercity coach operator that is based here in the UK and in the USA.  Launched in 2003 it has already transported millions of people safely and cheaply to their destinations.  It operates in around fifty cities in the UK

Bus travel is cheap, safe, and environmentally sound (check out Stagecoach’s Carbon Trust Standard Award for details).  And even better, Stagecoach has teamed up with Ice, a customer reward programme designed to encourage and thank people for choosing environmentally-friendly travel options and other goods and services.  Visit www.myice.com for details on how to sign up (it’s free, you earn points per pound spent with their partners, and you can use those points to pay for goods and services with any of their partners – no catch!)