Traveling with Family : Megabus Memphis To Atlanta

I have been planning to travel from Memphis to Atlanta for some time now and was looking around for some good budget travel ideas or should I say "How to travel cheap" 😇
My wife and 10year old kid joined me in this journey and it turned out to be a fun family trip!!

Keep reading to know the anxious moments and fun moments of this trip, if you are interested.

Megabus Review

Flixbus Phoenix to Las Vegas

Some facts about Memphis and Atlanta:

Memphis is a city on the Mississippi River in southwest Tennessee, famous for the influential strains of blues, soul, and rock ‘n’ roll that originated there.

Atlanta is the capital of the U.S. state of Georgia. It played an important part in both the Civil War and the 1960s Civil Rights Movement

Memphis to Atlanta:

The distance between Memphis to Atlanta is approx 391 miles.
Highway I-22 and I-20 E connects the two cities
Atlanta is around 6 hours drive from Memphis by car.

To travel from Memphis to Atlanta, one can take:

A flight ✈
Drive a car 🚘
Take a bus- MegaBus or Greyhound 🚍
Take an Amtrak (Train) 🚆

Reading through various blogs & watching numerous YouTube videos for

➤ cheapest flight tickets,

➤how to get free flight tickets,

➤how to travel on a budget etc etc..

I was almost certain that driving my own car will be the cheapest option, till I stumbled upon the Mega bus website https://us.megabus.com/.

Luck by Chance: Got one dollar Megabus tickets!!

Are you interested in getting One dollar ticket on Megabus?, then do read A guaranteed way to get a $1 Megabus ticket

The mega bus has deals running for $1 on some limited tickets and they also have some budget travel deals for tickets as cheap as $3!

But historically speaking, my luck is not good at all…Still, I gave it a try and

!! surprise surprise!!

I not only got a $1 ticket for myself but also for my family…and the same deal on my return journey as well!! Talking of traveling free, it came true!! 😍

Gleefully I booked my tickets but had some doubts at the back of my mind about the travel experience.. maybe because I was suspicious of the 1 dollar tickets…😑

Being an adventurer, I made up my mind to find it myself…

Note:$2 is charged per booking as a convenience fee so the total cost will be $3, still, it’s ALMOST FREE!!😜

Day of Travel

Anxious morning:

The bus departure time was 9:50 AM and at 7:30 Am I received a message from Mega bus “Your Mega bus service has changed. Please check your email for details”

My heart sank..here I was, all prepared with bag and baggage and then this message …, so much for budget travel…

Expecting the worst, I quickly checked my email.

The email read

“The service will no longer be provided by Mega bus double Decker but it will be by American coach”.

The first thought that crossed my mind- is the starting location the same?…has to be, but me being me could not resist expecting the worst…😨

It was not at all the best morning for me..the friend who agreed to drop me at the bus stop was not answering his phone… Great!! the day is jinxed…

My wife sensed the tension but she was occupied with her own priorities i.e snacks for the travel…🍌🍟🍪

👶My kid cared less about all the issues, he was busy ensuring his tab was fully charged, headphones were in place for travel📱…

Really??? the whole travel was at risk and all these guys cared about was their dose of snacks and electronics?? God help me…😞

As I opened my Uber app, my friend called and confirmed that he is coming over… a silver lining in the dark cloud…

Budget Travel Tip:

Save on Uber/Lyft, request a friend to drop you at the bus stop…😇

Thankfully the ride to the bus stop went smoothly. It was a 40-45minutes drive from my place.

I glanced back to check on my wife and kid, both were deep in sleep 👀

We arrived at the bus terminal with enough time to spare.🚍

It was pretty cold outside, so we quickly entered the bus terminal.

The bus stop/terminal

As such, the Mega bus does not have its own bus stop- (hence the cheap ticket??), it’s sharing with Greyhound at Airways Blvd which is near to Memphis Airport.

Thankfully, there were enough sitting places, my wife and kid settled on one of the benches while I strolled around to check out few things

I inquired with the person wearing the Mega bus jacket, 👮 he mentioned just sit inside and the bus will be announced when the time comes…

Not convinced by the answer, I roamed around, and in one corner, near the washroom, there was a Mega bus signpost.

