My time in Montenegro went so fast, I will have to return one day to explore another city. Today is travel day Tivat to Naples via Belgrade. Then taking a bus from Naples to Salerno, my final destination!
TIV to NAP
I left the flat early, at 6:00am for an 8:40 flight. Me being me, I arrived at the airport way too early, but I would rather that. Let me tell you, skip arriving early in Tivat. The airport is terrible! Quite literally falling apart and dirty. There is one small café full of smokers before security. After security there is only a duty free and the prices are through the roof!!
There is not enough seating, and for a town that is full of wealth, most of which is now from Dubai, I am ashamed of the condition of this airport. There were bins overflowing catching water dripping from the ceiling that is in decay. Skip using the toilets, just skip it. Wait for the plane.
Belgrade
I won’t elaborate here, as I wrote about Belgrade Airport on the previous flight day post.
The landing into Belgrade on Air Serbia was absolutely horrendous. The plane was dumped onto the ground. I have a video, and the gasps from the passengers and cuss words from myself can be heard over the audio. There was no wind, no turbulence. Honestly could have been the FO’s first landing, poor guy.
BEL to NAP
Flying Air Serbia again for this portion, which almost didn’t take flight. After the boarding announcement, which came 20 minutes after scheduled take off, we were lead down the jet way. There we all remained standing, for a further 20 minutes. No idea why we were kept there and not allowed on the aircraft.
When we were okayed to actually step foot on the plane, the pilot announced that if we all didn’t take our seat within 7 minutes, we would miss our slot and the flight would be cancelled! Of course, only the first 30 people or so to board heard this announcement. The remaining peeps, sauntered on unawares. Flight attendants were clearly flustered and doing the best they could to politely get everyone to take a seat.
Anyways, we made the slot by the skin of our teeth. Flight was uneventful except that even thought it was Air Serbia, it was on a Marathon Airlines Embraer E195 aircraft. Beautiful big seats, two on each side of the isle and loads of personal space.
Naples
Landing into Naples was great. I was fairly flustered here as I needed to catch a bus that was leaving from some unknown place at 15:45. Because my flight was late into Naples, I had one hour to get through customs, get my baggage and find the bus stop.
Customs was fine, baggage took forever and the hall was super crowded. Yay, suitcase arrived and I was out of there like a jet, trying to find the bus stop.
I had no SIM for Italy yet, and Naples Airport doesn’t have any for sale. So sadly, I was on my own to find the bus. After wandering around outside and seeing no signs, I began asking anyone who looked like they might know.
Eventually I found a row of large buses and was told by one lovely driver that yes, indeed, my Flixbus would be coming into this area for pick up.
Thank goodness. So, if you have booked a larger coach from Naples Airport, walk outside, past the taxi rank which is quite long, through the public parking area until it feels like you are completely off airport property. Look ahead and you will see a large empty space, or it will perhaps have a few buses lined up like it did when I found it. This is your spot to get onboard your coach.
Flixbus Naples to Salerno
The third leg of my travel day was riding Flixbus to Salerno. I was greeted with a beautiful big clean bus. There was a toilet, which I did not look in but was used by several passengers.
The bus made one stop at the central bus station in the city which is right beside the main train station.
Scenery was beautiful after leaving the city of Naples.
The duration was 1 hour and 45 minutes, which included the brief stop in Naples. I am here in stunning Salerno Italy!! After a 40-minute bag drag with a stop to pick up a SIM card (the most expensive of my trip so far at €40!!! For 30 days), I made it to my Airbnb and fell head over heels in love with the place. Wow what a long and tiring travel day, but I made it so that’s all that really matters. 😊
