Six of the world’s longest journeys: bus, train and ferry voyages that last days
From a 100 hour bus ride between Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and Lima, Peru to a 4,455km cycle path connecting Canada to the southern United States, these are lengthy odysseys
I was recently at Retiro Terminal, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, filled with the resignation and dread that inflicts anyone buying a ticket for a 20-hour bus ride. Still, it could have been worse. The man behind me was heading to Lima, Peru; a 72-hour endurance test presumably aimed at people who have lost the will to live. And while we’re looking at lengthy bus rides, we might as well investigate some other transport superlatives.
1 Bus
Introduced in 2017, the Transoceânica route connects Rio de Janeiro and Lima, covering a grand total of 6,300km in 100 hours – if you’re lucky. There is infinite scope for mishaps and delays on the marathon slog through the Amazon rainforest, over the Andes and across the Peruvian desert. Job-hunting migrants and the most budget-minded of backpackers pay about US$270 for a one-way ticket, which is half the cost of a flight.
The same team of drivers stay with the bus from start to finish. Sure, they take it in turns to nap in vacant passenger seats but they are unlikely to be sufficiently rested to deal with narrow Andean roads after nightfall. Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson once wrote: “To travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive.” He probably never set foot on a South American bus.
2 Train
Chinese freight trains and Belt and Road initiatives aside, the longest passenger rail service that doesn’t require a change is the twice-monthly, nine-night epic from Moscow to Pyongyang. The 10,267km “masochist’s special” runs along much of the Trans-Siberian route with one car continuing to the North Korean capital (as if passengers haven’t suffered enough after 211 hours).