Coach/bus travel

A bus tour can be very interesting, to say the least. It involves early morning rises, a bunch of travelers with varying personalities and lots of sightseeing. But the main component pulling it together is the Tour Director and bus driver. Our Tour Director is Malcolm, a New Zealander who is now married to a Russian girl and living in Minsk, Belarus. He is probably in his late thirties and his knowledge of Scandadinavian and Russian history is remarkable, what he doesn't know probably isn't worth knowing. He is caring of the older passengers and nothing is too much trouble for him. But...he can certainly keep everyone in check...most of our days have started with a wake up call at 6am, ports out the door by 6.30, followed by breakfast and departure at 7.30am on the dot. He warned us one minute late and we have to sing a song, two minutes late, we have to sing a song AND dance. Three minutes late and we would be singing and dancing on the spot where the bus was. He has a great sense of humour with an infectious giggle.

The driver, Artur, is Latvian with very little use of the English language but boy can he drive! In Russia most of the highways are just two lanes, however they have started construction on an 8 billion dollar highway between the two main cities of Moscow and St Petersburg. When you want to pass someone you straddle the middle white line and the traffic on both sides of the road spreads apart to let you through. As you can imagine there was much jaw dropping and widening of eyes when we saw this happening for the first time. Artur's handling in turning the bus and maneuvering it in tight situations is excellent.

Most of the group are couples, but we have 7 ladies traveling on their own, three of them are Aussies and four Canadians. One Canadian lady is 83 and jokingly says she is looking for a man with a full head of hair, sadly this tour isn't going to help her! There are two men on their own, one from Las Angeles and an 87 year old from Brisbane.

Comfort stops on long-drive days can be amusing, especially when we know there won't be another stop for some time and the call of nature hasn't really set in. It's become known amongst the ladies as 'producing on demand'.