Blast from the Past; London- Calcutta

[phuketrichard]

I did this route, ( well we went to Goa) 2x as an employee with the magic bus back in 76.

Would be great if they started it up again some day when travel is back to "normal"

Passengers at Victoria Coach Station, London, boarding the first run of the world's longest coach route, between London and Calcutta, 15th April 1957. The journey to Calcutta takes five days and the single fare is 85 pounds. Passengers include two ex-firemen emigrating to Australia, as well as Indians and Australians returning home. (Photo by Fox Photos/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

There were lots of bus services to London till the 70s. Calcutta - Delhi - Amritsar - Lahore - Kabul Peshawar - Herat - Mashed - Tehran - Tabriz - Trabzone - Samsun - Istanbul - Belgrade then Venice and Paris or Austria and Germany and then London.

British newspaper The Independent in an article says many migrants to Britain from South Asia used it in the 1970s and 1980s and the route was also adopted by hippies and other backpackers. Indeed, between 1968-1976, a British-built double-decker bus, nicknamed Albert, made 15 trips between India and the UK. In 1972, for instance, the bus’s itinerary had it leaving London on July 25 and arriving in Kolkata on September 11. On four occasions, the bus even made it all the way between London and Sydney.

[Doc67]

I'm sorry but that looks like hell on wheels.

[nemo]

You can go by train to London from Vietnam.

[DaveG]

How things have changed.....

[tightenupvolume1]

I'm sorry but that looks like hell on wheels.

It may look like that now but when I was young and full of dreams and adventure and with very little money it was the first step to a life changing experience. Pulling out of Victoria in 1974 on a bus going to Istanbul, Tehran, Kabul, Delhi was exciting

[Doc67]

I'm sorry but that looks like hell on wheels.

It may look like that now but when I was young and full of dreams and adventure and with very little money it was the first step to a life changing experience. Pulling out of Victoria in 1974 on a bus going to Istanbul, Tehran, Kabul, Delhi was exciting

Yeah I know, hence the "I'm sorry" prefix. Great memories for you and unrepeatable now west of Turkey I suppose. I love nostalgia as much as the next man but I can't help feeling that, even when I was young, I would have taken a quick look and said, "f**k that"!

Maybe that's why my country count is so pathetically low!

[ash333]

I've seen at least one German plated vehicle in Kampot. Is it still possible by road?

[phuketrichard]

I've seen at least one German plated vehicle in Kampot. Is it still possible by road?

My 1st overland was 1974, but used local transports, (bus's, shared taxi's, trains) and took 3 months Amsterdam to Kathmandu

true adventure, an you met the most interesting people!!


up until covid Yes
easy to get from Phnom Penh thru Burma to India and westwards via Pakistan-Iran-Turkey.... if u hold the right passport

[phuketrichard]

[DaveG]

The future ..........