How unpleasant is riding Greyhound?

[VunderBob]

I'm planning on my son coming to visit soon. He says he wants to try riding the bus, instead of flying. Fine with me, says I; you're 20, so you can make your own decisions, and it's cheaper than air fare.

The downside is that it's a 25 hour ride from Indianapolis to Norfolk VA, and door-to-door at the airport is usually 7 hours. Plus, bus passengers have a reputation for being odd/kooky and odd/scary.

My wife is all against it. She wants him to fly.

Anyone have good or bad experiences riding a scheduled bus?

[Khadaji]

I just found it amazingly boring. I read a book most of the way. It is tough to sleep. Although I met no kooks, I can't say that he won't.

[Terminus Est]

It's not the actual riding that's bad, it's the bus terminals and all the stops in between.

[kenobi 65]

I rode the Big Grey Dog a lot in college, when I didn't have a car, though the trips weren't as long as what you're describing (more like 5-8 hours).

It's boring.

It's smelly. There's a particular "bus scent", a mixture of diesel fumes and deodorizer, that is very evocative to me, reminding me of those college trips from Madison to St. Paul to see my girlfriend. (And, it's even smellier if you have to sit near the restroom in the back of the bus.)

Odds are that you wind up, sooner or later, sitting next to someone who's weird, or smelly, or both.

[plnnr]

I've taken a few rides and, as has been noted, they were more boring than anything else.

No kooks, crazies, or smellies encountered.

[WhyNot]

Okay, I have a silly question to piggy-back here: if you fall asleep, will the driver wake you when you get to your stop? I love to sleep on the road, and I can do it no problem, but whenever I've thought about taking the bus, the "what if I miss my stop?" fear looms large.

[NinetyWt]

Okay, I have a silly question to piggy-back here: if you fall asleep, will the driver wake you when you get to your stop? I love to sleep on the road, and I can do it no problem, but whenever I've thought about taking the bus, the "what if I miss my stop?" fear looms large. It depends. If it's the end of the line, the driver makes sure there's nobody left on the bus. If it's an in-between stop, you're on your own. IIRC.

If weird noises bother you, you won't be sleeping much. I made the mistake of travelling with my sister from Batesville MS to Shenendoah College in VA somewhere. The passengers were not kooky, but boy they make some weird noises! One old grandpa smacked his gums all ..... night ....... long in his sleep.

Some parts can be very interesting, like meeting new people and seeing a lot of neat scenery (depends upon what route the bus takes). I never felt in any danger even when in crazy bus stations like Memphis'.

For a 20-year old I'd wager he can tolerate the down side easily, especially if he can read books along the way. It would also be a good experience for him. Tell your wife that this Mom would encourage him to try it (he also gets kudos from me for cutting costs).

[HazelNutCoffee]

My best friend and I took the bus from NYC to Boston - we were fine. Bit cramped, bit smelly, but nothing too terrible.

I know another guy who's taken the Greyhound from St Paul to Chicago a few times and he says basically the same thing. I think it does depend on the region though. My very un-PC friend once joked that Greyhound buses were mostly for ex-cons and pregnant teenagers.

[Ice Cream Man]

How tall is he? I'm 6'2" which means that on most buses my knees touch the seat in front of me even if I'm sitting up straight. After an hour it's incredibly uncomfortable.

[Siege]

I've done it a few times as a single woman travelling alone. For me, it's as boring as travelling by plane and I haven't run into any creeps or weirdos. The closest I came was a guy who was isitting behind me, bragging loudly about his successful mission trip while I was trying to sleep. I'll spare you the details and tell you the encounter ended with me telling him not to try to convert me away from Christianity. I think I confused the hell out of him! I've also had some delightful conversations!

One nice thing about Greyhound as opposed to flying is the drivers have one advantage pilots don't. On the trips I've been on, they've made it quite clear that if you are drunk, disruptive, or otherwise making a nuisance of yourself to other passengers, they will pull over to the side of the road and boot you off the bus. I would think that would reduce the number of jerks.

[Czarcasm]

Is there a reason Amtrak wasn't considered?

[cowgirl]

I have a friend who spent more than one long weekend taking the bus from Toronto to Savannah, Georgia and back.

Yes, you read that correctly.

She likes to read and look out the window.

I really enjoyed taking the bus when I was on vacation in Brazil, I had 3 24-hour trips and they were great. The main benefit over the train/plane is that there's often stuff to see out the window, and stops for food and bathrooms are usually more frequent. I was freezing cold tho, the air conditioning can be nuts.

Also buses have a lot more flexibility in terms of where the stops can be. They almost always stop right downtown, while planes/trains don't always.

[StGermain]

He's 20 years old. I think he can decide on his mode of transportation. If you're afraid he'll sleep past his stop, have him set his cellphone alarm to ring when he's 30 minutes ot from his scheduled arrival.

StG

[psycat90]

Perfect timing!

I'm having my 17 y/o son and his 19 y/o brother (I consider him my son, but he's not) come out to visit for the summer next month and I'm putting them on Greyhound (from Central PA to California.)

I've only ever ridden Greyhound once from NJ to central PA. Fairly short ride and I found it nice enough. I took Amtrak for the same journey and found it a little nicer, but more expensive.

