On the Bus for a European Roadtrip!

This next week will be pretty special! I’ll be travelling from Brussels to Berlin by bus! That’s more than 765KM of road! Follow my adventures below!

 

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[Episode #6] See the world at ITB Berlin!

Panel on the New Age of Car, Bus, Train

First up this morning, I participated in an Executive Roundtable keynote panel featuring innovative travel technology startups. The group included fellow CEOs and executives from Uber (taxi), Silverrail (train), Blablacar (ridesharing), CarTrawler (car rental) and Blacklane (black car). It was an amazing experience to share the stage with such a group of smart and driven innovators that are seeking to change how we travel and get around.

The topic of the panel was to discuss the future of ground transportation in the new age of car, bus and train. As mentioned previously, I am extremely interested in how we can work together in the future to provide a better customer experience to commuters and travellers in a multi-modal world.

Here were some of my key takeaways:

• The 18-35 group no longer wants to own a car, and would much rather rent/share its transport and mobility solutions, both inside of a city (intracity) and for longer-haul trips (intercity).
• All panelists discussed how they looked to increase the efficiency/occupation of vehicles. BlaBlaCar aims to connect people looking for trips of an average of 350Km, and now has 25M users. Uber’s UberPool service helps drivers pickup multiple passengers on a given itinerary, which allows passengers to save money on the trip.
• It is easy to see how these car-sharing services (Uber for intracity, BlaBlaCar for intercity) will help reduce traffic and road congestion, as will inciting passengers to use group transport services like the bus with Busbud or the train with SilverRail.
• We discussed that customers want to have choice and the most options possible, which will eventually lead to the need for more multi-modal travel/transport engines comparing all of these options. That said, they also want “best-in-breed” apps specialized apps tailored to each option, as taking a taxi can be quite different than booking a bus ticket. Also, travellers are increasingly looking for seamless door-to-door experiences that will include the first and last miles of transport.
• The moderator, global travel industry expert and Phocuswright founder Philip Wolf, noted that 10 years ago, the travel industry was very much focused on flights and eventually hotels, and that ground transportation was a new frontier of the travel industry where we starting to see exciting innovation.
• A key point of the panel was to push the travel industry to see beyond flights and hotels to the exciting opportunities in ground travel, which will deliver value to travellers around the world.

ITB Expo

After the panel, I had the chance to walk around the ITB Expo that is held in the Berlin Messe. Wow! The place is such an expansive labyrinth. Many dozens of halls in different buildings are linked together with various tunnels. Practically all countries are represented, from Iceland to the Maldives. The Expo has been around for 50 years and is open to the public. If you’re looking around for info to plan your next vacation (who isn’t?), this is the place! That said, you’ll definitely need good walking shoes!

Challenge #2: Accepted

Our awesome marketing team gave us a second challenge, this time for Berlin. (Note: The first challenge was to drink a Quebec beer at the famous Delirium bar in Brussels!). The 2nd challenge was to take an Instagram picture in front of the Branderburg Gate, one of Germany’s best-known landmarks.

Branderburg Tor is actually the most instagrammed location in Berlin. How do we know this? We published this list of the most instagrammed locations in Germany [German only] on the Busbud blog. This is a similar list to the most instagrammed locations in the US. At Busbud, we love to help travellers see the best sights around the world!

Last moments in Berlin

I was happy to have had a few moments to take in some Berlin sights as we walked over to dinner. I passed through Checkpoint Charlie, a zone that famously separated East and West Berlin during the Cold War. I also got to see a small section of the Berlin wall. I had seen many other sections in the past in previous visits, but it’s always a good reminder to appreciate our freedom of mobility. It’s great how Berlin embraces its history and is in many ways an open-air museum. On that note, we walked to the restaurant for one last schnitzel to celebrate the end of an intense and productive week in Europe!

The End

That is all for now. Thanks to all for following our adventures! We enjoyed having you along and reading your comments. Here’s to dreaming of the next adventure. 🙂

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[Episode #5] On our way to Berlin!

Today was our big 8-hour bus ride to Berlin to attend the ITB Travel Conference! We arrived at the Dusseldorf station around 9am and found our big yellow bus from PostBus, a Busbud partner. We had bought our ticket on Busbud a few days earlier.

