Travel by Day, Travel by Night

© Andreas Hermsdorf / pixelio.de

Last month, my mom and her husband came to visit us in Cocachimba. Other than enjoying life in this beautiful village and the view of Gocta Falls, they also decided to travel quite a bit in northern part of Peru.

Now, Peru is quite peculiar in it's travel options because there are almost only national flights to and from Lima. There are barely any flights connecting other cities directly with each other. If you'd like to fly from Tarapoto to Chiclayo for example, you'd have to first fly from Tarapoto to Lima and then from Lima to Chiclayo. Obviously, buying two plane tickets is too expensive for many people and it's probably also not the most practical solution. Most people opt for the cheaper (and sometimes also faster) option of traveling by bus. Busses usually also allow more luggage than airlines which is a plus also.

Even though my mom and her husband don't like long bus journeys, they also chose to travel from Pedro Ruiz (closest city to Cocachimba) to Chiclayo by bus for exactly those reasons. We were surprised to learn, however, that they preferred to travel the 8 hour journey by day. We would have opted for a night bus to arrive at the destination in the morning.

This made me realize once again, that every traveler is different. We all have our preferences and travel styles and it is good to know what you like and what not so you can plan your journey accordingly, no? I also started thinking about the pros and cons of traveling by day or night and put together a short list of benefits(+) and disadvantages(-) of each traveling type. What do you think? What would you add?

Traveling by Day
(+) enjoy the views
(+) no uncomfortable sleeping
(-) arrive at destination tired
(-) arrive at destination late which can make it hard to find accommodation

Traveling by Night
(+) arrive at destination rested
(+) arrive at destination in the morning just in time to start the day
(+) don't lose a day traveling
(+) save money because you're not paying for lodging since you're on the bus
(-) uncomfortable to sleep, might not rest well
(-) maybe night busses more prone to crime (mainly thieves) because everyone is sleeping