Anyway, they're pretty excited about the trip. I think it will be a good experience for them. I look forward to reading the replies to give them a better idea of what to expect.

[Antinor01]

Overnight rides are the best if he has no problem sleeping on the bus.

[cormac262]

One nice thing about Greyhound as opposed to flying is the drivers have one advantage pilots don't. On the trips I've been on, they've made it quite clear that if you are drunk, disruptive, or otherwise making a nuisance of yourself to other passengers, they will pull over to the side of the road and boot you off the bus. I would think that would reduce the number of jerks.

When I was in high school, myself and 3 other friends took the bus from the SF bay area to south lake Tahoe for a ski trip. Normally a 5 hour drive, it was perhaps the longest 14 hours of my life.

Although, as Siege mentions, the bus driver could pull over and unload any disruptive passengers, on this particular ride, they didn't. A bit past Sacramento, these two guys got on and proceeded to mix screwdrivers with their gallon of orange juice, and got wasted. They were "drunk", "disruptive" and definitely made a "nuisance" of themselves. It was torture, and seemed to last forever. I suspect the only reason the bus driver didn't unload them is because of liability issues: they could have died from exposure (we were up in the snow).

At 20, your son could certainly endure such a trip, and it might be a worthwhile experience, if for no other reason to have firsthand experience to see if he should ever consider it again. That was the value in my (one) trip.

[sugar and spice]

I've done it for points to and from NYC, for that area IMHO it's perfectly fine. I wouldn't hesitate to do it again. VA->IN is a different route, but it's not like he'll be in the middle of Montana.

What I like about Greyhound is that, at least every time I took it, the buses are on time. With AmTrak I regularly arrived 1 hour+ late on a 5 hour ride. As always, YMMV.

[Antinor01]

Although, as Siege mentions, the bus driver could pull over and unload any disruptive passengers, on this particular ride, they didn't. A bit past Sacramento, these two guys got on and proceeded to mix screwdrivers with their gallon of orange juice, and got wasted. They were "drunk", "disruptive" and definitely made a "nuisance" of themselves. It was torture, and seemed to last forever. I suspect the only reason the bus driver didn't unload them is because of liability issues: they could have died from exposure (we were up in the snow).

At 20, your son could certainly endure such a trip, and it might be a worthwhile experience, if for no other reason to have firsthand experience to see if he should ever consider it again. That was the value in my (one) trip.

People get drunk and disorderly on airplanes too. And there is NO option of having them get off the plane. You could also have a screaming baby, just like on a plane. Or a kid kicking your seat, just like on a plane. It's a method of public transportation, many of the headaches and potential problems will be the same as any other method of getting from point A to point B with a bunch of strangers.

[Atrael]

I'd suggest Amtrak instead. Less expensive than airfare, more than the bus, but also a hell of a lot more comfortable. Plus you have a lot more room to get up and move around. A quick look at the Amtrak site shows that fares in June are around $200....hmm...not that cheap. July is around $160 or so. Hell, he can fly Airtran for $156 in June. Greyhound looks to be between $55 for flat fair, or $115 for refundable fare for that same date. *shrug*...I don't see a huge advantage to wasting an entire extra day in travel.

[Throatwarbler Mangrove]

One thing that you seem to have not considered is that the bus does stop every couple of hours, and you get the chance to get off, get some fresh air/smoke, stretch your legs, buy a coke, etc. which makes the 25 hours somewhat less unpleasant than it sounds.

[John DiFool]

It's smelly. There's a particular "bus scent", a mixture of diesel fumes and deodorizer, that is very evocative to me, reminding me of those college trips from Madison to St. Paul to see my girlfriend. (And, it's even smellier if you have to sit near the restroom in the back of the bus.)

I'm sensitive to strong odors, and when I was riding back and forth from college to my parent's home and back (early 80's), the combination of diesel fumes and cigarette smoke invariably gave me severe headaches. Now since then perhaps they've outlawed smoking on the bus, but I still shudder at the memory.

[Spectre of Pithecanthropus]

Where are you, and where is your son?

Would Amtrak be an option? Minus food and accommodation, it's not too expensive but can be slower than the bus. On the other hand it's a lot more comfortable than a bus.

[even sven]

I took Greyound a lot in college. It's not usually a ton of fun, though I do enjoy zoning out, listening to music and looking out the windows. Personally I think it's more fun than flying if time isn't too big of an issue.

I think it'd be a good experience for him. If you get used too doing these things when you are young, you will be a lot less high-maintenance and fussy when you want to do some serious traveling. Learning how to sleep on a bus, handle a weirdo or two, entertain yourself while the train is late and put up with a few hours of mild discomfort is an essential skill for adulthood that too many people miss.

[Shagnasty]

A Boston radio talk show made made a junior staff member and an intern take the bus from Boston to Arizona for the Superbowl. They called in a few times a day to report on their travels. It sounded like a nightmare. Just a few hours out of Boston, one of the windshield wipers broke and they had to sit beside the road for 6 hours so that parts and mechanics could arrive. They arrived at bus stops in the middle of the night and got to mingle with homeless people. The one-way ride took over 70 hours. There is no way I could do that ever.

