When writing in this blog, I often have to remind myself that traveling isn’t always fun. It’s easy to write about the best parts of the trip, and to let myself forget the difficulties. Yet in doing so, I would leave the impression that traveling is a breeze. It’s not-far from it-and more than often it’s an uncomfortable experience. However, it’s this very challenge of simply getting to the destination with body and mind intact that feeds our soul. When we are taken out of our comfort zone, we test our limits and abilities.

I have now been traveling around Europe for 8 months, and I have since gained some knowledge of how to survive on just about every mode of transportation. Let me clarify; cheap transportation. Somehow I have not yet fallen into a great amount of success and wealth, which means that I get to enjoy the luxuries of Ryanair and city buses. From suffering in the middle seat onboard cheap flights, to praying for a quick death on ancient, rattling metro-lines, I have experienced it all. Along the way, I have learned that the adventure doesn’t always start upon reaching the destination; often it starts on the journey. Through my experiences on planes, trains, and buses, I have learned how to adapt quickly, and how to make the best of any situation.

As any of my fellow English teachers can tell you, there is one mode of transportation that we all dread, yet constantly seek; the night bus. Imagine being stuck in a sweaty, cramped, claustrophobic, and uncomfortable vehicle for 6 + hours. Everyone is speaking a foreign language, and they’re all speaking it loudly. Now imagine that the only toilet on the bus isn’t working… and you only get to stop for a bathroom break every three hours. Why would we subject ourselves to this misery? Because it’s cheap.

I recently discussed this hell with my friends, Matt and Kendahl. They had just survived a 7 hour trip to Krakow on a night bus. Our impassioned discussion on the horrors of the journey inspired this post. (Check out their blog! Matt and Kendahl: The Hungarian Years)

I fondly recall my first trip on a night bus.
On October 3rd, I decided to book a night bus to Munich. Bavaria was celebrating the last week of Oktoberfest and I didn’t want to miss it.
The bus was scheduled to leave at 10pm. I met up with a large group of English teachers, and we were split into three buses. The super cool bus company decided without our permission, that all native-English speakers should be placed in the far back of the bus. I suppose that this would ensure that they wouldn’t have to talk to us unless completely necessary. Regardless, we were squished into the far back, and squeezed behind the seats in front of us. Unlike the seats in the rest of the bus, we didn’t have any leg room or armrests.

For 6 hours, I sat in the middle seat between my two good friends, Susan and Justin. But, I managed to make the best out of it. I had a great time talking and laughing with Justin and Susan. In fact, I should probably thank the awkwardly-close seats for the close friendship that I now have with both of them.

Shoutout to the sleepy Brazilians who were stuck with us in the back.

Once I found the most comfortable position possible to use with my neck pillow, I thought, “this isn’t too bad.” I fell into a light sleep. Then suddenly, the air conditioning stopped working. The windows didn’t open. The bus suddenly turned into a sauna, and a smelly one at that. I woke up in a sweat, desperate to breathe fresh air.
I think I slept for maybe an hour.
By 9am, we finally reached Munich. Exhausted, irritable, and bleary-eyed, we ventured out of the bus, and into the city. It was a cold, dreary day, and the buildings were draped in a heavy fog.

Oktoberfest
Since the fog hindered our plans to go sight-seeing, we decided to meet up with the rest of the group in the Oktoberfest area. We quickly decided to avoid the carnival chaos, but to check out the food vans. After grabbing a couple pastries, we then searched for a beer tent. We were incredibly fortunate to find a table in the first tent. Mind you, by this point it was only 10 am. Man, day drinking is just the best.

It wasn’t long before we were all drunk, and ready to cause trouble.
We had heard multiple loud chants and drumming noises thoughtout the tent. Legend has it, that if you stand up and do the Captain Morgan pose, you must chug an entire stein while the onlookers cheer you on. Intrigued by this challenge, we dared our friend to chug his stein. Known for his drinking abilities, we theorized that it would be easy for him. We were correct. Once he had chugged to the very last drop, and we had of course loudly cheered him on, security immediately pounced on him. It turns out that you can’t chug a whole stein in the beer tents. Or maybe foreigners can’t. By foreigners, I mean Americans.

On the bright side, we did get to meet a sweet German family.

After a few hours in Munich, we made the depressing walk back to the bus. Again, I didn’t sleep a wink, although I was so tired at this point that I didn’t even care. Eventually I made it back home, body and mind intact, though sore and deeply exhausted.

Despite the, how you say, pleasant ride there, I don’t regret going. My journey to Oktoberfest was a wild ride, and a great memory.
Here’s to many more adventures on night buses.