Euro bus or Flight?

goldson bollocks

Well-Known Member
Guessing most preferences of people would be flying to euro away games, I grew up when buses were ran regularly abroad and to be honest I still prefer the bus to Europe but was easy enough when in your teens and 20's, as you get older it's more of a struggle, last bus trip I done was Rotterdam season before last to see if I could still handle it, fair to say I think I've still got a few more in me yet.
 
I've never been on a bus to a Euro away and have no desire to.

Much rather explore a city for a couple days than sit on a bus.

Fair play to anyone that does it as I can just about handle a bus from Dundee every home game.
It's an experience all the same, done a few overnight stays when travelling o. the bus as well, so still get the chance to do the exploring....Sturm Graz was probably the worst trip I done all the same, overnight stay in Munich then onto Austria...was a hellish journey on the way back.
 
Bussed my first one to Leverkusen under advocaat , flew every since , the boat couldn’t dock in Dover coming back and had to sit a good bit away for a while due to the water being that rough , the boat was swaying from side to side and always remember this bear kept shouting “will everybody please refrain from putting any more money in the pool table” haha!!
 
100% can't beat it lol
Done it to Parma 36 hours (beaten 3-1). Despite the result the actual trip was amazing. Great fun and carnage all at the same time.

Following year(?), done Munich on the bus. Different crowd and wasn't the same really as quite a few fannies on the bus this time. Still great fun (again despite the result), in Munich. Stayed in a youth hostel that had it's own nightclub, so you could imagine the carnage.
 
Bussed my first one to Leverkusen under advocaat , flew every since , the boat couldn’t dock in Dover coming back and had to sit a good bit away for a while due to the water being that rough , the boat was swaying from side to side and always remember this bear kept shouting “will everybody please refrain from putting any more money in the pool table” haha!!
Leverkusen was also my first on the Thornliebank True Blues...the sailing was brutal.
 
Furthest I’ve done on a bus is a few games in England / NI.

I’d happily pay double to fly, thought of sitting on a bus that long gives me the fear - although I’m considering it for Lyon.
 
Furthest I’ve done on a bus is a few games in England / NI.

I’d happily pay double to fly, thought of sitting on a bus that long gives me the fear - although I’m considering it for Lyon.
Go for it, not gonna lie, way there is superb, the journey home is a nightmare but definitely worth the experience.
 
Bus.........a toilet that doesn't flush.......36 hours........one 'tape' of songs.

It'll be the making of you.

@Yorkhill_True_Blues
Memories of all the above, Parma 1998 with the old Ayr and District.

30 hours to get there
Bog stinking of piss and and blocked before Southwaite services
Number One Platoon on loop for 4 days
Warm cans of lager

Flew after that on euro away trips.
 
Bussed my first one to Leverkusen under advocaat , flew every since , the boat couldn’t dock in Dover coming back and had to sit a good bit away for a while due to the water being that rough , the boat was swaying from side to side and always remember this bear kept shouting “will everybody please refrain from putting any more money in the pool table” haha!!
I had pals who went to Leverkusen who still go on about the ferry back to Dover that trip, got tossed about all over the shop, people being seasick everywhere, at one point they genuinely thought they were going down, 3 hours from Calais to Dover normally was an hour and a half, then couldn’t get into the docks at Dover, they were genuinely shitting bricks
 
I went to Austria by bus for a school ski trip and I would honestly rather stick pins in my eyes than do it again
 
Memories of all the above, Parma 1998 with the old Ayr and District.

30 hours to get there
Bog stinking of piss and and blocked before Southwaite services
Number One Platoon on loop for 4 days
Warm cans of lager

Flew after that on euro away trips.
On the way to Parma the convenor told us all not to do a dump in the toilet as there literally was no flush.

Halfway over, he is marching up and down the bus going tonto as, of course, someone done a dump. It wasn't funny at the time, but thinking back it was like a comedy sketch as he pointed into a few boys faces shouting "was it you?" then not waiting for an answer storming down the gangway and back. :D

I think it was one of my mates, he denied it, but I'm sure it was him.
 
