Once upon a time, you could buy a ticket from London to Calcutta for less than the cost of a ticket from Paris to Rome. The year was 1957, baby boomers were still teenagers on the loose and flower power was on the rise. The Albert Travel double decker bus (originally called “Indiaman,”), left from London and took its passengers on a ferry to Belgium, where the trans continental ride began. For a £150 round trip, each passenger would have a place to sleep, eat, read, and live (all on one bus) for 50 days and 20,000 kilometers. Think giant hippie van.
We’re talking about the now-famous Hippie Trail into the Indian subcontinent via Turkey, Lebanon, Kashmir, Iran and Afghanistan. The passengers were known as the overlanders; mainly young Europeans, North Americans and Australians in search of alternative tourism, who traveled as cheaply as possible from the late 1950s to the 1970s, networking with other adventurers and hippies as they traversed the off-beat routes by bus, rail or thumb. The bus would stop at tourist destinations along the way, giving passengers enough time to stretch their legs and discover the wonders (and herbs) of the world.
The original Indiaman service took many treks back and forth across the famous route, but ceased its operations after an accident which led to its sale in 1968. One of its buses, a double decker model was bought by Andy Stewart, a traveler who was looking to get home to London from India. He had traveled there from Sydney, Australia and embarked on a trip back West which took him and some friends 132 days to complete.
He named the bus Albert after its former owner and shortly after, Stewart created Albert Tours, keeping the spirit of the bus and its travels alive.
In 1976, Albert took its final voyage East as unrest in the Middle East and Asia became unavoidable, mainly due to the Iranian Revolution of 1979 and other building tensions in the region.
The bus was acquired by several owners over the course of 33 years before Andy purchased it again in 2009. He and his friends took the old bus for one more trip through East Asia, leaving from Glasgow. The trip was cut short in France and Stewart sold the bus one final time.
Before the trip was scheduled to begin, Andy told a reporter:
“Anyone can jump on a jumbo jet and fly to Australia from Scotland but where is the adventure in that? During the 60s and 70s Albert made more than 150 border crossings, everywhere from Afghanistan to Iran, and we were always welcomed wherever we went. The sight of this beautiful green and cream double-decker bus traveling down the packed streets of Calcutta, across the desert to Tehran or along the Black Sea coast was a spectacle. People were so interested in Albert – he broke down barriers. The reaction we got was amazing.I can’t wait to get back on board and do it all again.”
Today, a bus is going back on the trail but this time between New Delhi and London. Following the Pandemic, someone felt there was a need for a long vacation to seek some salvation. It was announced pre-pandemic and delayed until August 2023.
Now, Overland Adventures is offering a bus ride for thirty passengers via Thailand, China, Central Asia and Europe, covering 22 countries in 58 to 70 days (give or take). That’s eight different time zones. Are you brave enough to hop aboard?
