Day 50

It was a long trip, but we made it.

At around 11pm last night the bus made it’s final stop, allowing us all to had a last toilet break and brush teeth etc. while the bus crew made up the beds.  Returned to the bus to find I’d been assigned a ‘sleeping buddy’.  This was a little disappointing given I hadn’t had to share my two seats during the daytime part of the trip.

My ‘buddy’ and I grabbed a blanket each and headed on to the bus.  Once we climbed the stairs we encountered an amazing site.  The seats had been converted into upper and lower ‘bunks’ on each side of the bus.  This was done by somehow elevating every second pair of seats by about a metre and a half, then laying them completely flat!

The ‘beds’ were pretty narrow (imagine the width of a bus seat) so you couldn’t really sleep on your side, and bumpy – because the seats are not completely flat.  I slept fully clothed, with my slippers on, using the blanket and my jacket as a pillow.  Put in my ear plugs and an eye mask, popped a sleeping pill right and slept a full seven hours before waking up. 

We stopped at a little town in Switzerland called Gruyeres for breakfast around 8am.  This wasn’t included in the trip cost but 10 Euro for fresh scrambled eggs on toast, orange juice and tea seemed very worth it.  We made it to Tignes by around 1pm, making the total trip time about 23 hours.  Being able to sleep through the night really made a big difference – this trip actually felt easier than catching the bus from Melbourne to Adelaide.

Matt, Emma, Lise and Åse (my friends from the bus) took a walk around the town and found a place to eat.  A (fairly large) pepperoni pizza and a beer cost me about $23 AUD and the hot chocolate I had at the next place we went cost about $12 AUD.  I’m glad all the rest of my meals are included in the trip cost otherwise it would be an expensive week!

There are four people to a room, so I’m sharing with a couple called Sandis and Maria, and another guy called Johan.  The shower is shared with the next room, so there’ll be eight people fighting for a turn tomorrow.  We have a balcony, but that’s the only luxury.  Two bunk beds and four small closets squeezed into a space a little bigger than my laundry.  Still, it’s a place to sleep.

Wifi is free, but only from the communal area downstairs.  Not that I’m complaining, it’s great that I’ve got access at all…