Road less travelled: Take a bus from London to Delhi

By Nadeem Badshah

IT IS the world’s longest bus route, spanning 12,000 miles to link the UK with Delhi in India.

And the 70-day trip through 18 countries, set to be launched in May 2021, has been met with ap­proval by leading Indians in Britain.

Passengers will be able to hop on in London or Delhi. Their journey will take them through multi­ple countries including Burma, Thailand, China, the ‘Silk Road’ through Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan along with Russia and Germany.

But there are some potential bumps in the road. The bus has no toilet, so there will be breaks every two hours, and a ticket will set them back £15,000 for the journey, and will include food, visa services and overnight stays.

Amish Tripathi, director of the Nehru Centre in London, said one of the pitfalls of air travel in com­parison is missing the finer details of a journey.

He told Eastern Eye: “More time would be spent at airports, which frankly, across most of the devel­oped world, are copies of each other. There’s nothing like a road trip to get a real feel of the land. This road trip sounds excit­ing for those tourists who like to actu­ally experience the place, rather than just tick off a travel to-do list.

“Even more, a road trip helps the real economy as many small res­taurants, services, who are nor­mally ignored, get the benefits of the tourist dollar.

“I assume that proper safeguards are in place con­sidering the Covid pandemic that the world is suffer­ing from – without that, there would be very little custom for this bus route.”

The package is being of­fered by travel firm Adven­tures Overland, based in the north Indian state of Hary­ana. It said the “life-chang­ing journey” will take place on a 20-seat luxury bus.

Lord Rami Ranger CBE, founder of the Sun Mark food brand, told Eastern Eye: “This travel bus service will offer a unique and exciting travelling experience of a lifetime as the journey will be overland, taking in the beauty and charm of the surrounding areas.

“I would say it will be like a cruise, providing a five-star luxury experience enroute. (It’s) the ideal opportunity to make new friends and associations.

“The guests will experience a variety of local cui­sines, wines, fruits.”

Adventures Overland said among the sights on the route are meeting rare species of giant pandas, hiking the Great Wall of China and a cruise on the Caspian Sea in Kazakhstan.

Entrepreneur Professor Peter Virdee said he would love to take the journey.

He said: “I think it’s a very good initiative. It is taking us forward in travel as this is how people used to travel back in the day, when they wanted to come by road from India to the UK.

“I did a journey on Palace on Wheels [luxury train in north India] and that for me was an unforgettable experience, so I can only imagine how great these memories and this trip will be for others.

“My only concern is that with other companies currently having to shut down due to lack of sales, I hope this one can keep going, where people sup­port it and they actually subscribe to it, by which I mean they buy the tickets for this journey.

“It’s ideal for parents who want to travel the world by road, even youngsters, a young married couple or someone who would like to take time out of the aggressive lives that we live.”

Jo Sidhu QC is vice-chair of the Criminal Bar Association.

He said: “I know several judg­es who drove to India and back in the late 1960s and early 1970s when they were young stu­dents. It must have been an extraordinary adventure and opened their eyes to different cultures along the way.

“Although the new bus trip is beyond the budget of most travellers, hats off to Adven­tures Overland for reviving this trail. It will certainly stimulate British interest in visiting In­dia, and vice versa.”