[Zsofia]

Okay, I have a silly question to piggy-back here: if you fall asleep, will the driver wake you when you get to your stop? I love to sleep on the road, and I can do it no problem, but whenever I've thought about taking the bus, the "what if I miss my stop?" fear looms large.
I have a friend who was taking a middle of the night bus to Washington, NC (edit: specifically as opposed to DC.) He said "Is this the bus to Washington?" or whatever, and the guy said yes, and he went to sleep. Woke up in Richmond.

[CalMeacham]

Anyone have good or bad experiences riding a scheduled bus?


Twenty Eight years ago I decided to see the country using a RailPass. Unfortunately, it turned out that there WAS NO American RailPass, like the Eurail one. So I bought a 30-day bus pass from Greyhound, sweety-talked a copy of the nationwide schedule book, and set off across country, mooching off friends and relatives, asnd staying at college dorms when i couldn't find either.


I have no complaints. The seats were pretty comfortable, and the people were interesting. I met military members and Hispanic kids and Generic Housewives. No weirdos. I read a lot, so that was no hardship, and I got to see the country from the ground instead of from On Top.


My only bad experince with greyhound was another trip, from Boston to New York over a Thanksgiving holiday. The 80 yeaar old guy next to me kept sneaking smokes, and the traffic in NYC was so bad that it took us an hour to go 20 blocks. But I can't blame the bus company for either of those.

[The Second Stone]

I recently took a seven hour bus trip. No food, no water. I'd rather fly or take Amtrak.

[iamthewalrus(:3=]

What I like about Greyhound is that, at least every time I took it, the buses are on time. With AmTrak I regularly arrived 1 hour+ late on a 5 hour ride.A quick look at the Amtrak site shows that fares in June are around $200....hmm...not that cheap. July is around $160 or so. Hell, he can fly Airtran for $156 in June. Greyhound looks to be between $55 for flat fair, or $115 for refundable fare for that same date.Ah, Amtrak. Slower than a bus, more expensive than a plane.

I've never traveled long distance via bus, but I have taken a 15-hour train and bus ride from LA to SF. It was incredibly boring. And it was supposed to be an 11-hour trip :(.

[kenobi 65]

Ah, Amtrak. Slower than a bus, more expensive than a plane.

Unless you're in the Northeast Corridor *, yeah, that's pretty accurate.

For long-distance convenience travel, Amtrak rarely makes much sense anymore. It has fairly few long-distance routes, there's big chunks of the country that aren't well-served by it, it's often expensive, and its schedules are at the mercy of the freight railroads that own most of the track.

Long-distance Amtrak routes may be good for sightseers / vacationers, or train buffs, but not so much for someone who needs to get from Point A to Point B inexpensively.

* - The Northeast Corridor (from Washington DC to Boston) has well-maintained, high-speed, popular service, and is frequently the best option for traveling between those cities.

[kenobi 65]

Twenty Eight years ago I decided to see the country using a RailPass. Unfortunately, it turned out that there WAS NO American RailPass, like the Eurail one. So I bought a 30-day bus pass from Greyhound, sweety-talked a copy of the nationwide schedule book, and set off across country, mooching off friends and relatives, asnd staying at college dorms when i couldn't find either.


I have no complaints. The seats were pretty comfortable, and the people were interesting. I met military members and Hispanic kids and Generic Housewives. No weirdos. I read a lot, so that was no hardship, and I got to see the country from the ground instead of from On Top.

My Greyhound memories are 20+ years old; I haven't taken an inter-city bus since 1988. With the changes that have happened in air travel since then (making it much less "exclusive" than it used to be), I wonder if the Greyhound users today are still the same kind of people that they were back then. My suspicion is that a lot of the people who rode the bus 20 years ago are flying on Southwest today; I wonder who that leaves on the bus.

[AimeeB]

I will NEVER AGAIN take greyhound. I once bought a ticket to go from Montreal to NYC and the bus that came was overbooked. Then the next one that came was overbooked. Then the NEXT one that came was overbooked. The next bus never came.

The bus station I was waiting in was sketchy and I didn't like the prospect of having to wait overnight in a sketchy area because they couldn't guarantee me a bus. I wound up taking a taxi to the amtrak station and taking the train.

An earlier time I took greyhound, we pulled off to the side of the road because some random passenger kept harrassing the driver to "pull over and let me off". Contrary to some claims of this thread, the driver kept insisting that he couldn't let the guy off for liability issues, etc. This was the I-87 around Saratoga. Eventually the driver pulled over because the guy was seriously impairing his driving, screaming, etc, and began to call the cops. The guy then shoved the driver against the window, opened the door himself, and ran into the woods. The driver yelled and ran out of the bus after him. The cops showed up eventually, but we were stuck on the side of the road for an hour while they looked for him. Then the driver came back and we went on our way. Dunno if they ever found him or not.

That being said, the NYC bus-crowd tends to be a little rougher than normal. If you're in the midwest, I'd imagine it's a lot calmer.

[Merkwurdigliebe]

Oh please, let him take the bus!
MAKE him take the bus!

