Updated: 7/10/18 | July 10th, 2018
For years, I’ve been hearing about the excursion company Busabout. They offer hop-on, hop–off-again bus excursions throughout Europe, similar to the Kiwi and Oz Experience. like then, Busabout has set routes through Europe and along that route, you can leave and rejoin the bus whenever you want. I’ve never used them before as I’ve always just taken trains around Europe.
However, in addition to their bus trips, Busabout also uses sailing excursions around Croatia. I continuously met travelers in Europe who rave about their experience on this trip so I made a decision to experience it for myself.
I took the Split-to-Split sailing tour, which was a seven-day cruise around the Dalmatian coast of Croatia. My boat, the Plomin, had 33 passengers (of which I was the only one not from Australia or new Zealand), our guide (also Australian), and five crew members.
From a service point of view, I was pleased with their product. The trip was well organized, the boat was nice, the travel plan was well put-together, and there were a few on-shore activities included. Additionally, the guide knew what he was talking about and gave exceptional advice, and everything ran like clockwork.
How I spent My Week with Busabout
Day 1 – Hvar
We left Split around 2 pm and, after taking a brief swim, arrived at the island of Hvar around 6. After dinner, we had some drinks and went out to the bars on the islands, where the crowded atmosphere was a little much to handle. I don’t like being regularly bumped into while I’m trying to have a beer. If you are into drinking, Hvar is the spot to take pleasure in the crazy nightlife.
Day 2 – Mljet
Mljet is home to a big national park with an island in the middle of the lake. There’s hiking, camping, and other fun activities that would have been great if we had a lot more than a few hours to take pleasure in them. There’s not much on this island and we just spent the night hanging out on the boat, getting to know the other people on the tour.
Day 3 – Dubrovnik
We arrived here midday, which was disappointing because I had hoped to spend a lot more time here at one of the greatest destinations in Croatia. Dubrovnik was beautiful, and I’ll be coming back here for a longer stay. After wandering the city streets for a while, our group went out for dinner — where I had the best calamari I’ve had in recent memory — before heading to the club in a fortress called “Revelin.”
Day 4 – Korcula
Korcula is popular for being the alleged birthplace of Marco Polo. The town is a beautiful medieval walled city that I took pleasure in walking around. There wasn’t much going on in the city, and considering that my group was still worn out from Dubrovnik, we spent the evening on the ship, enjoying movies, and getting some rest.
Day 5 – Markaska
Makarska is a huge spot for beachgoers, and there are a lot of water sports here. I wasn’t a big fan of this place; the beaches were overflowing with people and I felt a lot more like I was in Bangkok during rush hour than on a beach. I walked the boardwalk, had an ice cream, and went to dinner. The highlight of my time here? Partying in a cave. Yes, that was as cool as it sounds. outside of that though, I’ll skip Markaska in the future. There are too lots of people on too small of a beach.
Day 6 – Omis
Our last night before returning to Split was spent in the tiny town of Omis. There is a place to swim, a place to eat, and one main bar. After frying in the sun the whole morning, I dipped into a café and relaxed. That night was the captain’s dinner and the popular pirate party. On all the cruises, Busabout groups have a dress-up party on their last night. All boats are in Omis that night, so you end up in town with people from multiple boats. everyone heads to the one bar, and it looks like a scene out of Pirates of the Caribbean. It was quite fun and lots of (many) pirate jokes were had.
Day 7 – Split
Back in Split, we were left to our own devices for the day before returning to the boat for one last night out.
A few notes on the tour:
In between all of our destinations, there was a midday swim stop. Lunch was served on the boat every day. Beer and alcohol were also served but cost extra. Water also cost extra, which was an unfortunate surprise. I also found the added costs of the BBQ and captain’s dinner huge wastes of money and would recommend simply heading into the villages for better and more affordable food. In short, avoid eating on the boat if you want to save money.
Hvor mye koster det?
These excursions cost upwards of $1,800 USD in height season, and when coupled with the other incidental expenses of the trip, people normally end up averaging about $250 per day. That’s a lot of money! I could take pleasure in a five-star holiday in Paris for that amount!
