Has anyone ever traveled by Autokar?

[ZeussLightningBolt]

I wanted to explain what these things are to someone who isn't familiar with them, but it's really difficult to explain. It's basically a long distance bus, but it's not a public bus. Basically you book it like you would a tour, and only people who booked it are allowed to take it, and it takes you to another city/country. So you don't have to worry about stopping in every village along the way, or switching buses. They're really common in Europe and Latin America.

I HAVE, and LIKED it

I HAVE and HATED it

I've never traveled by autokar, but would like to

I've never traveled by autokar, and don't want to

What the hell is an autokar?

[NearlyNapping]

"I've never traveled by autokar, and don't want to"

I've traveled around 4000 miles by bus and it's not for me. It doesn't make any difference that it's privately booked. I still have to sit on a bus for hours or days. Not stopping at every town is a negative for me. I want to make lots of stops to get out and stretch, and see the town. During longer stops I've been known to get out and hoof it for 10+ miles before returning to the bus.

When flying I don't like non-stop flights either. When possible, I intentionally book a flight with more stops, even if the overall travel time is longer.

Nor do I want to travel long distance by train. I've never decided if train or bus travel was worse. It's a tossup. The train is a little more comfortable and you can walk around, but you can't get off. A bus is less comfortable and you can't walk around, but you can get off on a regular basis.

To me, the only way to really travel is by car, hitch hiking (which is still car), or perhaps bicycling or walking.

The closest thing to Autokar I've wanted to do is Green Tortoise back in the old days. The modern Green Tortoise is not much like the old one though. I've run into them a few times when out traveling and I always wanted to do it.

[andreasderjuengere]

They are very common here in Thailand. We call them 'bus' :D
You can practically get anywhere. To me it's a love/hate relation: I find them affordable, practical and convenient; but I loathe the long hours to search for the best position to sit or to even sleep.
Some of them are quite an eye sore - and previously there had been issues with drivers on drugs [Ya Ba - tablets containing a mixture of methamphetamine and caffeine] and resulting severe accidents. But it's reasonably safe meanwhile.

[Darcia]

They aren’t called Autokars, but it’s the same concept. We have BreakRide at our university where it takes students from 4 major cities in Texas. San Antonio, Dallas, Austin, & Houston, the price depends on the distance from the school campus. You have to buy another ticket for round trip and the ride is long. You get no meal unless you packed your own or get something from fast food restaurants when the bus driver stops. It’s very long & exhausting ride. Some buses have plugins some don’t, some have WIFI, and no tvs.

Or we can ride the Greyhound bus, it similar to BreakRide but it isn’t sponsored by the university. Greyhound is a lot more dangerous as far as going to different cities lots of crime dealing with homeless people occur. It can have overcrowding in the terminals and the ticketer are usually rude & nonchalant. The bus ride can be pleasant or awful. The bus only stops at Greyhound station so food is limited to vending machines. There can be WiFi and plugins.

I’ve taken both several times. I’d rather stick to the BreakRide cause I know I’ll be safer opposed to taking Greyhound.

[ZeussLightningBolt]

That's cool. Greyhound is the worst

[Darcia]

Greyhound has gotten worst over the years. I forgot to mention there’s another bus that’s similar to AutoKars it’s called Megabus I haven’t been on there but the rates start at $1. I’ve only heard that the bus driver keeps the buses extremely cold. Megabus isn’t near my city. It goes from city to city and state to state.

[ZeussLightningBolt]

$1?
The hell kind of bus is this?

Greyhound has ALWAYS been bad. It's not so much the Greyhound itself as the people that ride it.
My cousin took one to come visit me, and he said there was a pervert in a prison uniform looking a girl and masturbating

[Rica_ChicaUSA]

Went on a Greyhound once and will never do it again

[ZeussLightningBolt]

Same
But Autokar is different than Grayhound

My cousin took one to visit us, and he said there was a pervert in his prison uniform staring at a girl and jacking off

[Rica_ChicaUSA]

WOAH 😂🤣🤣😂🤣😂🤣

[AzureGirl]

Is it anything like taking a bus line to another state? Because I’ve done that before. Sitting 5-6 hours on a bus gets exhausting really quickly.

[ZeussLightningBolt]

Pretty much, minus a masturbating homeless.

[brigfrey25]

I took one which takes 18 hours to reach my destination. 😂😂

[AzureGirl]

@brigfrey25 wow that sounds so much worse x. x

@ZuessLightningBolt If I had one of those on my bus I didn’t look lol

[ZeussLightningBolt]

Pfffffff
Mine took 30 something hours.

