Posted: 4/22/2011 9:02:33 AM EDT
| I've never had the enjoyment of travelling by bus across any meaningful distance. I was just heading back to the office and saw a guy headed up the drive at the bus station with a small rolling suitcase and a 24-pack of Busch Lite (damn). Just how interesting is the bus experience? |
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I took a trip from Detroit to Nashville many years ago. It was mostly blacks and Mexicans on the bus and they were mostly poor (I on the other hand was white and poor). That said, there really wasn't anything as horrible about it as people make out. The people mostly kept to themselves and the ones who didn't keep to themselves were polite and friendly. No one stank, no one robbed, raped or murdered anyone, no fights, nothing. It was just a long drive in a bus. |
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Quoted: Quoted: It's the longest ride you'll ever be on. Took a bus from Phili, PA to Akron, OH. Took 13hrs... What livens it up is if you have a couple TB patients coughing their asses off on the trip. I got lucky. All i had was a couple of older woman sitting behind me talkin about which truckers they would bang as we passed by them. |
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I took a Greyhound from CT to WI and back. I was delayed by a day in both directions. It was run by people who couldn't get jobs at McDonalds who blatantly treated passengers like shit. It was cheaper than a train or flying. The other passengers were either nice old people or the kind of people you pass on the other side of the street late at night. I would rather take my chances hitch hiking than take a Greyhound bus again. |
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I took a Greyhound bus from Billings to Dallas when I was 22. The trip took roughly a day and a half.
It was fairly uneventful until we reached Denver, where we picked up a drunk Texan. When we finally pulled out of the station the guy kept hollering, "Happiness is Denver in the rear view mirror!" In the midst of his ranting he rolled a joint right there in front of everybody. He handed it to me, unlit, and then seemed to forget about it. We traveled with this guy for a few hours when the bus driver had finally had enough. The drunk Texan had been mouthing off the whole time, but hadn't threatened anybody. I saw it as comic relief. The driver found no humor in it, apparently, and pulled into a dark parking lot somewhere in the Texas panhandle. He spoke several words into his radio. Several minutes later four police cars pulled up, boarded, and escorted the guy off the bus. The bus made a million other stops. I guess they ran a parcel delivery service along with transporting people. We'd get off track for a few minutes only to have the driver stop, get a box out, and leave it on some curb in the middle of nowhere. Imagine how many times one could do this in between Montana and Texas. Not removing your shoes for 36 hours will make your feet itch. Eating gas station food and sitting still for hours on end will make you bloated. Seeing the sun go down through a bus window and rise again through a bus window is disturbing. We made a torturous stop at the Greyhound station in Fort Worth. I love Ft Worth, but I have never wanted to get from Ft Worth to Dallas so bad in my entire life. If my girlfriend at the time had not been waiting for me, I would have stepped off somewhere in Wyoming and walked home. |
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At least he was put out of his misery. 
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Just how interesting is the bus experience? It's one step below Amtrak. What's wrong with Amtrak? Last time I was on Amtrak, I was travelling from Chicago to DC. The train left Chicago five hours late, and by the time I woke up the next morning it was now running eight hours behind schedule. The train had also ran out of water, so none of the toilets were working. They offered DC passengers the option of taking a chartered bus from Pittsburgh the rest of the way, and I jumped at it. I was never so happy to get on a bus in my entire life. |
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I love me some Greyhound threads.
My Dad said the only way to travel by bus would to be prepared by having a flask of medicine for the trip. 
I have traveled from San Diego to LA several times. What a trip I was waking up in the downtown Sann diego bus terminal when I found out Mike Tyson got ktfo by james Douglas in 1990 
When you stop at the border patrol station you get boarded by agents and german shepard dogs.
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My mom traveled from Nebraska to Chicago once after dropping my sister off at college when I was 11.
