Some advice… don’t watch ‘Race Across the World’ and then go for a pint down the pub with a friend. It can result in many laughs, a challenge and was precisely the reason I spent last weekend on a bus in the middle of the night, rolling across Europe.
Honestly, the last time I did it, I was 20. You know the younger, more adventurous and definitely slimmer version of myself. But, if they can get halfway across Europe for less than the price of an airfare on TV, what could possibly go wrong in real life?
So rucksack in hand, on a normal Thursday, it was time to head down to London to catch the bus to make the 3 am ferry… to France!
Travelling is not always easy; sometimes it is hard… and those 3 am crossings are never the easiest… but what these trips are is refreshing, and travelling by land even more so.
Now, as many will know, I am no stranger to the airport, but despite my fondness for airline pretzels and a glass of (so fizzy it goes up your nose) cola, the aeroplane does always feel a bit like the magic tube.
I mean, we all sit cramped for a couple of hours, relieved at having fended off temptation to buy yet more sweets at the airport, only to arrive blinking in a different country where suddenly everything feels different.
It is, it seems, the closest thing we have to teleportation.
But, travelling by land, sea and by bus is different.
You get on at your local stop, having bought snacks (but importantly not egg sandwiches) from the Sainsbury’s Express and then slowly (very slowly) trundle to Dover, before travelling through France, Belgium, the Netherlands and on to your final destination.
Things change, but things change gradually. The countryside, the language, the food, you can see it all morph, how we are all connected and in many ways not far away from each other.
Of course, it is not all plain sailing. After about 6 hours, your bum has become numb and the seat has become strangely very uncomfortable… but this point is never the main concern.
Despite a strategy of desiccation, my biggest fear is the phrase… “the bus toilet is now full”. Seriously, what was everyone drinking before they got on the bus.
So sitting there, prune like, uncomfortable, in the dark, in a bus, there was the darkest hour… clearly requiring Jedi-like levels of mind control to not be the grumpy old man in seat 12a. (I failed)
However, buses also, it seems, thrive on organised chaos. This chaos is in a manner you just don’t get on the plane or the train. Delays, short connections, long connections, and only finding your bus by deciphering scribbled notes taped to a wall are all part of the adventure… and it does seem to work… plus every so often this results in a gem.
On one bus leg, a group, who did politely ask first, burst into song, and were surprisingly good. Where did that come from! It seems some people can turn their hand to having fun anywhere and was the lesson the man in 12a needed.
And I suppose that was the take away on returning to the office (albeit a bit broken from the 20 hour trip home!).
It is that we are all connected, more closely than we think, and every so often, we probably all need to have a little discomfort in our lives to find new gems and adventure.
It is, after all, sometimes the journey, not the destination, that is important.
Have a good week everyone.
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