so I saw that FlixBus had an overnight trip to Ghent which was notably cheaper than flights or train, especially since it basically cuts out one night of hotels, but oh was that the apparently common first-timer disillusion. right when I got onto the FlixBus, I googled whether they wake you up for your stop on an overnight, and an article about hey DONT DO OVERNIGHT FLIXBUSES popped up 😭 apparently, my expectation of sleeping soundly for 7 hours was false and again a beginners’ mistake, esp for young travelers. however, the article only said the chairs were not meant for sleeping, but I thought it was totally fine. if I could sleep in economy in an airline, I can sleep in these coach buses that recline 5x as much.

BUT, TURNS OUT THAT WASNT THE ISSUE. first, the bus was quite warm at 10 in the evening, but it cooled once we took off. then, people behind us just kept yapping nonstop, like it’s 10pm guys 😭. next, it was just so awkward to find a good position to sleep but that’s normal. the real next issue was finally getting some sleep, only to be woken up 40 minutes later by someone because we were deboarding to get security checked at Dover (southeastern port of 🇬🇧). got a nice passport stamp though! THEN, i found out we were going on a ferry (as you can tell, little research was put into what this bus ride entailed) on which we had to deboard and go on the passenger decks!! honestly the ferry was rly nice, got free hot food, duty-free shops, and some time to wash up in someplace other than a coach bathroom that didn’t even have running water. we had about 2 and a half hours on the ferry, so we ate a bit, shopped a bit, slept for a bit, and back on the bus we went shortly. afterwards, we nodded off and made it to Ghent too quick for comfort. but overall, that was pretty little sleep versus expectations. interesting for sure, but would i do it again? probably, im young and broke for now still. however, im truly tired and i have a whole day and work day ahead of me.

oh!! and we bought an adorable beefeater bear!