[AzureGirl]

I feel so bad! I have no idea what I would do if I had to sit on a bus for 30 hours!

[ZeussLightningBolt]

Why? I saw 6 countries.
He just made too many stops in the one I'd already seen, and not enough stops in the ones that interested me most.
And we drove through Hungary at night. :( I know Hungary is ugly, but I still wanted to see it. I dont even feel I've been there.

Serbia stops were cool though, we stopped in a village.
The way back was hell though, we drove straight from the Serbian/Hungarian border to the Polish border without stopping, and everyone had to piss. And he only made one stop in Macedonia

[ZeussLightningBolt]

I certainly prefer it over flying

[AzureGirl]

Okay, let me rephrase my earlier point. Because yours sounds like it was a million times nicer than what I experienced. Mine was 5-6 hours of highway and minimal stops at centers to drop off other people. Plus mine mainly went through my state so it’s not like it was something I hadn’t seen before until we crossed into the state I was traveling to. But otherwise it was just other cars and trees. It would probably be a different story if I was in a completely unfamiliar location throughout though.

The only really bad thing about me and long vehicle rides is I can’t sleep in a moving vehicle.

[ZeussLightningBolt]

Yeah, you bus was different. Aukokar doesn't drop people off in different places. Though I'm sure you could arrange that.

I was actually surprised I was able to fall asleep, cuz I cannot sleep on a plane at all. But I was still waking up before everyone else, cuz I didn't wanna miss the scenery.
I woke some people up when I turned my camera on!
And I got pissed when people on the otherside of the bus covered their windows. Lol

I got pissed at myself though cuz I fell asleep when we crossed into Greece as much as I was trying not to.
Shit that was an epic trip.

[AzureGirl]

The more you talk about this the more I want to just experience a similar trip myself. Darn you for fueling my desire to travel! lol

[ZeussLightningBolt]

LOL
Where are you from?

[AzureGirl]

I’m from the US. How about you?

[ZeussLightningBolt]

US
MASSIVE country
Third largest on earth, in fact. Where specifically in the US?

I'm from California

[AzureGirl]

Yeah I guess I could have been more specific lol I’m from Pennsylvania.

[ZeussLightningBolt]

OH!!!

[DeeDeeDeVour]

We've traveled in a very similar fashion in Japan & parts of Europe. We enjoyed our experiences. Different experience in mainland China... Terrible!

[ZeussLightningBolt]

Lol
What happened in Mainland China?

[DeeDeeDeVour]

The Chinese bus driver, chaperone & passengers were all rude, crude, obnoxious & discriminating. They clearly made the rest of us non-Chinese on the bus feel unwelcomed, unwanted & disrespected. I suspect they were taught to hate foreigners.

[ZeussLightningBolt]

Mhmmmmmmmmm. That sounds about right.
All East Asians are like this.
Fuck those people! I fucking hate them!

[ZeussLightningBolt]

I've never experienced such racism, disrespect and discrimination as I did in Taiwan. Than Asians on this site wonder why I fucking hate them.

[DeeDeeDeVour]

Be careful. ;) I'm also part East Asian... Southeast Asian. I'm not like those Chinese on the bus. Filipinos, Japanese, (South) Koreans, Thai, Singaporeans & (some Malaysians) still treat foreigners (of any nationality) well.

[ZeussLightningBolt]

I disagree. Except Singapore people, because their government forces them to.
Though I often hear good things about Filipinos and Vietnamese.
Japanese and Korean, depends.
Thailand, they don't realize the Thai guy suggesting another restaurant because this one is closed, isn't being nice, but scamming them.

But Chinese are undoubtedly the WORST! Whenever I see a Chinese tourist I just wanna punch them. I've actually been researching countries that don't have Chinese tourists. I do NOT wanna end up with one in a tour group. They're disrespectful as fuck, than get angry when Italians are racist towards them.

[DeeDeeDeVour]

I strongly agree with you about the Chinese.

[archiz]

Yea I have and I like it.
We use autokars for school too.

[ZeussLightningBolt]

Oh you guys have them too?

[archiz]

Suure

[LonewolfMeme]

I have for school trips to a neighboring state or a few hours out from my school. I like them.

[msss98]

Didn't like it but for the price it was ok

[ZeussLightningBolt]

Where did you go?
Yeah I only paid like 300 US for a trip to Greece, for TWO people. And that was with a hotel for 10 nights.

