I can either book a direct 3 hour flight or take a 36 hour bus trip across 1K miles changing buses 2 times in 2 different non English speaking countries but in big cities, so I assume young people and public facing employees at the bus exchanges to speak some of it…
I’d have to wait between 3 and 5 hours to board the next bus. Optimist me says great! I could go sightseeing, but with a large and heavy backpack this might not be a good idea…
Then there’s food, which at bus stations or in tourists areas is neither good nor cheap no matter where you are, personal hygiene, pickpocketing… I’d be traveling solo.
And more noob questions: are travelers allowed to eat in the bus? Am I allowed to bring my own food?
I’ve read the post again and this looks like a really stupid idea… but did you ever do something like this? Any regrets?
I’ve never done this and would never do it, for all the reasons people have already described.
I would, however, choose a 6-hour train over a 2-hour flight, as long as I traveled in (European) first/business class with a seat reservation.
There is almost no amount of money that could convince me to travel 36 hours by bus if I could instead spend 5-6 hours going through airports and only one flight. If I literally didn’t have the money to fly, I would spend all my energy figuring out how not to go at all.