Is it safe to travel with Flixbus?

Flixbus has convenient, low-cost, and direct bus services throughout Europe (recognizable by its green colour). They offer more than 400,000 daily connections to more than 3,000 destinations in more than 35 European countries. - https://www.flixbus.si/

We mostly travel on our own, with Flixbus, as it is currently the most convenient and affordable for us, so we have several different experiences, good and bad. We like it because this way we don't have to worry about transportation to the selected destinations, but it is true that the journey itself takes much longer than by plane.

Our first trip with Flixbus was to our close neighbour Italy. We decided on Flixbus because of the price benefit; because the plane is a big deal because of money, you also must pay for your stay and you have to plan to eat, etc. Since Flixbus was unknown to us and no one we know travels with it, we inquired and got informed by reading the comments. When we got informed, there were a lot of good and bad experiences, but that's how it is everywhere. So, we found out that tickets for Flixbus can be bought online or in a nearby newsagent (they sell various tickets for events and transport).

We organized all the transports, what time is best to travel, so that we have as much of the day as possible and which transport is the cheapest, since Flixbus itself has several possible, transports for different locations at different times and prices. We organized a trip. The next day, we headed to a nearby tobacconist because, since we were new to this, we wanted to get our hands on the receipts that we bought the ticket with (not just have the receipts on the phone). The lady in the tobacconist was very kind; she also printed all the documentation for us. However, she warned us that many people do not follow the seating order, so we should be careful.

Time flies, and the day of the trip arrives. We started our journey at half past four in the morning from the Maribor bus station. Let's start by saying that being at a bus stop at night is not the most pleasant experience, but when there are two of you, it's always easier than when you're alone. In the Flixbus app, they notified us of delays, and we could also see where they were, how far they were, and everything that interested us in terms of transportation.

The bus was on time, the gentleman got off the bus, "scanned" the code, looked at our ID cards, put our luggage away, and we got on the bus. Then came the shock. People everywhere, they sleep across two seats, they don't even look where they sit, and for us first time travellers via Flixbus, it was a real nightmare, because we are a bit dramatic, we thought it was the end for us. We looked for empty seats so we could sit somewhere, and at the end of the bus we found free places between Hungarian. When we started driving, the two of us were scared and "overwhelmed" with the whole situation because it was such a big mass of people - a little anxiety shock.

When we landed in Ljubljana, luckily for us, many people got off or transferred to the next bus. In this situation, we saw a chance to change seats and finally be able to sit together - not in our seats because they were occupied, but at least we were together. Later during the ride, we learned that the bus came from Hungary and that a different group of people gather there and that they don't care that people each have their own reserved seats.

During the drive, everything went as it should until we reached Venice. New people came up there and wanted to sit in their seats, of course, just like we both wanted at the beginning. Fortunately for us, two girls about the same age as us approached us and told us that we sit in their seats. We nicely explained to them that some Hungarians are already sitting in our seats and that, unfortunately, everybody is sitting on a different seat and if they could go somewhere else. They were understanding and sat down elsewhere. The two Germans were not so lucky, the couple sitting across from us, because a woman, who would be called "Karen" nowadays, did not want to understand the situation and started getting angry, asking them to leave. They respected her and sat down somewhere else, but in our opinion, the outburst was unnecessary.

The rest of the trip to Bologna was uneventful, except for a guy about our age sitting in front of us who didn't care about anyone but himself, and the whole ride his seat was moving back to almost lying down. We warned him several times, but he didn't listen to us. He seemed to find it interesting to annoy people. Later, when we arrived at our destination, they dropped us off at the bus station as planned and wished us a pleasant trip.

Since all good things must come to an end, so did our trip, so the day was already approaching, and the 8-hour drive home again followed. We were prepared for the worst, and we got a big contrast. Flixbus arrived at the station exactly, on the exact right platform; it had a board showing where it was going; the people were friendly; everyone was sitting in their seat as they should be. So, we were pleasantly surprised. There were a lot of Italians on the bus, and they were all polite; they didn't shout, they didn't play music too loud, etc.

On the way, we also met a girl who travels to Italy several times because she met a boy on the Erasmus program and, whenever she has the chance, travels to see him. Every honour to her to travel 8 hours one way several times a year? Their love must be really strong. In the main, the drive went as it should until Maribor. So, the nightmare at the beginning of the trip ended with a pleasant change.

Life is a journey. Make the most of it and be safer with knowledge.

Till next time. :)