If nothing it will be an experience. The chance of him getting hurt or anything like that is zero. There may be some weird characters, but exposure to weird people is very helpful in life. The fact that he wants to take it makes me think he's up to the challenge. His mom is just being a mom. Let her know that he'll be fine and that he's old enough to choose for himself.

I've ridden long bus rides before. Not very fun, but you get by. It's somehow easier than a long plane ride though. I guess it's the lack of airplane air and noise that make it easier, plus slightly more room.

If I recall correctly, greyhound isn't really all that much cheaper than Amtrak is it? What you can look into is other private bus companies. They have these that run along the east coast. They will typically go very far without stopping. I think Greyhounds probably make a lot of stops. The fewer stops the better, because obviously it doesn't take 25 hours to go from IN to VA.

[Desert Nomad]

Anyone have good or bad experiences riding a scheduled bus?

I have ridden busses all over the world, from Turkey to Australia, Uzbekistan to the US. The US ranks near the bottom. :(

On a recent 6 hour bus ride in Nevada, at the origin, one of the last passengers to board was clearly a bit drunk (tho not falling over). He stood at the front and announced "I'm the MAN and I own this bus... YEAH!". About 40 minutes and many announcements later we dropped him at a local police station. From talking to others, this is not uncommon.

[overlyverbose]

I've done it several times. I had an encounter with a big weirdo the last time, which was why it was my last. Some guy who said he had just gotten out of jail (of course, he didn't do it - or so he said) started hitting on me and stroking my hair about 2 hours into the ride. When he sat in the seat beside me and asked me if my boyfriend would mind if he kissed me, I almost peed myself. Finally, after hour 5, I was able to get out at my destination. I hadn't been that relieved in a long time.

I can't imagine that a 20-year-old boy would have too much of a problem, though. And I'm betting my experience was a little out of the norm (though I'd still be more hesitant if I had a daughter and she were taking the bus).

[kenobi 65]

I just remembered one of my better bus stories.

Summer of '86, I was taking the bus back to school (Madison, WI) from home (Green Bay, WI). The bus broke down in Waupun, WI, a town which is really only known for one thing: having a state prison. And that's *exactly* where the bus broke down; right in front of the prison gates.

We had to hang around for about 3 hours, waiting for Greyhound to send another bus to come pick us up (our original bus had suffered something catastrophic). Fortunately, it was a beautiful summer afternoon. I started talking with two young ladies who were also on the bus. They were visiting from Argentina. Very charming, and I think one of them was interested...but, alas, they were leaving directly from Madison to go to Chicago. Ahh, the paths not taken. :D

[MissMossie]

I started traveling by Greyhound when I was eighteen. I never encountered any people that completely freaked me out, but I did get invited to an orgy once by a nice Pagan boy from Ohio. I figured that he was probably full of shit, but I don't actually know that much about Pagan celebrations. He said that there was a group at Ohio State that had a big bonfire for the Spring Equinox and it usually ended in an orgy. He was the only really note worthy person I talked to in my ten or so trips on a Greyhound.

[kunilou]

Is there a reason Amtrak wasn't considered?

I just looked at Amtrak's routing. Indianapolis to Chicago, Chicago to Washington, Washington to Newport News and then a bus to Norfolk. Total time, 31 hr, 25 min including two layovers of more than 4 hours each.

And it's more expensive. That, in a nutshell, is what's wrong with rail travel in the U.S.

[Arabella Flynn]

Boring and smells funny. Otherwise fine. Real trouble rarely starts on the bus. Where's the troublemaker gonna go? If you're that obnoxious, you have at least twenty people, in a small enclosed space, all pissed off at YOU. You have to be pretty drunk to ignore that.

One tactic I used to use was to get on first if at all possible, grab a window seat, and plant my bag on the aisle seat next to it until someone who looked similarly student-y came along. Then I'd ask if they wanted that one. It kept me from having to sit next to a drunk or a screaming toddler for three hours.

[Mama Zappa]

I just looked at Amtrak's routing. Indianapolis to Chicago, Chicago to Washington, Washington to Newport News and then a bus to Norfolk. Total time, 31 hr, 25 min including two layovers of more than 4 hours each.

And it's more expensive. That, in a nutshell, is what's wrong with rail travel in the U.S.
There is a route that goes from Indy to Washington without requiring the jaunt to Chicago (Typo Knig did it once) but yeah, those are the problems.

We have taken the train to Florida a couple of times - and that *can* be a good alternatve (if you don't get a sleeper room, it's cheaper than flying) but aside from that, most routes are more hassle than flying. And I'm a major train buff so I'd take the train where available even with the hassle.

Re the OP: Another girl and I did the bus trip from Harrisburg PA to Durham NC when we were in college; I forget how we got from Durham to Chapel Hill (think we called a friend to pick us up). It was a pain to transfer - we had to go from Greyhound to Trailways in Washington, including changing bus stations and having our tickets endorsed at the Greyhound station (which we found out while in line for the second bus). Fortunately the two stations were right across the street from each other.

We were hit up for cash by some guy at one of the stations.

And we both *reeked* of cigarette smoke by the time we got to Durham, as this was before smoking bans were common. Blech!

