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 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.
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).
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.