Ever missed a flight or caught the wrong train? Travel mistakes happen. This is a story of an international overnight bus journey gone wrong – why you should always double check where your bus stops, or all travel connections.

It’s definitely not my proudest moment – but it sure is a funny story (now that I survived it) and it leaves myself and my partner stranded at a rest stop somewhere in Albania.

Yes, I said Albania. Not Greece or Macedonia, a completely different country in Eastern Europe we should never have visited.

 

What happened on the overnight bus from Athens to Ohrid?

Finding international transport over land between countries throughout Eastern Europe, or at least it wasn’t way back in 2014.

That’s where this embarrassing travel blunder takes place.

Athens. The ancient and historically rich capital city of Greece. It took most of a day to find and buy tickets from a small bus station in downtown Athens, and we booked them a day early. There was no issue other than a pretty huge language barrier.

 

Around 6pm the next evening we were greeted at the international bus station by shocked locals. This wasn’t a common way to leave Athens for foreigners, I guess?

“Tourista! Tourista!” one guy enchanted with a giant grin on his face as he took my bag. I guess it was obvious.

It was all good fun and one man in a pure white baseball cap was friendly and seemed helpful. While his intentions were pure (he was a really nice dude), he would be our downfall.

He told us not to worry and he would wake us up where we should get off for our connecting bus in Macedonia and finally to Ohrid.

Fast forward to 2am to a worried shake from my girlfriend. She had asked the driver “Ohrid?” and he just shook his head.

We had missed our connecting station by who knows how long. Our white-cap friend was fast asleep and it was pitch black outside.

 

Soon enough we were at a rest stop, and were told to wait on the side of the road for a bus coming the other way to pick us up.

With no idea how long that would be, our bus pulled away.

There, somewhere in rural Albania, stranded and hoping a bus would fly around the corner at any second, there was nothing to do but wait, try and wake my sleepy eyes up and laugh.

 

Around an hour later, I was getting worried. There was no sight of life anywhere along the road except for the really confused stares of a few motorists passing by.

Finally. A bus pulled up opposite us and a cheerful guy waved us on. We were moving again, but the story is far from over.

We made it to where our connecting bus left from in the wee hours that morning, and there wasn’t another bus today.

So we were left with two options:

• Stay in this tiny (and I mean really tiny) town, without a hotel, hostel or another tourist in sight, or
• Catch a “taxi” into Macedonia.

What’s the worse that could happen?!

The bus driver called up his friend (not a taxi, just a guy with a car) and after some chuckles, most likely at our expense, we were off to Macedonia.

Of course, not before our driver made a short pit stop and picked up some sort of small motor from a shop in the dusty downtown of town.

About 20 minutes later we pulled up to a small little shack. The border control between Albania and Macedonia. 2 burley Eastern European men slumbered out and focused on their questions at me.

I’ve never had a more thorough bag search in my life! They were sure I had something suspect in my bag!

After they were satisfied, we were off again!

 

Finally reaching Ohrid, Macedonia

Now, Ohrid is a small town, but its winding streets make directions hard. This was before offline Maps were a thing, so navigating these streets relied heavily on our driver’s knowledge of the area. This was his first time to Ohrid, he said.

Eventually, we pull up at our Ohrid hostel. The roughly 22-hour ordeal had finally come to an end.

Even though we lost half a day exploring the beautiful Ohrid in Macedonia, and there were times on this journey that I felt like we were never going to get to our destination, it’s one of those incredibly funny stories of my travels I’ll never forget.

 

Summary of an overnight bus through Eastern Europe

There’s definitely a lesson for both beginner travelers and well-traveled backpackers. Mistakes happen and it’s always when you least expect it. You think you’ve thought of everything and planned well ahead, just for foreign travel to show you how wrong you are. it happens, to all of us.

While the 11-hour overnight bus from Greece to Macedonia had doubled in length for me and my partner, it sucked at the time. But looking back in 2019, it’s a pretty funny travel story I really enjoy telling.

It just goes to show, travel is about the journey, just as much as the destination.

So, what’s your travel mishaps? I’d love to hear them in the comments below.

 

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Also, pick up your pdf travel checklist – for free! You can get plenty more travel tips so you’re less likely to make mistakes like leaving your directions up to a random guy with a white hat on a bus!

 

Thanks for reading!

Happy and safe travels,

Ben – Horizon Unknown