[Anonymous]

Yes, I have done it several times with my school class.

[Liz_thorne]

I have and it was HELL

[ZeussLightningBolt]

Yeah? You didn't like it. Where did you go? I took one from Poland to Greece. 30 something hours. I actually liked it, because I saw a lot more than I would flying, and didn't have to deal with TSA. Only thing I didn't like is they made too many stops the first way, and not enough stops on the way back. And we drove through Hungary at night, and only made one stop in Macedonia. I wish we would have made more, especially at the canyons and ruins. But we made some good stops in Serbia, and we saw a lot of cool stuff from the bus, and it was a great way to knock several countries off my list.
Some of the fancier ones offer food and have stewardesses.

Too be honest though, I wouldn't do it again, as I like to have flexibility in my travels. My aunt wanted to take autokar. If it was up to me, I would've gone by regular bus or train, so i could stop where I want to stop.
Shit, I'm gonna do that some time.

[MackToday]

Yup in the USA it's a Grey Hound.

[ZeussLightningBolt]

No. It's not like greyhound. Read the description

[MackToday]

Sounds about like a Grey Hound.

[ZeussLightningBolt]

REALLY?
What kind of GreyHounds are you taking?

I guess the English name for it is "Coach"

[MackToday]

Gray Hound will take you to a certain city or certain place you just by a ticket and go strait there. They have bus schedules in the terminals. I guess it's pretty broken down now though, bunch of illegals and fugitives.

[ZeussLightningBolt]

No but this was like a whole package. With hotel. Greyhound, you have to change busses like every hour

[MackToday]

More like a charter bus I guess.

[ZeussLightningBolt]

YES! Something like that

[lovedejj_xo]

A coach bus?

[ZeussLightningBolt]

Oh is that what they're called in English?

[lovedejj_xo]

Uh yes lol

[lovedejj_xo]

I take them to NYC when I don’t feel like driving and know we’ll be drinking for a 2 hour drive

[ZeussLightningBolt]

They have autokars in America?

[lovedejj_xo]

They have coach buses lol close enough

[lovedejj_xo]

Where are you located?

[ZeussLightningBolt]

Sacramento

[MysteriousDarkness]

When people here in America think of coach buses they most likely think of Greyhound.

[ZeussLightningBolt]

@MysteriousDarkness Autokar is completely different from Greyhound

[lovedejj_xo]

Can you explain how it’s different? Because that straight up looks like a Peter Pan or Greyhound bus which has everything in the picture. It definitely doesn’t look like a party or city sightseeing bus

[ZeussLightningBolt]

It's in the description
I really don't know how to explain it any clearer.
Maybe a European can explain it better.

It may look the same but it serves a different function

[MysteriousDarkness]

@ZeussLightningBolt
Whats the difference in their uses then? Both you can go cross country in.

[ZeussLightningBolt]

@MysteriousDarkness But autokar you get as a package deal with a hotel, and you don't have to change busses.
Autokar is specifically for tourists who book that package, while Greyhound anyone can use for any purpose.

[lovedejj_xo]

Ok so a vacation package? Well they have flights/car/hotel packages together not really buses. If that’s what you’re going by a package deal. But inside that bus is the same 🙃

[ZeussLightningBolt]

Yeah. It's like a holiday package.
I'll take your word for it. I haven't ridden a Greyhound in years.

Some of the autokars have stewardesses, but mine didn't

[MysteriousDarkness]

@lovedejj_xo
I agree that they look the same or similar.

[ZeussLightningBolt]

@MysteriousDarkness Do Greyhounds have TV monitors?

[kojikurac]

I did.
Many times.

[BoxySama]

🇺🇲
My American ass is ignorant

[CuriousMufuxka]

So basically Ubertour?

[LonewolfMeme]

Lol.

[ZeussLightningBolt]

No, not at all.

[CuriousMufuxka]

But you call and then they show up and then take you on a tour. Ubertour! Shit I should trademark that before Uber steals it lol

[ZeussLightningBolt]

Not exactly.
It's not a private ride, and you can't make your own schedule.
And it's not really a tour either.

[CuriousMufuxka]

Oh so just BigLyft?

[Plitty-Tank]

I've never heard of it.

[ZeussLightningBolt]

I'm not surprised
Americans aren't familiar with this concept

[NorthwestRider]

Nope

[ZeussLightningBolt]

Do you want to?

[NorthwestRider]

Not sure, I do not like buses that much mostly when there are tons of people on it

I do like trains more