EvilPandas Travel Journal

In the summer of 2006, a young twenty something traveller commenced a journey that would change his life forever. I’m not exactly sure what i expected from my adventure around the “Busabout” Network, but the stories, and enjoyment I have for this time of my life I still look back on fondly today. Every summer, around the same time I seem to catch a travel bug, that really infected me first when I commenced the Busabout trip.

It was the best experience of my life, I thoroughly enjoyed all my time on there.

Basics
The basic rules of Busabout are simple. You have two main options, a flexi-trip or a loop. Below is a copy of the loops that you can select. In essence I did all three loops to get myself around Europe. If you have no time and agenda the Loops are basically the best way you can travel. The only problem with the loops and the whole network is that you can only travel one way, completely understandable, however it does get annoying if you want to double back on yourself. (Nothing a train can’t fix though.) The loops are pretty self explanatory, all you have to do is follow the buses around in the loops you are doing. Where as a Flexi-trip is slightly different. The minimum you can purchase is 6 “Flexi-trips” on Busabout. Now you can always add on additional stops, but if you are thinking of doing a combination between the Busabout network and Eurail, this is probably your best option.

Below is the map of the Busabout network.

So If you are interested in travelling on the busabout network, below are my blog entries of what I thought about the whole experience, where you can see my Highs, and Lows of my entire trip.

Amsterdam The after effects of Amsterdam for the second time in about a week, experiencing the highs and lows of traveling life and what to expect when there.
Berlin A surprising city, never really much of a history buff it really did open my eyes to the world before my existence. I had never thought about World War 2 before, it was really something I was never really interested in, however upon doing a walking tour of Berlin my views had changed on a city, with so much vibrance that was really not expected.
For the moment i’ve removed my post on Prague, They say first impressions count and in this case I certainly believe so. I started off on the wrong foot with this city, and really didn’t get any better.
Cskey Krumlov One of my favourite places of all time. Definitely worth seeing if your are on Busabout, and even if your not.
An Austrian Wine Tour With unexpected results. Yes Austrians (not Australians) do make and wine and its actually a very nice drop

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Vienna A week later I spent a bit of time in Austria, it wasn’t something I planned to do whilst on Busabout
Munich I never thought i would see anybody surfing a river 500km’s from the sea,
St Johann in Tirol Austria a quick blog post as it was at the time quite expensive for the internet, or so i thought.
Ferry to Greece The longest Journey of my life, if you ever catch the ferry from Venice to Greece, upgrade your ticket to atleast airline seating if not a cabin.
Ios the Party Island The best party ever. Bring your drinking boots, best drinking games, and dancing shoes.
Mykonoswas meant to be the best party island in the Greek Islands, to be honest, I found it the most over rated, island and way too ludicrously expensive. €10 for a Redbull vodka which is about $20AUD or $17USD at the time.
Santorini An absolutely beautiful Island in the Greek Islands, and one that I’m happy Busabout carry.

Santorini its that beautiful that it gets another post.
Athens another quick post, it was not as exciting as I originally thought it might be.
Venice a beautiful city, even if your hungover to hell and feel like death. Another Busabout moment!
Rome From a non historian point of view completely wonderful city, with some sound advice on pick pockets.
Rome 2 Yes its worth a second blog post if not for just the visit to the Vatican city.
Right this is the 3rd post from Rome

Italian Explorer A review of the Italian Explorer, it is the most awesome side trip in the world. The Busabout Italian Explorer was a major inspiration for the rest of my trip.
Cinque Terre The best place in Europe, I never thought i’d regret only staying 5 days in a place, but I do. It is the most beautiful place in Italy, and I am going to say right now in the world.

Nice Monaco, and the Busabout side trip to St Tropez! Book the day trip people!
Lauterbrunnen The land of Mountains and chocolates, not of chocolate mountains. Completely stunning scenery. Worth the “walk” down the mountains!
Barcelona a drunken adventure, that felt strangely like Sydney, Australia.
Valencia The search for the Holy Grail, and I found it!
MadridWatching David Beckham play Football, not a bad highlight to have.
San Sebastien Getting over travelling here, I’ve decided to head home to London
ParisThe dream had all but ended.

This was my blog from 2006 on my Busabout Journey.