What happens when you get over 30 young adults and place them in a confined space together for an extended period of time with not much access to outside civilisation?
One only has to watch Big Brother to answer that question. Alternatively, for those with no interest in appearing in the show, all you have to do is take a bus tour around Europe for 37 days.
As I write this post it is currently day 30 into the Topdeck Red Star Special Trip I booked. I decided to do this trip as I needed a break and wanted to travel somewhere different. As the trip start date got closer, I became more and more nervous. I was about to spend 37 days in a confined space with a bunch of complete strangers.
Helsinki
I realised straight away that I had nothing to worry about. Despite these people being complete strangers, just like in the Big Brother house, you get to know people really quickly (some people got to know each other far too quickly… If you know what I mean).
With so many young adults crammed into a bus for a long period of time, there was bound to be a lot of drama. And my gosh, there really has been. It has been like being in high school all over again.
From people have relations with numerous people (with previous relations getting jealous and causing tensions) to friendship fights (one girl left early after a fight with her friend), this trip has had everything.
There are absolutely no secrets on the bus. If something happens, everyone knows. It’s a big game of Chinese whispers as the truth goes round and round and round getting distorted at each retelling.
Helsinki
Dealing with the drama can be interesting, the best way to avoid being in the drama was to not do anything that could turn into drama, a principal I have followed the whole trip. Also, it’s best to avoid taking sides, as that can just lead to more drama. Finland is very much the Switzerland of Scandinavia, in terms of being neutral geopoliticaly. I like to say that I was Finland on the trip.
On the way down from Norway, the bus stopped in Helsinki. I loved Helsinki, the atmosphere was great and the locals were incredibly friendly.
From Helsinki we boarded a ferry and travelled across to Tallinn in Estonia. The old town in Tallinn was stunning. Cobbled streets, medieval buildings and a stunning wall surrounding the city. It was the perfect place to say goodbye to the people who were leaving at this part of the trip, which was the majority.
Tallinn
Saying goodbye to these people, who for the past month had been your best friends, your family was incredibly difficult. There were new people joining, but it wouldn’t be the same. They weren’t these people leaving.
It was difficult to say goodbye (when is it not), but knowing that you have made new friends for life, who you probably never would have met before, made doing this trip 110% worth it.
Would I do a long 37 day tour again? Possibly, but I’m not too sure. It has been a long time and I am quite exhausted. Sometimes it feels like I’m not getting as much out of each location as I could (for instance spending less than 24 hours in Helsinki was a bit of a bummer), but I guess that is the nature of a coach trip.
Tallinn
There isn’t much space for alone time either. As a very individual person who really does like doing things alone, being on this trip and with people 24/7 has been both challenging and eye-opening. You can’t do things at your own pace, or as you want to. You constantly have others to think about.
In saying this though, it has been a trip of a lifetime.
I am currently leaving Russia (which I will talk about in another post) and I only have one week left on the bus. There are 12 of us who have been here since the trip began over a month ago in Berlin and I know when we conclude the trip back in Berlin in a week it will be an incredibly hard day. But until then I’ve still got Latvia, Lithuania and Poland to look forward to.
Tallinn