Fancy spending two months traveling overland from Istanbul to London without ever having to get behind the wheel?
Indian expedition company Adventures Overland is about to launch what’s being billed as “the world’s longest bus journey.”
Due to depart in August, the 56-day trip, which is available for up to 30 passengers, will span 22 countries, taking travelers from Turkey’s largest city, through the Balkans, eastern Europe, Scandinavia and western Europe, to the UK capital.
A ferry crossing on the Gulf of Finland, a visit to the North Cape (or Nordkapp) – the northernmost point in continental Europe and a cruise along the Norwegian Fjords – are listed among the highlights of the 12,000-kilometer journey.
The entire package, which will set travelers back $24,300, includes a daily breakfast, along with 30 lunches and dinners, as well as all hotel stays (on a twin sharing basis).
While traveling on a bus for two months might not sound hugely appealing to some, the vehicle is described as “a special luxury bus designed for comfortable long-distance travel.”
Bus to London has been devised as an alternative to Adventures Overland’s annual Road to London route, partly inspired by the Hippie Trail buses that traversed the world during the 1950s and 1960s, which was set to begin in 2021.
However, the route, which covered destinations such as Myanmar, China and Russia, currently closed to international visitors, was unable to launch as expected.
Adventures Overland was founded by entrepreneurs Tushar Agarwal and Sanjay Madan back in 2012, who went on to organize various India-to-London expeditions, in which travelers bring their own cars and travel in a convoy, as well as journeys across Iceland and Russia, before introducing their first cross continental bus journey.
“Every single route in each country has been vetted to ensure that the journey is seamless so participants on Bus to London can get on board with the knowledge and confidence that they are in safe hands,” Agarwal says in a statement.