However, when compared with the other operators such as Fanatics, Contiki, or Sail Croatia, Busabout is the least expensihar alternativet for en organisert Båttur fra Kroatia.
Imidlertid, hvis du tar en seilingsutflukt rundt Kroatia i løpet av bære sesongen i begynnelsen av mai og september, er prisene for disse utfluktene omtrent 50-60% billigere. Det er mye lettere å finne avtaler, og det er færre folkemengder i hver havn.
Vil jeg anbefale denne Busabout -turen?
Før jeg gikk inn på denne turen, visste jeg bare to ting om Busabout: det ville stort sett være Aussies (Busabout er veldig populær blant australske backpackere), og det ville være mye drikking.
Begge disse tingene bekreftet sanne.
Jeg hadde det veldig bra og gikk bort etter å ha møtt noen få mennesker jeg vil holde kontakten med i fremtiden. Imidlertid tror jeg ikke at jeg ville ta en av disse utfluktene igjen. Det er ikke nok tid brukt i hver destinasjon, og jeg er godt over “reise til fest” -modus til at mange av de andre menneskene på båten var i. Båten var morsom, folket fine og været best – men Jeg vil heller glede meg over et filmbilde og legge meg enn å holde meg ute og drikke til daggry.
Men bare fordi jeg ikke ville gjort det igjen, indikerer ikke at du ikke burde gå. Jeg tror at hvis du er solo -reisende, et par eller et par venner som ønsker å møte andre reisende og fest, ville seiling med Busabout være en fantastisk opplevelse for deg. (Dessverre er det ingen hop-on, hop-off-båt, som vil være kjempebra, men jeg synes det alternativet bare kalles en ferge.)
Jeg spør alltid folk på turer som disse: “Vil du anbefale det til venner, og hadde du det gøy?” Og mens mange mennesker på båten min hadde lignende klager som meg, sa hver person jeg spurte at de gledet seg over seg selv. “De ville gjort det igjen med hjerteslag,” sa de. (Faktisk, for noen, var dette deres andre eller tredje bussabout -tur.)
Jeg tror det sier mye om hvor bra selskapet og erfaringene er.
Bussomme Kroatia -seilturen viser seg å være en god del moro, mye mer enn jeg trodde det ville være. Disse utfluktene er ikke min kopp te lenger, men hvis du prøver å finne en fest, vil du henge med en haug med andre unge (og eldre-det var to 40 år gamle kvinner på båten min) reisende , denne bussomme båten er noe for deg.
Tross alt, hvor mange selskaper organiserer massive partier med pirat-tema?!
Bestill turen: Logistiske ideer og triks
Bestill flyet ditt
Finn en billig flytur ved å bruke Skyscanner. Det er min favoritt søkemotor fordi den søker på nettsteder og flyselskaper over hele kloden, slik at du alltid vet at ingen stein er igjen.
Bestill innkvarteringen din
Du kan bestille vandrerhjemmet ditt med Hostelworld. Hvis du vil bo et annet sted enn et herberge, kan du bruke booking.com, da de konsekvent returnerer de billigste prisene for gjestehus og hotell.
Ikke glem reiseforsikring
Reiseforsikring vil sikre deg mot sykdom, skade, tyveri og kanselleringer. Det er detaljert beskyttelse i tilfelle noe går galt. Jeg drar aldri på tur uten det, da jeg har måttet bruke det mange ganger i det siste. Mine favorittbedrifter som tilbyr den beste servicen og verdien er:
Safetywing (best for alle)
Forsikre turen min (for de over 70)
MedJet (for ytterligere evakueringsdekning)
Klar til å bestille turen?
Sjekk ut ressurssiden min for de beste selskapene å bruke når du reiser. Jeg lister opp alle de jeg bruker når jeg reiser. De er de beste i klassen, og du kan ikke gå galt ved å bruke dem på turen.
Merk: Busabout leverte ekskursjonen gratis. Flyreiser, drikke, måltider og andre tilfeller ble betalt av meg.
