October 12th, 2007
OZ.. BY BUS
MOST people planning a trip Down Under jump on to a jet. But now you can go to Australia by BUS… as long as you’ve got 12 weeks to spare.
Passengers with a taste for adventure are already queueing up for the firstever regular overland run from London to Sydney, which begins this summer. Tickets for the first trip in September have almost sold out and it’s proving so popular the organiser is planning a once-a-month service.
Entrepreneur Mark Creasey said he has been amazed by the clamour for places. “Demand has been phenomenal,” he said. “People have been looking for another way to get to Australia without polluting the environment and this is it - a radical alternative to flying.
“And they’ll have great fun along the way as well.”
At pounds 3,750 for a 12-week one-way trip it’s far from cheap, but the view’s a lot better than staring out at the wing of a jumbo jet. A second-hand Greyhound bus takes 36 passengers at a time through Europe to Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, India, Nepal, China, Laos, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and East Timor - 20 countries in all. Stops include Gallipoli in Turkey, scene of bloody fighting in World War I, the Iranian desert city of Bam, India’s Taj Mahal and the base camp of Mount Everest. Overnight stays are a mixture of camping and small hotels.
The price includes ferry crossings plus accommodation, meals on the bus and when camping and entry fees to national parks en route.
Mark said: “There are all sorts of people, from gap-year students to Aussies going home to people in their 50s who’ve paid off their mortgages and given up work.
“I wanted to set up a service that not only delivers travellers to their destination, but also lets them experience the amazing world they would otherwise be flying over.
People are so pleased about the environmental aspect too.”
A recent survey claimed that more pollution was emitted from a single jumbo 747 flight from London to Sydney than a bus creates in its entire lifetime. The trip does involve one flight for the 460- mile final leg from East Timor to Darwin, Australia - which costs extra - although Mark is on the hunt for a ship which will take the bus across.
Mark, 37, of Sutton, Surrey, is a keen traveller himself and originally had the idea when he tried to get back from Australia to the UK in 1991.
“Then many of the borders were closed so it was impossible, but now they are all open,” he said.
As for the return journey, most passengers will be booking their own flight - but there’s always the bus back if you’ve got another 12 weeks (and pounds 3,750) to spare…
news@sundaymirror.co.uk
GREENHOUND BUS
A LONDON-Sydney jumbo flight is 50 times worse for the environment than a Greyhound bus. It sprews out 1,124 tons of CO2 compared with 22 from the coach.
Even if the jet is fully loaded it produces three times more CO2 per passenger than the bus. Michael Buick, of Climate Care, said: “Travelling by land and sea emits a lot less harmful gas ”
DESTINATION AND RETURN PRICES
London Heathrow to
Aberdeen pounds 59
Amsterdam pounds 65
Belfast City pounds 64
Brussels pounds 62
Dublin pounds 41
Edinburgh pounds 58
Glasgow pounds 58
Inverness pounds 53
Leeds pounds 59
Manchester pounds 62
Teesside pounds 59
Naples pounds 53
Palma pounds 50
Venice pounds 54
Manchester to*
Amsterdam pounds 106
Brussels pounds 103
Leeds to*
Amsterdam pounds 104
Dublin pounds 80
Teesside to*
Amsterdam pounds 103
Brussels pounds 100
Dublin pounds 80
Edinburgh to*
Amsterdam pounds 102
Dublin pounds 79
Glasgow to*
Amsterdam pounds 102
Brussels pounds 100
Dublin pounds 79
*Routes from these
airports travel via London H eathrow