A bus-mad lad has shared how he spent two-and-a-half days on a coach and didn’t get bored once.
Jordan Stewart, from Kelty in Scotland, took the epic 1950-mile bus trip from Glasgow to Sofia in Bulgaria, racking up an incredible 58 hours of travel time on the low-cost coach company FlixBus.
Most would feel like they were stuck in limbo as the bus travelled through countless towns and cities on its way through Europe, but the 19-year-old loved every moment. He had challenged himself to go on the longest journey he could find.
Last year, Jordan spoke to the Star about the journey, saying how it had inspired him to become a coach driver himself.
Woman transforms from size 20 to size 12 with 60p a day weight loss plan
Jordan next to the FlixBus coach
(
Image:
Jordan Stewart)
He said: “I had a look for the furthest place I could go, that was Sofia, Bulgaria. I was trying to see how far as I could possibly go from where I am using the voucher”.
He also wanted to spot a special train while on his European tour in Bulgaria to make the trip all the more worthwhile.
He said: “It was one of the trains parked up in one of the yards, that’s what I went across to see – I also wanted to try a lot of European coach travel, so that was one of the main things I wanted to try.
“Ever since I was young boy I’ve been obsessed with buses and trains. I really enjoyed it… I’ve always had a thing for buses, long distance travel, that sort of thing.”
His mammoth journey was broken up into four sections, each time with a new bus. The first took him from Glasgow to London, before heading on to Paris. He said: “This was a challenge as it came during the Paris Olympics and it was the middle of the summer. So, it was 33C. I’m quite a big lad and trying to go and get something to eat and the sweat was a struggle.”
From here Jordan travelled on to Munich where he admitted he was knackered, a situation made worse by the people in front of him putting their seats back for the journey – a particular misery anyone who has taken a budget flight will attest to.
Then, after a spot of breakfast in Germany he took the final, 23 hour, bus through Austria, Slovenia, Croatia and Serbia on its way to Bulgaria. He added: “That was one of the reasons I wanted to use that route, it’s quite an interesting one visiting so many countries.”
Clearly made of sterner stuff Jordan said: “I packed my bag full with juice and snacks and downloaded some videos – and I like listening to music as well… and obviously I had the camera and I was taking photos out the windows of everything I could see. For me, if I get bored, I go to sleep. Boredom wasn’t a problem – it was tiring.”
After a couple of days seeing the sights in Sofia, Jordan hopped on a flight back to Edinburgh. He had passed his driving test the day before he spoke to Daily Star, and revealed that next on the agenda was to apply for his coach licence.