I can either book a direct 3 hour flight or take a 36 hour bus trip across 1K miles changing buses 2 times in 2 different non English speaking countries but in big cities, so I assume young people and public facing employees at the bus exchanges to speak some of it…
I’d have to wait between 3 and 5 hours to board the next bus. Optimist me says great! I could go sightseeing, but with a large and heavy backpack this might not be a good idea…
Then there’s food, which at bus stations or in tourists areas is neither good nor cheap no matter where you are, personal hygiene, pickpocketing… I’d be traveling solo.
And more noob questions: are travelers allowed to eat in the bus? Am I allowed to bring my own food?
I’ve read the post again and this looks like a really stupid idea… but did you ever do something like this? Any regrets?
I agree that this is a bad idea. Bus travel sucks. It has basically all of the downsides of air travel with basically none of the upsides, minus cost obviously. Without knowing what countries you’re going to be going through it’s harder to say. Bus stations in my experience can be difficult to navigate in my language, in a language I don’t know I’d be even more concerned. Usually you can eat food, but like airplanes try to be considerate about what you have. Avoid fish, common allergens, smelly food, etc.
Finally consider that over those 36 hours you’re going to have to either bring food, or buy it, you’re losing time wherever you’re transit, and are at the mercy of the bus time tables instead of waiting on a single flight