BookFlix

This was a crazy solo trip, spiti makes you feel closer to yourself than ever. I started my solo journey from Manali as was with family till Manali. Day 1: Went to shimla from manali, took almost a day. Stayed at abuzz oxford hostel for a night. Day 2: Luckily found a bla bla car till reckong peo, left around 12pm from shimla and reached peo around 8pm or so. Stayed at a local stay for ₹400 a night. Day 3: Left for chitkul at around 9:45am from peo bus chowk. Reached Chitkul around 4pm and stayed in Zostel for 4 days. Explored chitkul, went to border checkpoint with few folks I met at zostel who had a car, apparently army doesn’t allow to visit border checkpoint without a vehicle. Next day went to baspa river and since then was going to baspa river point in evening and night it was lovely. Tried food at akhri dhaba, uncle is funny lol. Tried to do a small day trek till the flag which we weren’t able to reach but went very close. Day 5: Left for Nako. Took bus from chitkul to peo and then peo to Nako. Nako is a part of Kinnaur and Spiti starts afterwards. Reached Nako at around 4pm. Went to monastery and had food. I think Nako is one of the best places to calm down. Day 6: Went to Nako lake and roamed around a bit and then left for Kaza. Took a bus at around 9-10am and reached Kaza around 3-4pm I guess. Stayed at grease moto club dorms, was decent nothing too good nothing too bad just on my last day they had issues with water pipeline so they asked me to fill drinking water from washroom and I was disgusted. As it was night time I couldn’t go out to buy a bottle so I just slept. Day 6: Had some work so I completed my work mostly on this day. Day 7: Rented a scooty for 800/day and went to Key monastery, Kibber village, Chicham bridge and village and then went to Dhankar monastery. Day 8: Went to Langzha, komic and hikkim. I felt my previous day was much better don’t know why. Day 9: Left kaza for reckong peo in early morning around 9am and reached peo around 5pm. One guy I met in chitkul was in kalpa so I thought to extend my stay and went Kalpa from peo. Day 10: Stayed in kalpa, explored a bit mostly tried different cafés or local food spots. Kalpa is also very calming and a very good place to relax. Day 11: Left Kalpa for shimla. Booked flix bus and they provided cab pickup till shimla and then bus to delhi. Day 12: Reached Delhi. Overall, spiti felt a bit hectic but I loved some parts of it. Mostly the landscape is very different and maybe that didn’t felt too good to me. I mean I did enjoy it but just feels hectic to remember now lol. I felt Nako and Kalpa to be the most calming places. Somewhere I could spend more days just chilling. Now, I’m trying to find a good place for June lol, any suggestions are welcome! Thanks!

To save money and stress, I usually book the National Express *to* the airport and Flix *from* the airport since if I'm late home it usually isn't a problem. I haven't had any issues this way and you save quite a bit with this strategy (double check prices though). I once did book Flix to the airport and the info they gave said the bus wasn't coming but then eventually it did show up and we were fine, but it was sooo stressful.

Non-EU citizen here. I have done quite a few times that trip. Given the current state of trains in Serbia, I’d say it’s better to book FlixBus with the app, and if possible get the seats at the front (you’ll have a bit of extra leg room). As for the border control, and in my experience, coming from Hungary to Serbia is slightly more relaxed. Edit: I will say this about Reddit. it never ceases to amaze me how some of the most neutral and good natured opinions one can have, on the most innocuous questions, still manage to piss someone off enough to get downvoted.

I've taken literally hundreds of National Express buses on that route over the years including on a weekly basis for the past year and I honestly can't remember a single time they've let me down. Punctual, reliable, comfortable and good value for money. I've only booked Flix a couple of times, one time they were about an hour late and another time they didn't show up at all. Couldn't get any info from the central customer service line as they basically had no knowledge of where any of their coaches are at any given time whereas National Express has an online tracker you can follow. I think Flixbus also has an online tracker but it's about as reliable as the one provided by First Bus. I'd always choose National Express over Flixbus regardless of price.

My local library does not have Diane Warren: Relentless (nor any of the below) on Kanopy, so I signed up for Calvert, MD library's e-card for free (they allow for out of state). If you want a physical card, it's $20/year for out of state, but you can sign up for the e-card for digital access to Libby, Kanopy, Bookflix, etc. for free. Movies on their Kanopy list: Butcher's Stain Diane Warren: Relentless Jane Austen's Period Drama Perfectly A Strangeness The Ugly Stepsister Edited to add link: [https://calvertlibrary.info/using-the-library/library-cards/get-a-card/](https://calvertlibrary.info/using-the-library/library-cards/get-a-card/)