Summary

In 2013, a 25-year-old Australian embarked on a 28-day European bus tour with Topdeck, exploring London before and after the trip, and sharing insights on solo travel, the tour experience, and the city's vibe.

Abstract

The author, a 25-year-old Australian, recounts their experience on a 28-day European bus tour with Topdeck, a popular youth-focused travel company. Prior to this adventure, the author had limited travel experience, having only taken a cruise in the South Pacific. The narrative begins with the author's decision to travel, influenced by peers who had ventured abroad. They chose Topdeck's Grand European tour, which included a pre-tour stay in London. The author reflects on the cultural differences observed in London, such as the prevalence of chain establishments and the city's rich history, which contrasted with their hometown of Canberra. The article also touches on the author's solo travel experience, the ease of navigating the tour, and the anticipation of the journey ahead. The author's initial days in London were spent sightseeing and acclimating to the bustling city life before meeting the tour group and departing for the continent via ferry to Calais and onward to Paris.

Opinions

The author initially perceived overseas travel as an activity for the wealthy but later embraced the opportunity to explore.
Topdeck and Contiki are highlighted as prominent tour companies catering to youth travel, with Contiki being known for a more party-oriented atmosphere.
The author expresses satisfaction with the working conditions in Australia, which allowed them to take five weeks off for travel.
The author notes the convenience of using a travel agent to book the trip and the simplicity of showing up for the tour without prior acquaintance with other travelers.
The author comments on the discomfort of long-haul economy flights due to their height and suggests considering extra legroom for future travel.
The author observes that London's urban design and architecture exude a sense of history and character not commonly felt in Australian cities.
The author appreciates London's walkability and public transportation system, despite the city's size and business, and acknowledges the high cost of living and crowdedness as potential downsides.

That time I did a 28-day European bus tour — Part 1

25-year-old me standing in front of Trafalgar Square — Photo by author

Back in 2013, I was in my mid-20s and I had been working a 9 to 5 job for a few years. I remember feeling like everyone I knew (around my age group) seemed to be either travelling or had travelled or lived overseas.

I live in Australia, where (if you’re middle class) travelling is very common. Although growing up, my family didn’t travel much (I didn’t even have a passport until I was 24) and I probably thought that travelling overseas was something rich people did (although I don’t think I gave that much thought to it). When I was 18 or so (when some people in my country take gap years), I never even thought about doing a gap year.

Then, as an adult, I started meeting more people who travelled. And I decided that I wanted to travel too. So I looked into what was available, met with a travel agent and booked Topdeck’s Grand European tour (which was one of the tours they offered at the time).

That wasn’t even the longest tour they offered. But if I recall, I spent about 3 nights in London before the tour started and about 2 nights afterwards.

Many people reading this may not have heard of Topdeck, but they are well known here in Australia and in New Zealand. There are two main companies that do youth-focused tours (with Europe being their key market). Topdeck is one and Contiki is the other. And both are notorious for people wanting to party and… go a little wild (well, Contiki more so than Topdeck). I read somewhere that some campsites in Europe have actually banned Contiki from staying there.

To Americans reading this, yes, I was able to get this much time off work (about 5 weeks) but that’s potentially a whole other conversation, which I won’t get into here. Other than to say that the working conditions in Australia are fairly decent compared to some countries.

Prior to this, I had done a 10-night cruise in the South Pacific but I wouldn’t really call that travelling. So this was the first time that I had done any real travelling outside of Australia.

Yes, I travelled all by myself (by that, I mean I didn’t know anyone else beforehand). It’s not like I didn’t have any friends but they basically all had their own lives. And my family weren’t looking at travelling at that time. So I went on my own. All I really had to do was book everything (which I did through an agent), pack everything I needed and basically, just show up at the designated time and place.

So in August 2013, I took a bus to Sydney (that’s about a 3-hour trip) then I waited for my flight and flew to London via Hong Kong (this was with Virgin Atlantic). The flight went well enough but it was very long. And being almost 6'3" in economy class didn’t help (note to self — for future long-haul flights, if I can get a front row economy seat with extra leg room at minimal cost, then I will probably do that).

I also remember sitting next to an older British woman on the second leg of the flight and she was asleep (and I think there was someone else to the other side of me) so I just climbed over her to get out of the seat. She didn’t wake up. I ended up chatting to her later, but I didn’t mention that bit to her.

I eventually landed at Heathrow Airport, went through customs (a time-consuming process), grabbed my luggage and, if I recall, took the train that goes into the city (the Heathrow Express?). I was approached by a cab driver who drove me to where I was saying (the Clink hostel, which is located a short walk from Kings Cross Station — yes, the same one that Harry Potter went to). Yes, public transport would have been cheaper but in my defence, I didn’t know my way around.

I remember arriving early in the morning, so I had to leave my luggage (basically a large suitcase) in a room with lots of other bags (I believe that it was my responsibility if something happened to my belongings) and I had some time to kill before I could probably check in.

I also shared a room with a few random backpackers from different countries (I found they didn’t segregate based on gender). I was there for about three days and I think it was the day before I left that one of the other Australians on my tour checked into that room.

In any case, I spent those few days just wandering around London. I’ve never been one to track how many steps I walked but I must have done quite a few. I don’t even remember what I saw during those few days but I think I went to the Tower of London, did one of those London bus tours, did a few other things and got heaps of walking in. I probably used the Tube a bit but I don’t really remember (it was nine years ago).

It was summer so there were plenty of tourists around. Although from my experience, even in the in-between seasons, London still has heaps of tourists (which is probably not surprising, as it is one of the world’s most visited cities).

I do remember seeing a lot of chains around (chain pubs, chain cafes, chain grocery stores, chain restaurants, you name it). The chain pubs stood out to me because in Australia, we don’t really have chain pubs (or at least they’re not obvious about being owned by the same people).

I do remember the general architecture and the general urban design of London. I remember how busy it was (on the main streets at least). I also remember that it felt like I was in a place with a lot of history and character, in a way that I didn’t really feel back at home. And all those places I had heard about in TV shows and movies, or in books such as Harry Potter, or when playing Monopoly — it was an odd feeling actually seeing all of those places. You just wander around London and you will come across them.

London is a big place and the area that people often refer to as “Central London” is not clearly defined. It all just sort of blurs together (unlike Canberra, where I live, which is a planned city and you always know which suburb you’re in — yes, I realise that this is probably not normal). I wasn’t used to being in big cities and it was an experience.

In fact, to this day, it’s probably the largest city I’ve been to (in terms of the population of the greater metropolitan area, which for London is about 14 million, or more than half the population of Australia).

I didn’t really have an agenda or know where the good places to eat or drink were, so I just sort of winged it.

In some ways, I really liked London but I really don’t know what it would be like to live there. Expensive, crowded and probably a rat race. But you really don’t need a car and it has just about everything you could want in a city (except maybe warm weather — but this is England we’re talking about). So it’s probably a good place if you can afford it and you like big cities (I still haven’t lived in a big city — I live in a city of just under half a million people — but I imagine that it would have its pros and cons).

Eventually, on the day of departure, I met with the tour group at the front of the hostel and we all put our bags on the bus and left for Paris. Or more specifically, we left for Dover to get the ferry to Calais, which would take us on to Paris.

To be continued…