Seven days, four cities, one bag, and a budget that did not survive contact with the second night. Here is what the week actually looked like, minus the parts that photograph well.
The night bus is a food decision
Every hour spent moving in daylight is an hour you are not eating. Travelling overnight buys back the whole day and the price of a bed, which is the difference between one good meal and three. It costs you a night of proper sleep, and by day four that debt comes due.
The trick nobody mentions is to book the seat over the axle rather than at the back. Less bounce, less noise, and you arrive able to taste things.
Street food has a schedule
Carts are not restaurants. They are a shift. The grill that runs at seven in the morning is a different business from the one on the same corner at ten at night, often with different owners and always with different food. Turning up at the wrong hour and concluding a city has nothing going on is the most common mistake there is.
Ask what time they get busy, then come back then. Nobody has ever refused to answer that question.
Budget for the sit-down meal
Eating on your feet for a week sounds romantic and turns grim around day five. One proper meal — a table, a chair, something that takes an hour — resets the whole trip. Plan it for the midpoint rather than the end, while it still has a week left to improve.
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The Overnight Bus North, and Why It Beats the Flight
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