Working from the bus today!

The bus was extremely comfortable and clean. The wi-fi worked well and was very fast. (There was even an onboard multimedia center with music and movies that I didn’t use as I had my own content). I plugged in my computer in the available AC plug under my seat. Then I turned on some music on my smartphone and got to work! After zooming through the German countryside for a few hours, we made a quick pitstop in Hanover. Altogether a very smooth ride.

A traffic patch and the transport cocktail

As we were riding on the highway, we passed by a very highly congested zone full of traffic in the opposite direction. It reminded me about the importance of buses and collective transit. Every bus can take 30 or more cars off the road. Bus is in fact the absolute greenest form of transportation, far surpassing the plane, train or solo car. 

If we care about our environment, we must promote bus travel as a key part of the transport cocktail. As the chart below shows, the bus is more than 5X more efficient than the solo car or plane in terms of gas consumption per passenger per 100 kilometers or in terms of Co2 emissions. This is why Busbud is proud to be a partner since 2013 of the Smart Move Initiative, which aims to double coach ridership by 2020.

The future of transportation

This is a nice segway to my keynote panel on Thursday at the leading ITB conference in Berlin. I will be discussing the future of ground transportation in a panel called Staying Grounded with key executives from Uber (taxi), Silverail (train), Blablacar (ridesharing) and Blacklane (black car). Come say hi if you’re around! I am extremely interested in how we can work together in the future to provide a better customer experience to commuters and travellers in a multi-modal world. Stay tuned this week for more on this!

Arriving in Berlin

Finally made it! Both Julie-Anne (from our Partnerships team at Busbud) and I both thought the 8 hours pretty much zoomed by. Perhaps we were too busy working to see the time go by. We’re also happy to meet up with Marin, also from our Partnerships team, who is joining us for ITB this week. What better way to kick things off than with another massive German meal and beers! 🙂

Bonus: Unpacking my bag

I received a special request this weekend on Facebook from Thierry, a friend and a freelance developer (check out his portfolio here!) who helped to create the great Busbud blog you are currently reading, which is now chock full of awesome travel-related content. He asked me about what I was packing for this long 8-hour trip. So here it is, I emptied my bag and took a picture of the contents, in the famous Air Canada En Route magazine style (minus the professional photography!).

So what’s in my bag for this trip?

• Busbud hoodie: Always representing and useful to meet other Busbud travellers while on the bus!
• Patagonia coat: Super light, warm and takes virtually no space in my luggage. I take it everywhere. Especially practical for Germany’s chilly weather this week. Also made by a great socially responsible company, we like that!
• Backpack: Slim super-resistant laptop bag with industrial buckles. It’s made to fit only a laptop only, which helps to avoid overpacking, but can also fit a few more items opportunistically. Outside pouch fits my laptop and iPhone chargers.
• Laptop and iPhone chargers: Can’t have enough juice for 8-hour marathon work sprint on the bus!
• World power adapter: A definite must-have for European trips. This one works for all countries, except for hairdryers and such, which require a converter.
• Sunglasses: Block out those rays as you look out of the bus window!
• iPhone earbuds: Great all-around and my default for business calls. So light. Only wish they wouldn’t tangle so much all the time!
• Bose headphones: For a more involved audio experience. Typically use these for flights and bus rides for more comfort over my ears. They can also block out a bit of engine noise. (They are not as good as noice-cancelling as the Bose Quiet Comfort series, but I was always bummed out that those only worked with batteries that needed to be recharged constantly).
• Macbook Air: Old school air (one of the first generations), loaded with podcasts. (My phone can’t hold that many podcasts! Too many apps?). Montreal sticker courtesy of Creative Mornings Montreal to represent my city on the road.
• The Forecast magazine: Picked this up at their airport a few days ago. Yearly edition packed with trends for 2016. Useful to stay sharp and ahead of the curve.
• Passport and Nexus: Nexus card to skip the airport lines: never leave home with it.
• Makr Carry Goods leather case: For credits cards and other cards, fits nice and flat in my pocket unlike a bigger wallet.
• Business cards stack: Always be hustling!
• USB stick: Good for transferring presentations at conferences, especially when no wifi available.
• Defy pouch: Holds all sorts of travel stuff that would float at the bottom of my bag, typically holds my passport, wires, SIM cards, etc.
• Water: Gotta stay hydrated!
• Apple: Picked this up at the hotel breakfast buffet, just in case I get hungry on the 8-hour ride between stops. My backup hunger plan!