She said the station in downtown Chicago was so horrible, she had to find a corner to stand on to wait for us that didn't have a drug dealer on it. I considered taking Greyhound when I was planning a trip to Kansas City if I were picked to audition for Jeopardy. My brother in law said "Everyone on the bus will have a felony record, and the only one that will not will be you." |
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Ridin' the dog. I took one once from the San Francisco bus terminal, fuck that place was scary, to Reno. I slept all the way up as the girl I was with and I had partied all night before. The ride back took forever, 7 hours, I think. If you drove, it takes 2.5. Stopped in towns I've never heard of before or since! |
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I took a trip from Detroit to Nashville many years ago. It was mostly blacks and Mexicans on the bus and they were mostly poor (I on the other hand was white and poor). That said, there really wasn't anything as horrible about it as people make out. The people mostly kept to themselves and the ones who didn't keep to themselves were polite and friendly. No one stank, no one robbed, raped or murdered anyone, no fights, nothing. It was just a long drive in a bus. This was my experience. Took a bus from Hempstead, NY to Augusta, GA, 26 hours. The boredom was the biggest problem, the battery in my laptop was only good for a couple of hours, and my Ipod died about 12 hours in. |
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I travel from Detroit to Milwaukee once every 3 months or so. I work for a company in Michigan but my Fiancee lives in Milwaukee.
Usually, I take the Amtrak, which compared to driving or flying is a deal. Secondly, I will take the Megabus, which is a step down from the train. Requires a credit or debit card and internet access to book a ticket, a natural filter to screen societal feces. One time I was in Milwaukee and had a major blow with my then GF, now fiancee. Got so pissed I packed my shit and caught the city bus down to the train/bus terminal. I somehow am not in the right spot to catch the Megabus back to Detroit, and no more till the next afternoon, so my last resort is to catch the Greyhound. Greyhound will not be there until 5am, local time was about 7:00pm. Fast forward 12 hours. Yes 12, not 10 hours as expected. Luckily in that time I only nearly got in 1 fight. A guy asked to borrow my phone. OK, I'm thinking he needs to set up a ride, so I let him while standing there. He instead uses it to make a call to a home girl, talking sweet ghetto love, then hangs up. Proceeds to go ahead and start making another call. I was just trying to help him out, not increase the illegitimate birth rate of Milwaukee, so I ask for my phone back. He starts to take a couple steps away at which point I forcibly remove it from his hand, and he has a major chimp out. I'm 6'5" and nearly 300 lbs. He's 5'5" maybe 160 and is all talk, but it got the heart rate up. The Greyhound pulls up and is late by 2 hours because they had a guy on the way to Milwaukee who was drunk or high who disrobed after he pissed all over himself. Bus to Chicago takes about 3 hours, normally a 1.5 hour drive. Get to Chicago and have to sprint to the next bus and argue with the driver of the Chicago to Detroit bus that I wouldn't be late if their buses were not late and he should let me on. Get him to do so. Spend the next 12 hours crammed in a seat made for midget sized legs, stopping at every fucking little town throughout NW Indiana and Michigan while having to push some Arab kid off my shoulder every 30 minutes as he slept. This was not a silent hell. Imagine the socioeconomic/racial make up of the average Greyhound busload. Add status symbol that is a prepaid cell phone. What do you get? Fucking ghetto rap ring tones every 3 minutes or so. Get to Detroit, walk 1 mile through the hood to city bus. Catch bus. Avoid the "wet seat" lottery by one seat. Poor black girl. Not a winner. So, nearly 24 hours after I left my fiancee's apartment, I get home and make a couple of conclusions. A. Never fucking ever again take Greyhound. B. Try and work shit out, the pie is better after she's been angry. C. Never fucking ever take Greyhound. |
| I would not care to sit next to someone armed with a 24-pack of Busch Lite for an extended time, on a bus, who could not afford any other means of travel. That is why I drive or fly. I imagine the bus seats are just like seats in the ER waiting room...they have ALL been pissed on at least once! |