Day 19 Dogubayazit to Tabriz (Thurs 22nd July) Up at 0630 today - time to cross the border into Iran! We were supposed to depart at 0730, however our coach had managed to get stuck in the car pack (which was tiny, so not surprising!). Fortunately, despite his propensity for getting lost, our driver is actually very good and managed to get it out in just 20 minutes. So we were on our way around 0800. We stopped for pictures of Mt Ararat (where Noah apparently landed the arc - although they are not the only ones to claim they have found evidence to prove it was in a particular place) as well as seeing the campsite where the original Ozbus groups used to camp (before they started using more hostels and hotels). It didn’t really ... read more

Day 15 Istanbul to Goreme (Sun 18th July) Up for an earlier start today, our last goodbye to Gettis. From here to the Iran border we will have a local driver with a local coach. Its a larger air conditioned coach with leather seats and just enough space for us all to have a double seat each to sleep if we need. I don’t really like air conditioning, but I must admit it’s really nice not to be sitting in a sauna all day. An uneventful, if long, drive to Goreme. The driver had to stop and ask for directions a couple of times along the way though, despite the fact that Goreme is the oldest and certainly the most visited town in the area. The drive through Cappadocia was stunning. Its the land of the ... read more

Day 10 Belgrade to Sofia We were all ready to get up and go this morning, however, our hostel host, while very enthusiastic, was not terribly efficient. Our breakfast, which was meant to be at 0730, arrived at just after 0800. So our 0800 start this morning became a 0845 start. Deep breath - what can you do? We were all a bit sad to be leaving Jana behind as well, and it started out a very quiet coach. So a semi long day ahead, unfortunately Thomas has a very individual sense of time and so we were also 20 minutes late leaving our first service stop. Again, oh well. Just makes the drive a whole lot longer for the rest of us. We crossed from Serbia into Bulgaria, and again I was the only one ... read more

Day 7 Vienna to Budapest Travel day again. This time it was meant to be a much shorter day on the coach though. We didn’t have to be ready to go until 0900, and were expecting to be in Budapest between 1500-1600. We got off to a slow start though, as we unfortunately had a case of lost property in the form of some jewellery of one of the girls. Unfortunate and upsetting for her, but not much that can be done about it. The crossing of the border was unremarkable, though again slight problems with the road tax. They just don’t like to make it easy for us. Oh well. About 38km from the city, one of the girls jumped put of her seat, literally, and asked to pull in to the next service stop. ... read more

Day 3 Heidelberg to Prague And another travel day. Actually, I don't have much to say about it. We are all still settling in to the routine of travelling and learning a bit about each other, all the while trying to keep everyone from discovering our deep dark secrets and the skeleton's in our closets, figurative or literal... Of course it only took one night to discover who snored (a couple), who smoked (just 1!), and who woke up inhumanly cheerful in the mornings (ooops, guilty as charged...). The crossing into the Czech Republic was a bit anticlimactic, though I think the trip leader was the only one who thought it might be problematic. We drove through and arrived in Prague in the early evening. Plenty of time to relax in our hostel/hotel and have a ... read more