A great story of driving from the UK to Istanbul and back in a London bus
 

I have just read this on the BBC website and thought it might be of interest, it is the tale of a group of friends from uni buying a double decker bus and driving it behind the iron curtain down to Istanbul and back again, a jolly trip if ever there was one, they even managed to get sponsorship from a Scotch whiskey company which sounds like a real bonus.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-54436495

That's a really good story from what was obviously a very posh group - they could afford colour film! On my first trip, done in a van + caravan a year later, we only had black and white! :rofl:

https://i.postimg.cc/Hx8g7vFx/69-Van5x.jpg

And not very good B/W film either!



Travel in communist countries back then was an 'interesting' experience. A friend and his wife set off to go to Romania and Bulgaria in the early 70's on his Triumph Trident and, unsurprisingly, the bike broke down somewhere in Hungary. Their insurance paid for the hire of a VW Beetle to continue their trip and they eventually found themselves in a campsite in one of the 'planet' resorts on the Black Sea. They stayed there for a week or so exploring the area (complete with secret service 'tail') but when they came to leave nobody would take money from them. The reason, it turned out, was that, because of the car - and a western car at that - it was assumed they were party officials (the only people who ever came there in a car) so the owners didn't want to insist on being paid in case it caused them trouble later on.