KEY POINTS:
LONDON - Maybe it was the threat of another sober night sipping bottles of Bavaria, Iran's famously alcohol-free lager. Or perhaps it was the mechanical breakdowns and hours of mind and bottom-numbing coach travel that threatened to bring the dream crashing down.
Whatever the final straw, it was
reported that the 38 passengers aboard the Ozbus, a 1960s-style charabanc trip from London to Australia, were threatening to mutiny.
Just three weeks into the three-month odyssey in which they were due to travel from London to Sydney via Turkey, India and Indonesia, a desperate email from one passenger to her family announced that, following yet another technical hitch with their Latvian-registered jalopy, the mood on board had blackened.
"We are currently stuck in this hellhole waiting for a replacement bus ... mutiny is in the air and everyone is so angry it is unbelievable," complained 22-year-old Lucy Allen.
While Tehran can prove challenging to Western tourists, especially women who must be well covered, and because of strict Islamic bans on drinking alcohol, "hellhole" seems a little strong.
According to tour organiser Mark Creasey, things were not so bad. It was true the bus had suffered its share of travails on the way - a broken exhaust, a damaged wing mirror and a reversal into an unyielding tree - but morale was still high and they were now en route to Esfahan, a World Heritage Site, and - more prosaically - the location for Iran's controversial uranium conversion facility.
Some of the travel blogs published by those on board would seem to back him up - containing the sort of gleeful tales of bar and tent hopping that might be expected from young people on the road trip of a lifetime.
"We spoke to the tour leader last night," Creasey said. "The vehicle we left with has had three dings on the way and is being fixed and we have put them on a hire bus and they are currently on their way to Esfahan.
"For some reason some are questioning the itinerary saying 'will we go here?' and 'will we go there?'. But they have visited everything promised in the itinerary and are doing fine."
Creasey blames the bad publicity on the presence of a female journalist on board, and says that all 38 passengers who set out from London in September are still there. A second coach, also full, is just a few days behind Ozbus One.
Four more buses are due to leave London next year.
- Independent
