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The UK has a surprisingly good bus and coach network to get you across the Channel to mainland Europe and then beyond. With the freedom of the road, you can shop around for cheaper onward travel options, whether it's by air or sea, since you can bus it towards the best deals on the continent!
While bus travel might not be the most glamorous way to travel, most coaches will be relatively comfortable with televisions playing terrible movies to keep you entertained and the more expensive and long-haul journeys may even offer refreshments. When planning a journey by road, it's best to think how you like to travel. If you're comfortable being a little cramped for a few hours but are happy with the fact that you will have saved money then bus travel is definitely for you.
With the vast improvements over the last few years with the Channel Tunnel and passenger trains, coaches can easily hop over to France and then drive onto other European destinations. Travelling like this means you don't have to worry about missing a train or connection since that burden lies with the driver! Once your bag is loaded on, you can sit back and relax until you reach your stop.
Understandably, if you are headed to more exotic locations, the likelihood is that you'll need to get yourself to Europe first before you can start looking at the next leg, so here's a couple of websites to get you across the Channel.
Eurolines is a fantastic website where you can search route maps and timetables to find a bus from all over the UK to over 500 destinations throughout Europe and Ireland. This is worth a look if you are trying to find cheap travel since you can start looking for flights from Europe and of course, do a bit of travelling on your way.
Busabout offer some great budget travel options with their hop on- hop off coach scheme throughout Europe. Choose a route, buy your ticket and then you (surprisingly) hop on and hop off at any city stop that takes your fancy, stay as long as you like and then jump back on when you're ready to go to the next place. This type of travel is ideal for people travelling solo since your bus is guaranteed to be full of likeminded people so you get a group of friends thrown in for free with your bus ticket!
If you read through the specific country guides on The Man in Seat Sixty-One some countires include routes with buses and also links to local bus companies and information on relevant bus passes that may be available to you so have a read through the wealth of information there to help you plan your next move.