A closer look
Albert the bus ran the longest continuous bus route in world history, ferrying passengers from London to Calcutta in 1968. The journey took a grueling fifty days and crossed fifteen countries, costing passengers about eighty-five pounds for a one-way ticket that included sleeping bunks and a kitchen. Instead of complaining about legroom on a two-hour budget airline flight, these absolute lunatics willingly subjected themselves to an overland trek through West Germany, Yugoslavia, Iran, and Afghanistan in a glorified double-decker tin box. The service eventually shut down in the late seventies due to minor inconveniences like geopolitical collapse and the closure of the "hippie trail," denying modern backpackers the chance to smell fifty days of unwashed fellow travelers