But nothing else happened of any note.

An interesting aside: the Greyhound station we went through in DC has been converted to a high-rent office building, and I worked there for a couple of years in the late 90s. 1100 New York Avenue (I think that's the address). It had changed quite a bit, obviously!

[mswas]

I had a great time when I came from Salt Lake City to New York, but I was sitting next to a cute chick all the way to Chicago.

[Siege]

Oh please, let him take the bus!
MAKE him take the bus!

If nothing it will be an experience. The chance of him getting hurt or anything like that is zero. There may be some weird characters, but exposure to weird people is very helpful in life. The fact that he wants to take it makes me think he's up to the challenge. His mom is just being a mom. Let her know that he'll be fine and that he's old enough to choose for himself.
I just wanted to quote this for truth. At 20, taking Greyhound would have been an adventure! Heck, at 21, I took the midnight bus from Tokyo to Osaka (it was cheaper than the bullet train). Again, I was a single female, travelling alone. Your son will be an adult soon. Let him experience and do things for himself. Maturity and responsibility come soon enough and they come from doing things on your own.

[Darryl Lict]

I've only been on the Greyhound once, and to be perfectly frank, it was a perfectly miserable experience. I was trying to hitchhike from Yosemite to L.A. and gave up, and ended up taking some 2AM bus out of Fresno. Some obese person was taking up two seats, so I ended up sitting on the floor. It was still better than standing on a street corner in the shitty part of Fresno all night long.

That said, I think everyone should take the Greyhound once just to experience it. With a bit of planning, I'm sure you can arrange for a much more pleasant experience. I'll still take the Greyhound at some point in the future. Like everyone else said, Amtrak is a pretty good way to travel, so long as you don't have to be at your destination at any particular time.

I have been on an 18 hour bus ride from Yangon to Mandalay in Myanmar, and that trip made the Greyhound seem like flying first class.

[Antinor01]

Oh, to actually note my personal experience:

I took a greyhound from LA to San Diego and back a few weeks ago and it was fine. I left early in the morning so I could nap. The trip down was great and the only hiccup was that we got back late, but that was due to extremely heavy traffic. It was the friday before memorial day so that is not at all unexpected.

[kunilou]

There is a route that goes from Indy to Washington without requiring the jaunt to Chicago (Typo Knig did it once) but yeah, those are the problems.

But that train doesn't get into Washington until after the train to Newport News has departed, which leaves Vunder Bob's son nearly 200 miles from home.

And that's what's wrong with Amtrak, but that's a different thread.

[Spectre of Pithecanthropus]

[quote=iamthewalrus(:3=
Ah, Amtrak. Slower than a bus, more expensive than a plane.

Unless you're in the Northeast Corridor *, yeah, that's pretty accurate.
.[/QUOTE]

Well, it depends. We traveled from Seattle to L.A. with full overnight accommodations and all food included, and it was only about $476 for the two of us. I don't think we could have done better with one-way air tickets.

But you're sure right about it being slow.

[sugar and spice]

Well, it depends. We traveled from Seattle to L.A. with full overnight accommodations and all food included, and it was only about $476 for the two of us. I don't think we could have done better with one-way air tickets.

But you're sure right about it being slow.One way? Today you could probably get a one-way ticket from Seattle to some LA airport for $200-$300. I did a quick search on Southwest, today they had the cheapo flight for $119. Not to quibble, I know the major carriers didn't always offer cheap 1-way flights like they do today.

[matt_mcl]

I've taken the bus a number of times to Ottawa and Toronto, and I took buses all over Spain and Portugal. Never had any problems, not even when I found myself abruptly having to take the overnight from Barcelona to Valencia at 1:30 and getting in before the metro opened.

[OtakuLoki]

I've taken the bus from Rochester to NYC many times. And have used bus transit for other destinations. However, I've never done a more than 12 hour bus trip. The thing that would get to me is that I'd need at least an hour or three to walk around away from people after that long around a crowd.

I've never had any experience with horror stories to match what some people are mentioning. Even the one time I was on a route that had been overbooked, the bus company got the second (or was it third) overflow bus there in a short time, and I was still on-time for arrival at my destination.

The worst experience I'd ever had with riding the bus was when there was an in-trip movie on several monitors on the bus. It was Bio-Dome (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0115683/), and I wanted it to go away...

If possible, I'd suggest using a Trailways bus, not Greyhound - my experience was that the Trailways buses were newer, had more amenities, and were cleaner.

As for the Amtrak vs. bus thing. At the time, a round trip bus ticket was about $80 for Rochester-NYC-Rochester. (Small differences between Greyhound and Trailways, but negligible for this comparison.) Airfare, without super saver fares, was often about $180, or more. Amtrak was about the same as the air fare, but there was one train a day leaving Rochester in that direction. At 3 AM. Compared to ten to twelve buses daily leaving more or less around the clock. For some reason I chose not to take Amtrak.

[pulykamell]

At 20, sure, go for it. It's mostly boring, but you meet some, um, characters, and HazelNutCoffee's friends remark that it's for ex-cons and pregnant people is really not that far off the mark from my few experiences. Every single Greyhound trip I met some wacky characters, all who seemed to want to talk to me. But, hey, it was an experience, and I appreciate it for that.