Not a bad list, but clearly I should have read this following post just published yesterday on the Busbud blog on the Top 10 Travel Products to bring on every trip. I only had 1 or 2 of the items listed. Clearly, I still have some traveler IQ to gain to make my trips even better! 🙂

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[Episode #4] Discovering the Rhine Valley

What good is a roadtrip if you can’t go off plan and improvise a bit?!

Today we decided to explore the Rhine valley, about 2 hours away from Dusseldorf. I had heard from family members that it was beauitful. It was totally worth the detour! Here’s the story of our day.

The night before

First, the night before our adventure, we started by exploring Dusseldorf and wound up at Schweine Janes, whose pork specialities and large portions have made it a local institution (and one of the top reviewed restaurants in Dusseldorf on TripAdvisor!). I had my first schnitzel of the trip, draped elegantly in mushroom sauce (editor’s note: the previously mentioned schnitzel in Episode 3 below was my Busbud colleague Julie-Anne’s!), accompanied with a tall Pils. Another great fast meal here in Germany! 

Roadtrip!

So we departed for the Rhine Valley at 10am the next day after picking our rental car. We of course looked into taking the bus to get there with Busbud, but in the end we choose to rent a car, as we were looking for a bit more flexibility this time to stop in multiple small villages today! [Back to the bus tomorrow as we leave for Berlin!] 

Lahneck Burg Castle

Julie-Anne and I were excited to discover the many castles that line the Rhine valley. First up, Lahneck Burg Castle, a 13th century medieval fortress with a very eventful history, including Templar Knights taking refuge in it, and whose sight even inspired a poem by Goethe!

Down the river

After a successful first visit, we hit the road again. In general, our itinerary plan was to reach Koblenz (about 1.5 hrs away from Dusseldorf), then drive down to the Rhine Valley to Rudesheim (about 1 hour from Koblenz), and loop back up to Dusseldorf with Highway 3! Altogether about 5 hours of driving! Even in grey weather, it was a stunning drive though myriad small towns filled with beautiful ancient cathedrals and towers, all facing the Rhine.

Up Loreley cliff!

We had heard the one un-missable highlight of the drive was Loreley. Unfortunately, we didn’t quite know what to look for! We finally saw a sign appended to a cliff that overlooked the Rhine. This was Lorelei! Lorelei is actually a 132M steep rock that Julie-Anne and I were happy to climb up, only to discover a breathtaking view of a large section of the Rhine Valley!

The rock associated in a poem to to an “enchanting female”, the beautiful Lore Lay, who “betrayed by her sweetheart, is accused of bewitching men and causing their death”. There is also a statue of her near the river. This story is now part of the German folklore and has been featured in works of Mendelssohn and Strauss. I learned more later here about her story:

“The tales of a woman named Lorelei in Germany’s Rhine River Valley date back several centuries. According to legend, many boats lie at the bottom of the Rhine River because of her. As the legend goes, in the narrowest and deepest point of the Rhine there once was a woman of such beauty that she would cause sailors to wreck their ships as they sailed the dangerous currents along the river’s jagged shorelines.”

Tomorrow, we head to Berlin!

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[Episode #3] Getting into Dusseldorf

Today we left Brussels by bus for Berlin. Our first stop: Dusseldorf, a 3 hour ride away!

Awaiting our departure

We aimed to show up to the station slightly before our 9am departure. It was super easy to find, right in the center of town. Then we made our way to the buses. After breakfast, of course!

On the platform

Julie-Anne and I had a small moment of pride on the platform. When we arrived, we noticed 3 buses from 3 different German bus operators: Flixbus, Eurolines and DB IC Bus. All 3 are currently Busbud partners! [See them on the Brussels to Dusseldorf route page on Busbud!]. It’s really great to see so many bus operators in Germany available for booking via our site and mobile apps. (Thank you partners!). This helps bus travellers to compare all their options easily and quickly in one place!

