Salvete,
While Ryan air seems cheap, it takes forever and there are some hidden costs. For example, they advertize 17 euros to London, cheap right? But then there is about 40 Euros tax, at least another 15 euros to get down to Charleroi, and then when you get to Stanstead it costs another 40 euros to get into the center of London. Basically, they fly into and out of airports that are very very far from the cities.
Last week, it took me 8 hours to get from Limburg to Victoria station= total cost 125 Euros. I had to take 2 trains to Charleroi, the plane and 2 more trains to victoria station. I had to jump up and catch another train etc. every 45 minutes...could have plopped down and gone to sleep, rather than going up and down every 30 minutes.
But yesterday I found something very inexpensive. I am going to London by bus next week. It will cost me 57 euros and another 10 euros to Antwerp to get the bus. It will take 8 hurs and 15 minutes to get there, but for 7 of those hours, I can read or sleep. The bus also stops in different parts of Belgium. I've just checked and it costs 124 euros round trip from Belgium to Rome from Belgium website
http://www.eurolines.be
Our British friends can look at their English website on
http://www.gobycoach.com
And other than the price, a bus might be nice for us. We can talk without constantly looking at our watches, maps, train schedules and bus schedules in order to see if we'll make the next connection.
Vale,
Diana