One year, I took a Greyhound from LA to Chicago (50 hours) and followed that up with one to Boston (about 24 hrs, IIRC) a week later. Coast to coast on the Greyhound. I don't think you could pay me enough to do that today, but as a 20-year-old, it was worth it for the experience.

I say, if he wants to do it, let him do it. Nothing's going to happen. But it is an extremely uncomfortable way of traveling if you can't fall asleep in a sitting position (I can't.) Even on the almost empty buses where I had several rows of seats to myself I could not find a comfortable way to sleep. I wish the US had a decent, affordable rail system. With the prices as they are, rail travel makes no sense for most trips. It's either bus or flying.

[Don't fight the hypothetical]

Two words:

NEVER AGAIN!

[Antonius Block]

I've taken Greyhound several times (albeit for a maximum trip of around 7 hours), and Amtrak about a dozen times coast-to-coast (in addition to countless shorter-distance trips on both coasts). There's no question that the train is more comfortable, has more amenities, and has the major advantage that one can stretch one's legs. Plus, I've never been in a long-distance Amtrak train that was so full that one couldn't escape an obnoxious seatmate, even if it meant hanging out in the lounge car all night (which is the best place for social interaction anyway).

I'll join the chorus in saying that VunderBob's son should definitely take surface transportation, and that his wife is wrong in insisting that the kid should fly.

As mentioned in previous posts, the Indianapolis-Norfolk trip suffers in that (a) the direct Amtrak route from IND to Washington DC gets in too late for the connection to Norfolk, and (b) the alternate route -- which does make the connection -- requires backtracking via Chicago.

So, let's look for a combination that combines the strengths of Greyhound (a fairly dense web of routes, with several buses per day in most cases) with Amtrak (much more comfortable and enjoyable over long distances).

Now, the cost/time calculations are going to depend somewhat upon the exact date of travel, and you're never going to beat the $55 one-way 7-day-advance-purchase Greyhound fare, but here's an alternate possibility (arbitrarily choosing a departure on the evening of Thursday June 26):

Greyhound (http://www.greyhound.com/home/) departing Indianapolis(1) at 7:10pm June 26, 2008, arriving Pittsburgh(2) at 3:40am on June 27. Cost: $43 with 7-day advance purchase.
Cab from Pittsburgh Greyhound station to Amtrak Station, about 1 mile, should be ~$5.
Amtrak (http://www.amtrak.com): enter PGH for the "Departs" field, NFK for the "Arrives" field, and June 27 for the "Departure Date", and you should get a schedule that costs $102 one-way, and involves:

Capitol Limited (http://www.amtrak.com/timetable/may08/P29.pdf) [warning: PDF!], departing Pittsburgh PA 5:45am, arriving Washington DC 2:00pm.
Northeast Regional (http://www.amtrak.com/timetable/may08/W04.pdf) [warning: PDF!] departing Washington DC 5:50pm, arriving Newport News VA 10:10pm.
Amtrak bus (guaranteed connection) arriving Norfolk(3) 10:55pm.
Now, to some people the idea of a layover of nearly 4 hours is a negative.

However, Amtrak's Union Station in Washington DC is a few short minutes' walk from the National Mall (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Mall), containing iconic national monuments and superb museums. Plus -- best of all to an impoverished student -- most of it is free!, since it's been bought with the sweat and toil of the weary taxpayer. The museums are all air-conditioned (crucial in a DC summer...), but you can just wander in, look around, and leave if you want since you haven't invested any admission fee. What I would do is walk from Union Station to the Vietnam wall, then visit Lincoln and Jefferson (ducking into museums on the way to cool down), then head back into a couple of museums until I needed to get back to Union Station.

Seriously, a layover of ~4 hours in DC is a feature, not a bug. ;) It's not like being stuck in a soulless airport. The kid is 20 years old. He has a golden opportunity to learn that travel is more than just getting from point A to point B in the fastest possible time.

In conclusion he should do both Greyhound and Amtrak IMHO, that'll double the number of stries that he has to tell and help him choose for the future. Maybe the 8 hours from IND to PGH will make him a Greyhoundophobe. Fine, he'll know for the future. Maybe the Amtrak trip through the beauty of Western Maryland will make him a lifelong train traveler.

If, in the future, he decides to travel farther afield in distant lands, his Indiana-Virginia adventure will stand him in good stead.

[(1)350 S. Illinois St, Indianapolis, IN 46225]
[(2)990 2nd Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15219]
[(3)215 W York Street (Stop on West Bute St. at York St. Garage), Norfolk, VA 23510]

[neutron star]

I took several long bus trips (as in 36 hours) around ages 18 and 19. If my parents were ever concerned about that, they sure didn't say anything - but then my folks were never what you'd call overprotective. A long ride on a Greyhound is one of those things that is brutal at the time - when you finally step off that last bus, you'll trade all your wordly possessions for a shower - but it's definitely something you won't soon forget.

My favorite bus story was during a layover in D.C. Despite growing up two hours from there, I'd never been to that or any big city other than the sanitized parts of Philly. I was standing outside the terminal smoking a cigarette and watching some pigeons.