On the way to Parma the convenor told us all not to do a dump in the toilet as there literally was no flush.

Halfway over, he is marching up and down the bus going tonto as, of course, someone done a dump. It wasn't funny at the time, but thinking back it was like a comedy sketch as he pointed into a few boys faces shouting "was it you?" then not waiting for an answer storming down the gangway and back. :D

I think it was one of my mates, he denied it, but I'm sure it was him.
Same on our bus, “nae banging the windaes, nae shitein on the bus” but someone had shat before we were over the border, cue the 2 convenors going mental “right ya dirty basturts, you were told, I’ve got to clean this out now”
 
I had pals who went to Leverkusen who still go on about the ferry back to Dover that trip, got tossed about all over the shop, people being seasick everywhere, at one point they genuinely thought they were going down, 3 hours from Calais to Dover normally was an hour and a half, then couldn’t get into the docks at Dover, they were genuinely shitting bricks
It was a nightmare, about the seasick I’d be surprised if that boat sailed again :D, toilets were packed lads just had to go where they were standing
 
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Bussed my first one to Leverkusen under advocaat , flew every since , the boat couldn’t dock in Dover coming back and had to sit a good bit away for a while due to the water being that rough , the boat was swaying from side to side and always remember this bear kept shouting “will everybody please refrain from putting any more money in the pool table” haha!!
That was my last trip by bus got a breakfast on that boat and brought it straight back up again :))

First bus trip was Dublin 1984 :oops:
 
I've only done the school trip to Manchester by bus the last time we played at Old Trafford. I've done a few trips in the car with @bobally though with the furthest back from Luxembourg the first time.

Planes will always be my preferred option although in the past it's rarely direct and often involves heading away from the destination to get there :))
 
I know a few guys who done Bulgaria on the Nithsdale Loyal bus, Levski Sofia in 1993.
Left after the game on Saturday teatime, got back the following Saturday morning, due to the Balkans war at the time couldn’t go through the old Yugoslavia, had to go the long way via Romania.
Fun’s fun, but %^*& that.
 
Done Belgrade in the late 80's, that was a nightmare, nearly 48 hrs with as said above 1 tape of cultural folk tunes on loop.

Went to Prague a few years later, the bogs got clogged by Carlisle and somebody spewed on the bus floor just after that. Bus was stinking for the rest of the trip.

Honestly, even if we got to the CL final somewhere on the continent and the only way to get there was by bus I don't think I could handle it now.
 
Did it with the Grapes bus for Leipzig, wanted the game to finish within 5 minutes of it kicking off. That journey back was the worst thing I’ve ever experienced
 
The bus journeys from Thurso/Wick to Ibrox and back as a young lad were awful. Everyone pished out their minds and pissing in bottles. Bus full of fag smoke to the point of genuinely struggling to breathe and the breakdowns/fked toilets so can't imagine how rough going to Europe in one is.
 
Went to Munich on the bus and it was bloody awful. I was ready to get off at Dover, grab a b&b then head home the next day on the train. Folk spewing on the bus, absolutely no sleep at all and then stayed at the worst hotel I’ve been in. The room had two beds and a sofa bed, I ended up on the sofa bed with a Rangers flag as a cover as it didn’t have any sheets. Got up the next day and decided I wasn’t going back on the bus and my mates agreed, although I would have went alone if they didn’t agree to it. The bus left after the game and we stayed in a better hotel an extra night and got the train home. Munich to Paris, Paris to London then on the sleeper from London to Glasgow. I think we still got home before the bus, but 36 hours to get there was the final bus journey for me.
 
Guessing most preferences of people would be flying to euro away games, I grew up when buses were ran regularly abroad and to be honest I still prefer the bus to Europe but was easy enough when in your teens and 20's, as you get older it's more of a struggle, last bus trip I done was Rotterdam season before last to see if I could still handle it, fair to say I think I've still got a few more in me yet.
100000000% fly, journey there is great but journey back is brutal, esp if we lose.
 
