Something to cheer me up ...

[Hyacinth]

we both enjoy the luxurious relaxation of coach travel

Hell on earth if you ask me :o

Memories of charabancs for me ;D

Don't worry about the language, btw.....English will get you anywhere ;D

[Hyacinth]

[jennym]

Whatever makes you feel better, is good, really.

I try to make the best of what I can whatever the season.

Not keen on coaches myself, but can see the attraction of not having to sit in traffic jams.

Don't drink a lot of wine here, but will probably have something with dinner at Christmas, just for the tradition of it.

[Curryandchips]

It appears that many people have bad memories of coach travel, myself included as I was always very sick on vehicles as a child. However, modern coach travel is blissful in comparison, comfort levels are very high, and the tour operator I am travelling with are very professional, with comfort stops every 2-3 hours or so, videos when abroad etc. Personally, I enjoy the relaxation of not having to negociate traffic on unfamiliar roads, or the bustle and discomfort associated with air travel.

Just my point of view, but since it concurs with that of my wife, then we are both happy ...  :D

[Heldi]

I got the bus from Newcastle,changed at Kingscross and went through to Athens harbour.  Then a few months later I got it back again.   ;D

[Curryandchips]

Sounds like a good trip !

[lorna]

Heldi. What happened did you lose your way???

[Heldi]

It was when I was in my early twenties. My friend Sam and I were sitting in her kitchen one night when we came up with this idea of catching the bus to Greece and then going island hopping. So about a fortnight later, there we were,with each of us only having about 200 quid, off on an adventure.

Quick short version.

The bus itself was fine and comfy particularly as we managed to get the back seats to ourselves when we nabbed the bus for the long haul across Europe. It was fantastic. Saw all the sights. Belgium,we went right through the middle of Brussels. Germany,stopped for a pee in Frankfurt where I first saw a loo with a little shelf...you know what I mean  ;). Unfortunately I lost my toggle off my jacket down that loo and no way was I fishing it out. 
Wandering through the hills can you imagine what it was like to suddenly come across  Neuschwanstein Castle ??!!!! NEVER ever wil forget that first site and wished I could have stopped.Austria by night...all the twinkling lights in the hillsides. Yugoslavia. All the people dressed in black in the fields. The guy in the garage who would eagerly take any currency I had for a bottle of coke even though it was very little money to me. Stopped at a place in the countryside for a pee and a drink. It was full of military  :o. 
Greece. Dry, dusty,hot. First time I came across a hole in the ground loo. Yuk! (I remember loos on my trips lol!) Something happened in Thesalonika but I can't remember what...just remember nearly missing the bus after getting off for a stretch.
Athens. 2 am, 3 or 4 days later. Thousands of cochroaches on the street. I'm pretty ok with alot of bugs but have you seen the size of those things over there  :o!!

[Curryandchips]

(I remember loos on my trips lol!)

I remember loos too ! The most disgusting for me was an open air one in Rome, a few yards from the Spanish Steps would you believe ... I felt like disinfecting my shoes when I had used it !!! At the other end of the coin, I have used one of those 'automatic' toilets in France, a bit like a Tardis sort of thing, when you leave it goes through a wash and spin cycle ...

Keep us updated with more of the Greek adventures ...

Hey, this thread is doing the trick - I am definitely feeling more cheerful ... (thanks to all contributions) ...  :D

[Heldi]

We got on the boat to Rhodes and got off on the wrong island! That was the first of many daft things we did. But that might be another story.

On the trip back home.  We got off the ferry from Santorini ..I think..back in Athens a few months later. Couldn't remember where the bus was. We ran about Athens like mad things looking for it. I never did see the Acropolis...can you believe that! ::) To busy looking for the blinking bus station.  We got on the bus at a squeeze.It was jam packed on the way back. No stretching out on the back seats this time. Off we went back through Greece. Driver was a lunatic. Saw countless car crashes but it was really late and I fell asleep. Woke up in the middle of the night. Yugoslavian border. Surrounded by military,bus had been searched and I'd slept through it LOL! A South African couple from the bus were freaking out. Apparently we'd been there for 4 hours and they weren't going to let us through.

Have you realised why...think about the Yugoslavian bloke on the way to Athens who was desperate for any currency...the military presence...yep it was when all hell kicked off in Yugoslavia. Sam and I hadn't looked at a newspaper in weeks so we knew nothing.

We were eventually let through the border, after a good while. The Greek driver doing his nut! (In front of blokes with guns!!!) We travelled a different route. At one stop, the locals wouldn't let us use their loos unless we paid them money...lots of money. Me and Sam managed to sneak in but had to pelt back to the bus as an angry...no not mob...old granny, was after us. She had hate in her eyes I tell you! Blimey when you gotta go you gotta go Missus.  I do remember that we on the bus were feeling very apprehensive all the way through Yugoslavia. The way we came back showed us a different part of that country. Long grey tower blocks and depressing looking housing. Bleak,dirty and ugly. Completely different from the scenery on the way there. I now realised those people in the fields were poor. Extremely poor.

All was pretty quiet from then on. Austria lovely. Missed the castle on the way home. It must've been at night and I must've been asleep :(  Better than being awake as the driver was a lunatic. Also the South African couple moaned all the way...saying how great where they lived was...swimming pool etc and how drab London will be.

Re visited the Frankfurt loo ...for old times sake.

Drove into Brussels.  Down a street. "Hey look at those ladies in those windows!"  Bus listed violently to one side as all the blokes down the right hand side of the bus dived over to take a looky at the scantily clad women.

Stopped for a break in Brussels. Sam and I were skint and hadn't eaten for a couple of days. We sat and watched a man in a restaurant devouring spaghetti ,stomachs rumbling...it was torture.

Back to London. Couldn't afford whole of bus fare back to Newcastle...we'd come so far and yet.... good old ticket bloke gave us the tickets woo hoo!
Back to Newcastle...back into my little flat,backpack dumped...then out onto the town .Sorted.