A sloppily-dressed black guy who I could somehow tell was a local was standing next to me, so I tried to make conversation.

"Man, those pigeons will come right up to you," I said, as for the first time in my life, there was a bird on the ground close enough for me to kick it if I wanted to.

"Yeah. City birds. They ain't scared of people," he replied.

"He sure seems to be enjoying that pizza crust."

"Yep. Hey, you know what else pigeons like?" he asked.

"What?"

"WEED! Wanna buy some?"

Which reminds me of another experience. Let's just say that it's good practice not to let people in bus terminals engage you in drug deals and leave it at that. :D

Amtrak I did about three years ago from New Orleans to Harrisburg, and aside from the middle-of-the-night dining car confessionals (seriously, they've got some troubled souls on those trains!), I didn't like it. It's been mentioned in this thread that frieght lines own the rails and that you're at their mercy. You will not forget this. If there's a freight train that wants to use the same track, you're going to be waiting. It's frustrating as hell the way the train just stops dead in the middle of nowhere and nobody tells you why. You might wait there for a few minutes, an hour, two - you won't know until the train starts moving again.

[neutron star]

Forgot to add: I think the bus is far better than the train for actually seeing America. 90% of the time I was on that train, the only thing I could see out the window was a thick canopy of trees lining each side of the tracks. And much of the time, we were out of range of any cell phone towers. You'll be able to use your phone just about the whole time on a Greyhound, since cell phone towers line pretty much every stretch of Interstate these days.

[kenobi 65]

Well, it depends. We traveled from Seattle to L.A. with full overnight accommodations and all food included, and it was only about $476 for the two of us. I don't think we could have done better with one-way air tickets.

You got a darn good deal, I think.

My Lovely Bride and I took Amtrak for the first leg of our honeymoon (1992), from Chicago to Denver. When our fifteenth anniversary was coming around last year, I looked into trying to book a sleeper car room to replicate that trip, and I seem to recall it was going to be well over a grand.

[Magiver]

I took a round trip ride from Dayton Ohio to Los Angeles. Didn't realize until I read the ticket that each bus comes with a complimentary screaming baby. I would recommend the kind of headphones that cover the ear. I have to say it was fun because I got to see the country from a different perspective. One of the passengers was a beautiful young lady from Germany. I thought she was retarded because she would often sit on her knee's and watch the scenery go by for hours. It didn't dawn on my that seeing hundred's of miles of cornfields followed by hundreds of miles of wheat fields was anything special. It wasn't until I talked to her that I understood how vast the United States is. She spoke perfect English so it was some time into the conversation that I found out she was from Germany.

True story: 1977 - I was riding in a packed bus in the summer and the air conditioning went out so when they announced that another bus was coming up to assist I jumped off the bus. The next bus pulls up completely empty so it was only me, a buddy and a young couple who got on. The couple brought a 12 pack of beer and the driver let them bring it on the bus. They gave my buddy and I a couple of beers and then went to the back to party. This was at night and we were driving through the desert during a thunderstorm which was mostly in the distance. Since the visibility was something like 150 miles it was a spectacular show. So there I was, in the front seat with my feet propped up on the chrome bar drinking a beer and talking to the driver while watching the storm. I put that moment down in the category of unforeseen adventures.

[PharmBoy]

I rode from Maine to Maryland when I was in my 20s. It IS boring, but I met a lot of interesting people. It's no worse than flying, frankly, and the seats are more comfortable.

[John Carter of Mars]

It's been a few decades, but in earlier years I took several long distance bus trips.

I never took a single trip that didn't provide material for a short story or something to tell as yet unborn grandkids. If you want to see a real slice of life, Go Greyhound!

[Spectre of Pithecanthropus]

You got a darn good deal, I think.

My Lovely Bride and I took Amtrak for the first leg of our honeymoon (1992), from Chicago to Denver. When our fifteenth anniversary was coming around last year, I looked into trying to book a sleeper car room to replicate that trip, and I seem to recall it was going to be well over a grand.

Indeed we did get a good deal, not least because, departing Seattle at 10am and arriving in L.A. (late, of course), at 10:30 PM the next day, we got five dining car means included in the price--lunch and dinner the first day, and all three meals the second day. I thought the food was quite good in the way of a grill type restaurant specializing in steaks and chops. It wasn't like a high-end steakhouse, but it was way better than a "family" joint. About the best comparison I can think of in L.A. is Musso and Frank's. And of course it was much better than anything you'd get on a plane in coach, at least when you still got any food in coach.

[Lust4Life]

I've used Greyhound a lot when visiting the U.S. as a deliberate decision.

I'm a Limey so it gives me the chance to see the country as it is rather then just the touristy stuff though going over the Rockies had some spectacular views and Death Valley was interesting,also you save time by sleeping while travelling.

I've met some great people and some very interesting characters on the buses but I've been lucky enough to have never met any weirdos or arseholes so far.

I believe that the driver is backed up by Federal law in his enforcement of the rules and actually saw one make an amateur rapper STFU at night as people wanted to sleep.

Personally I recommend it but I expect that the experience might be a bit more mundane for a home grown Yank.

