A transport-mad Scots lad loves buses so much he spent 58 hours travelling across Europe on one and didn’t get bored once.
Jordan Stewart from Kelty, undertook an incredible journey across Europe via coach after receiving a gift voucher to low-cost German travel brand FlixBus. The 19-year-old set out to pull off the longest journey he could find, a continent-traversing odyssey across Europe: Glasgow to Sofia, Bulgaria.
The drive between the two cities is an astonishing 1,950 miles, passes through several countries and would take around 35 hours non-stop and direct.
Jordon told the Star of his epic journey last Summer and how he now hopes to be a coach driver himself one day.
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 Jordon 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 Jordon 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.
Don’t miss the latest news from around Scotland and beyond.Sign up to our daily newsletter.