Done a bus for Werder Bremen away forgot how much I hated it, stupidly done it again for Progres a couple of years ago and ended up getting the bus to drop me off in Belgium and just flew home

don’t get me wrong some folk love the bus, it’s just not for me

nothing better than an early flight, that airport pint or 5, couple vodkas from the trolly in the air then spending a couple good nights in a city somewhere different few drinks, meals etc

literally the life

besides with cheap flights more often than not it works out same price as the bus (with a few exceptions)
Man after my own heart, a trip back from Cologne once after BMG almost had me ready to jump out the window on the motorway.

And the guys who insist on playing "staunch" tunes on repeat for 36 hours, oft. Shivers just thinking about it.
 
A couple of testimonials in England were plenty long enough for me on the bus. Much prefer to fly, tho I've done some weird and wonderful routes to get to the final destination. Also done a few trips by train (Bruges, Marseilles, Turin, Parma) and that was pretty good.
 
Never done it and have no desire to do so to be honest.

Always have a wee chuckle at these threads mind you. Did no one ever think to bring more than one tape or CD?!
 
In my 20's I loved the bus. Too old now for that.

Fight or flight response? I'll take the flight.
 
Done 4 bus trips it was good buzz when travelling to the game not so coming back but with the like of cheaper flights etc happening it meant a better option to fly

Character building to say the least!
 
Went on the Beith Saracen RSC to Munich in 99'

Left Beith on the Monday night at 6, arrived in Munich 10pm on the Tues night

Left straight after the game on the Wed night and arrived back in Beith at 2am on the Friday morning and up for work at 7

Never ever again !
 
Done the bus a few times in the 80s, think its exciting when your younger, you couldn't pay me to do it now. One sticks out in my mind in 82 or 83 coming out of Dortmunds ground and absolutely starving being told bus is leaving straight away and not stopping until Eindhoven. The way home was hell on earth :D
 
Bussed my first one to Leverkusen under advocaat , flew every since , the boat couldn’t dock in Dover coming back and had to sit a good bit away for a while due to the water being that rough , the boat was swaying from side to side and always remember this bear kept shouting “will everybody please refrain from putting any more money in the pool table” haha!!
You forgot to mention the sick swilling about the deck. B-)
 
Their was a previous bus thread from a while a go that had different stories of people journeys

Was hilarious some of the stories should have a read of it.

It's an experience everyone should have at least one though
 
Never done it and have no desire to do so to be honest.

Always have a wee chuckle at these threads mind you. Did no one ever think to bring more than one tape or CD?!
I took a tape with me on one of the trips, but thankfully I forgot to take it out my bag and it was locked in the boot.

Unbeknown to me, as a joke, my mate had recorded something on it. Halfway through 'Gun runners' it cut to the lyrics "it's lonely round the field of Athenr...." then back to Gun runners.

He's stopped it at during the last word for effect. :D Thankfully it never got played, I'd have gotten lynched.
 
Someone in Munich got left behind. It was out of order, imo and the wee guy must've only been around 16.

Goes back to the bus after the game, convenor countingheads x2 missing. The guys pal comes back on the bus saying ge can't find him. We waits and the longer it gets folk are getting a bit restless and the driver has obviously said to the convenor we need to make a move soon or we miss the ferry we must've been booked onto.

Loads of folk shouting just to leave him, the wee guys mate by this time looking pretty shaken up, bus convenor with a decision to make.

The bus left him, and his pal behind.

At the time I thought it outrageous. When the bus started moving the same rockets shouting to leave him, were now bawling at the convenor it was out of order. Fuckin bizarre.

Transpired the missing guy was so pished he fell asleep in the stadium toilets and was found by security. The boys had to go to our embassy to get put up and 'wired' money from their parents for flights home.
 
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