[Skylark]

I'm planning on my son coming to visit soon. He says he wants to try riding the bus, instead of flying. Fine with me, says I; you're 20, so you can make your own decisions, and it's cheaper than air fare.

The downside is that it's a 25 hour ride from Indianapolis to Norfolk VA, and door-to-door at the airport is usually 7 hours. Plus, bus passengers have a reputation for being odd/kooky and odd/scary.

My wife is all against it. She wants him to fly.

Anyone have good or bad experiences riding a scheduled bus?

I live in Norfolk. The bus station here blows. I've taken Greyhound from here up north before, and Amtrak the same routes and in other parts of the country as well. Greyhound blows.

It is smelly, slow, unreliable, and the service sucks. On one long weekend I took a red-eye to Washington, DC. Got there plenty of time before departure, or so I thought. They oversold the bus, which meant a crowd (a whole crowd!) of us got shafted while the bus had to get up to Richmond and come back. And not on normal speed neither -greyhound speed. AND their attitude was we should be grateful the bus even came back for us. Their attitude was basically "oh gee, you're still here and it's all our fault? Fuck you for making me have to work longer".

If he can afford it, consider flying. Or better yet, take a train. The cost difference between bus/train isn't that much, but the service is a BIG difference. Amtrak is cleaner, the scenery's usually better, more room to move around (and less crowded!), the employees are usually friendlier too. And they will wake you up when it pulls into your stop.


But in the realm of life experiences, it's probably invaluable and worth trying at least once.


Amtrak I did about three years ago from New Orleans to Harrisburg, and aside from the middle-of-the-night dining car confessionals (seriously, they've got some troubled souls on those trains!),Oh, my, yes! I've met many a world-weary drifter with a story to tell in the dining car.


Upon Preview: Antonious Block makes a good case.

[Maastricht]

I've found that many people can't read in cars and buses. I certainly can't. It makes me nauseous. I can read in trains, though. Can the OP's son read in a car?

If you can't read, it would be good to plan ahead, as others said. Have a loaded Ipod; plenty to drink/read/eat/play. One thing I would like to have on a bus is a roadmap, so I can follow the route and understand the landscape better.

[pulykamell]

The cost difference between bus/train isn't that much

Is this the case? When I took the bus from LA to Chicago, I considered taking Amtrak, but it was almost the same price as flying. IIRC, it was something like $100 for Greyhound, $350 for Amtrak, and $400 for the cheapest flight (one way, no two-week advance notice.)

[greatshakes]

Bussing it is not too terrible, if you are alone. Just multiply the effect that you get from a plane trip (coach class) by the amount of time that you will be on the bus. IIRC, in a plane, you are assigned seating, but in a bus, it's catch as catch can. Add in a lot of hand carried luggage. If the engine on the bus goes out, you can survive. The scenery is better. There are more family activities, with many little angels to keep you amused.

[kenobi 65]

Is this the case? When I took the bus from LA to Chicago, I considered taking Amtrak, but it was almost the same price as flying. IIRC, it was something like $100 for Greyhound, $350 for Amtrak, and $400 for the cheapest flight (one way, no two-week advance notice.)

I think the relative competitiveness of Amtrak prices depends on the route. I suspect that, in the Northeast Corridor, it beats the plane, at least, and might be close to the bus.

[gaffa]

I take the train between Chicago and Kansas City probably a dozen times a year, almost always the Southwest Chief which continues on to LA. The train takes seven hours compared to the one and half the Southworst flight supposedly takes. But the flight requires a trip to and from both airports (Midway and KCI), being at the gate at least an hour early to try to not get stuck in a middle seat, having to check the backpack I can carry onto Amtrak and having to wait at least half an hour for it to show up at baggage claim and the fact that I'm "randomly" selected for additional scrutiny at security...the difference is only an hour or so. And the legroom on Amtrak compared to Southworst makes the time seem a lot shorter. I bungee-cord my laptop to my tray table, watch a movie, eat dinner in the dining car, watch another movie (or the same film with the commentary track) and I'm at my destination. The Greyhound site lists the same trip as taking ten to twelves hours.

[The Weird One]

Twenty Eight years ago I decided to see the country using a RailPass. Unfortunately, it turned out that there WAS NO American RailPass, like the Eurail one. So I bought a 30-day bus pass from Greyhound, sweety-talked a copy of the nationwide schedule book, and set off across country, mooching off friends and relatives, asnd staying at college dorms when i couldn't find either.
Hey! I did the same thing two summers ago! I generally agree with most of the opinions here: it's often cramped (depending on the route), too hot/cold*, and can be boring. But it's cheap, and I loved seeing the country and talking to people I never would've otherwise. As others have said, the number of weirdos is generally overstated, though there are some. In addition to bring a book/books to read, your son should bring an MP3 player to help with the boredom, and to tune out noisy passengers.


*Two valuable thing I learned: the engines are in the back of the bus, which consequently is always hotter than the rest of the bus, and the air conditioning vents are right beneath the windows. So if you sit in the back, you're probably going to be too hot, and if you lean against a window to sleep, you're probably going to be too cold. I recommend bringing a small blanket or throw.