First thought to cross my mind-Man!! are they trying to hide?!!😒

The key take away from this Megabus Review is to check out where the bus boarding area is, I would never have noticed it if I had not been snooping around.

There is a common queue for all Mega bus destinations, be around the counter so that when the bus staff whispers (yes, it literally was announced so softly that I was barely able to hear even though I was sitting next to the Mega bus booth)👪👬👭

I circled back to where my family was sitting, as expected, both were deep into their mobile devices 📱

Boarding Bus

As the queue moved out of the gate, Bus staff checked tickets (on mobile or print out). I had two full-size suitcases, two small size suitcases. 🧳🧳

The guy handling the Check-in luggage department glanced at the ticket (one check-in per person) and looked at me with a question in his eyes. I pointed towards my wife and kid and he got the answer.

Funny, we understood each other even without speaking a word!! 😁

With big suitcases properly tucked in the luggage compartment, We onboarded the bus. There was enough space for the smaller boxes (cabin bag that had snacks, water etc) in the bus.

I tucked my cabin bag and glanced at my wife. She already took one seat was in a deep argument with the kid on why she should get the window seat, with her cabin bag still on the bus floor 😑

Things man have to do!!

I took care of her cabin bag and took my seat, trying not to involve in the ongoing argument.

How strict is Megabus with luggage?

Short answer, VERY!! The mega bus is very particular about the weight and dimension of the luggage, so pack accordingly.😑

Even though it was a single deck bus, some of the seats were still vacant.

My wife and kid occupied their seats (kid got the window 😉) and I took the window seat behind them, and hoped no one takes the vacant seat beside me…and no one did!!

WOW, I love Megabus 😎

The seats were comfortable with enough leg space for 5’9″ guy like me. The bus was neat and clean, the lady driver constantly reminded passengers about using headphones 🎧 while playing songs/videos on mobile/laptop.

Thankfully, the travelers obliged.

The bus had a toilet and some of the travelers used it, I waited for the stops to answer nature’s call.

Journey starts

The bus started almost on time ⌚. The promised wi-fi was flaky, good enough for me to book a hotel on an app but not good enough for my son to play videos…

😂FUN FACT- My son actually enjoyed the view outside the window, thanks for the wi-fi.. or rather lack of it 😆

There were charging sockets on the bus that kept the mobiles on for the 8-hour journey.

I quickly checked on my family, both were again in their “Dream Land” 😴

The first halt was after two and a half hours with options of McDonald and Subway. 🍔🍪🍩

We got down the bus, quickly rushed to the washroom. There was a big queue outside the ladies’ room and a small one inside Gent’s room 😏

My son and I quickly took a leak and came out. My wife was still standing in the queue, waiting for her turn.

Things women have to face!!

Money-saving hack: Install the McDonald app, it always gives you some offers!!

We got burgers, fries, and coke between me and my son. My wife being a vegan, settled for Subway.

After a break of around 30min, the bus moved on.

I checked on my family, My kid was explaining how things should be around the world and my wife was trying to give him logic why things are the way they are!!

Now it was my turn to visit the DreamLand 😴😉

The next halt was at Birmingham, where few of the travelers got down and few boarded the bus, the seat beside me was still vacant 😎

The bus took one more halt for passengers to take a “bio break” at the outskirts of Atlanta.🙉

Destination

Atlanta downtown had huge traffic but the bus moved on slowly.

It was nice to see so many cars lined up in multiple lanes (I come from Collierville, where if we find 4 cars at a time, its considered crowded 😆)

Atlanta Civic Center MARTA (Metro station) was the last stop and all got down.🚍🚦

The last stop did not have any bus terminal. It was a bus stop beside the road and metro, like a city bus halt.

We took a metro to our hotel. My plan was to do sightseeing using public transport.

Megabus Atlanta to Memphis

After Atlanta sightseeing, it was time to go back home i.e Atlanta to Memphis on Megabus again!!

The bus started from the same spot i.e Atlanta Civic Center MARTA.

We reached there 20 minutes before time and the bus was there. Again the same process was followed before onboarding.

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