One of the beautiful things about studying abroad in England is that London is one of the biggest centers of travel in Europe. People from all over the world journey to London in relatively large numbers, and the transportation systems within and surrounding the London area are superb. You have a myriad of different choices each and every time you wish to travel, no matter where you want to go. You can travel by bus, train, plane... In fact, it's almost overwhelming.
My grandfather's brother and his wife have recently moved to Paris from the states, and my family has mutually decided that we should check up on each other whilst I'm studying abroad. As a result, I had the rather interesting experience of single-handedly planning my travel from London to Paris. To make my life more difficult, I also arbitrarily decided to stop off in Nantes along the way to visit a GW friend.
Did you know you can get from England to France by using four different modes of transportation? I didn't either. You can take a train, a plane, a bus, or a boat (though the latter option is ill-advised). Picking a mode of transportation sounds intuitive; just book the cheapest tickets. But, as I've discovered, there's more to it than that, especially when you're leaving from London.
To begin with, there's the element of time to consider. Planes may technically offer the shortest amount of travel time, but you also have to pass through airport security before you fly and customs after you land. Recently, England has also decided to start screening for Ebola at all of their airports, so that now adds another time constraint to airport travel. And, if you're leaving from London, the cheapest flights leave from well outside of the city, meaning you have to pay cab or train fairs to get to the airport.
Trains are a little more expensive and they take longer, but they're generally more comfortable, and you only need to be at the train station half an hour or so before your train departs. The bus is obviously the cheapest (seven pounds from London to Cardiff!), but it can take forever. A Megabus journey from London to Amsterdam can take half a day, especially if the bus has to make stops along the way.
So what's the cheapest, easiest, and fastest way to travel around Europe from London? Honestly... it depends on where you're going. For me, I use the bus to travel from London to the rest of the UK, the train to travel from London to the far west of Europe, and a plane to go to countries as far away as Italy. In the end, I suppose saving some money by taking a bus is nice, but it isn't always the answer.