On the bus

Flixbus was a great ride. I learned from the Flixbus profile page on Busbud that they now serve 2,500+ destinations in Germany and beyond, and are based in Munich. The bus was perfectly clean and it looked almost new. It was very spacious with highly reclinable seats. That was great to nap a little bit on the ride to Dusseldorf! The driver was very courteous when handling our luggage and kindly answered our questions as we boarded.

Wifi was accessible and working once we crossed the German border (not on the Belgium side). Refreshments and food were also available for purchase from the in-seat menu. I listened to two podcasts and next thing I knew, we were already arriving in Dusseldorf!

Let there be Schnitzel!

As we arrived around noon time, we had a bit of a wait before we could check-in. Our hotel concierge recommended the following place while we waited for the room: Braueri Schumacher [site in German only], which has been operating for 175 years! It was a very typical German atmosphere, which proved the perfect way to kick off our stay here. Bratwurst, schnitzel and spatzle: what more can one ask for?!

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[Episode #2] Exploring Brussels

IRU Panel

Today was the first conference! In the morning, I got to learn more about the transportation landscape in Europe. A lot has definitely changed in the past few years! The market in Germany has been liberalized and has undergone very fast growth in ridership. France followed suit last year after the landmark Macron Law (see article in the Economist). The Busbud team published a very interesting study on the impact of this legislation in France on pricing for bus travellers, for those interested. 

In the afternoon, I had a great time at IRU talking about the future of transportation on a panel with a group of really smart industry folks. The title of our panel was “Innovation: the digital revolution and the need to rethink mobility”.

Wandering the historical center

After the talk, I explored the city a little bit at dusk with with Julie-Anne from our Partnerships team at Busbud.

Our first destination was the Grand Place, the main square of Brussels and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Lined with ornate and opulent architecture, it is also home to their town hall.  I must admit it’s pretty breathtaking at night!

Challenge #1: Accepted!

After wandering a bit through the cobblestone streets, we tried to answer our first city challenge. Simon, our kick-ass Marketing Director, and proud Belgian, challenged me to visit a popular bar, Delirium Café, and order a beer from Quebec.

Delirium has the distinction of holding the Guinness World Record for most varieties of beer commercially available. I managed to find their catalog, boasting 2000 beers from 60 countries! The menu was literally a magazine!

We did not find any Quebec beer per se, but did manage to find a Canadian beer. To our surprise, it was a Moosehead Pale Ale! So I ordered one (challenges must be honoured!).

But of course, I also made sure to sample the tasty local Belgian white beers as well afterwards!

Next up, we leave for Berlin. First stop on the way: Dusseldorf!

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[Episode #1] Intro

Two conferences

This next week will be pretty special! I’ll be travelling from Brussels to Berlin by bus! That’s more than 765KM of road!

Why you ask? First, I’ve been invited to talk about “the future of transportation” at two different conferences: one in Brussels at the IRU (International Road Transport Union) on March 3rd and another in Berlin a week later on March 10th at the leading ITB Travel mega-conference! So what better to way to promote bus travel than to take a European bus roadtrip!

I’m super excited to take part in these keynote panel discussions with other international ground transport leaders, such as Uber (taxi), BlaBlaCar (ride-sharing) and SilverRail (train), and reflect on how we can build a more innovative, sustainable travel network in a multi-modal world.

I’m also excited to spend the next couple of weeks in Belgium and Germany meeting some of our European bus partners with our awesome Busbud partnerships duo Julie-Anne and Marin.

Follow us as we bus!

We’ll be traveling by bus all the way there, using Busbud.com to book all of our bus tickets! Super exciting to be able to use our product during our trip!

Make sure to follow our adventures on this blog post as I’ll be updating my experiences in Europe every few days. The Busbud team also gave me a specific challenge to perform for every city that we visit! I may also take over Busbud’s Twitter account during our 15 hour bus trip to Berlin next week! This is going to be fun. 🙂

Day 1: Brussels!

Julie-Anne and I arrived in the beautiful city of Brussels a couple of days ago and it’s awesome. It’s my second time in the Belgian capital and it’s been very enjoyable so far. More pics to come, but first stop: let’s have some Mussels and fries!