I plan to travel by Greyhound in the last week of June, (as my friend in the US recommended that this is the best way to get the feel of the “real” US), from Kansas City or St. Louis, to Naples in Florida. While one consideration is the safety factor of one’s baggage or cash, since there are three or four transfers involved, what happens if one coach is delayed and I cannot catch the connecting coach ?
Grateful for inputs from people who are aware of this, please.
Moving this from ATMB to General Questions.
samclem, moderator
My experience is 15 years old now and things might have changed since.
Anyway, it’s best to pick up your bag at each transfer and personally take it to the next bus, since they mess up easily. Get a handful of baggage tags and tag your bag for exactly the next stopover. No valuables, let alone cash, in check-in baggage. Also, make scans of important documents and put them online somewhere for download in case something gets lost.
If you have a ticket to your destination, you’ll get there. But with 3+ transfers, plan for at least a day of total delay.
I would hesitate to recommend travel by Greyhound. It’s the inter-city travel option of last resort. You’ll get plenty of authenticity, that’s for sure. But it’s one of the most uncomfortable ways to travel in the US. KK Fusion is right about the schedule risks that transfers bring. Bus/coach infrastructure is much less robust and much less regulated in the US than is air travel infrastructure.
If you miss a transfer, Greyhound is unlikely to rent you a hotel room while you wait for the next bus. You’re likely to spend 24 hours in a bus station trying to stay awake to keep your luggage from wandering off.
I’ve taken coach trips from Paris to Amsterdam, all over Peru and also from Washington, DC to New York City. Both the European and Peruvian coaches were much cleaner, more comfortable and better-maintained than the American ones I’ve traveled on. If you have experience with non-US coach travel, be aware that taking a Greyhound in the US is likely to be significantly less pleasant than your previous trips.
Also, traveling from Kansas City to Naples, FL is a very long trip. It would take almost 24 hours if you drove your own car nonstop (which is nearly impossible to do alone). Traveling by Greyhound takes twice as long. If you want to experience American intercity buses, you might consider traveling by Greyhound from, say, Kansas City to St. Louis and then flying from St. Louis to Naples, FL. St. Louis is a medium-sized hub for air travel, so you should be able to get from there to most places fairly cheaply.
If you equate poverty with authenticity, then that’s what you’ll get on a Greyhound. Almost no one takes it by choice, especially not for trips this long. One could argue that a flight on Southwest Airlines is also part of the “real” America. If authenticity is what you’re after, then renting a car and driving would be the most typical way to travel. Most Americans would fly if they could afford to, but a long-distance drive—a road trip—is a classic American concept.
Looking at a map the national Amtrak train system will go most of the way, from either Kansas City or St. Louis to Tampa, Fl (Tampa is about 167 miles from Naples) but it is a very long way around going through Chicago and probably expensive. [There is another train system which goes from Tampa to Ft. Myers–Ft Myers is 43 miles from Naples]
Perhaps someone familiar with Amtrak can provide the OP with details of a train, bus combination which would work.
Then again, it can be an adventure.
In 1976 Greyhound offered a Bicentennial Special. For $76 you could travel in one direction for (IIRC) one month. I was 18 and I travelled from Pittsburgh, PA to Sacramento, CA. It was a blast for an 18 year old, though I wouldn’t do it today.
I agree with the previous posters; Greyhound is “authentic,” from the standpoint that most of your fellow passengers will be the poor, college students, and the Amish (who don’t own cars). It’s also very likely to be slow, uncomfortable, and unreliable.
IMO, if you’re looking for “the feel of the real U.S.,” I’d look for a method that let you get off the Interstate highways, and stop in small towns along the way. Spending several days in Greyhound buses, and in dingy bus stations in the center of major cities, feels like a very narrow slice of “the real U.S.”
I had to use Greyhound once (I moved about 300 miles with 3 cars and 2 drivers - needed to go back to get the 3rd car).
Slow? Yep.
Uncomfortable? Oh yeah. Very uncomfortable.
Unreliable? Nope. The buses always ran on time and I never heard of any issues there.
If you want a cheap but miserable way to travel across the country, go for it. If you want something less miserable, I personally wouldn’t recommend it.
I agree that it would be very long on a Greyhound, however from Palm Bay, which is around as far as Naples, I’ve driven to St Louis and Omaha in a day, granted, starting a bit after midnight and stopping for an hour or so nap. The time I got to St Louis there was plenty of daylight left. And that’s just the times I’ve gone in that general direction: I’ve driven straight through to the North countless times. I only think about getting a hotel room if my destination is past central PA.
Driving from Denver to Palm Bay, on the other hand, is very difficult.
Now I’m not saying this is a good way to see anything along the way, I’m just quibbling that it’s not “nearly impossible” to drive from KC to Naples alone, although I guess it varies from person to person.
I rode on Greyhound (and Trailways) a lot during my college years (which, admittedly, was 30+ years ago now), and late buses weren’t uncommon in the slightest. While it certainly wasn’t an “every trip” thing, it was pretty common for the buses I was on to be an hour or two late in departing from my starting point, and / or in arriving at my destination.
I question the premise. I don’t think you will see the “real” America on a Greyhound bus. Most Americans would fly that distance and most of the rest would drive. You aren’t going to meet any of these people your way. I don’t have recent experience on an intercity bus in the U.S. but, I’m guessing, that the passengers might include mostly the very poor, people with no government identification (who thus can’t board a plane or rent a car), and people who want to plausibly claim, “That’s not mine!” if a duffel bag full of heroin is found by the police. I wouldn’t characterize people like that as typifying America.
I don’t know your time horizon but perhaps one way to get a sense of America might be to mix transport options. Maybe take a plane from Kansas City to Atlanta, which is a major airline hub, to meet regular middle-income-to-wealthy Americans. Take an intercity bus from there to Savannah, GA. This is a short distance trip and you can meet all the colorful bus characters. Pick up an Amtrak train to Jacksonville to meet middle income people who either have lots of time on their hands (retirees) or people who are afraid to fly. Finally, rent a car one-way for the last leg of your trip and make lots of stops along the way. Talk to everyone you can and take your time.
Enjoy your trip!
I want to also advise you to reconsider this plan. Airfare in the US can be very cheap and while it is also uncomfortable, it has the advantage of being uncomfortable for a shorter amount of time.
bring money for food becasuse that mc donalds they stop at? that will be the only place in the state that will not take part in any advertised deals or specials and possibly be more expensive than anyone you’ve ever been to and the bus stops are outrageously priced themselves well the ones that have cafeterias anyways
and also be ready for stops in weird places like convenience store parking lots… bars … walmarts … or the official bus stop that’s nothing but a shed with a log book and a porta potty and 2 vending machines in a tiny parking lot
Greatest but stop I was in was in texas traveling thru alone and I was14/15 in the late 80s … It was a general store/post office/bar and grill
Now it was cold and wet and the first bus was overloaded from the main bus station So they had about 20 of us go to the next place in a separate bus on an “interstate” route Well we stop at all these local places for about 4 hours then it started raining and was chilly … well since I’m from CA and I knew south texas was just as warm in the summer I was dressed accordingly
What they didn’t know at the bus hub was once the local route was done there was an 14 hour layover until the bus turned around and went back opposite direction and we were waiting for the “national” bus to take us further So we were stuck at the place which the store and post office was closed and had one of two options either sit outside in the rain or go in the bar
We chose the bar which was unusual because I was underage so I walked in soaked changed clothes and sat down the sort of dressed waitress came over and knew what was going on as shes the one who was local contracted help for greyhound (she sold tickets and such at the counter)
So were talking about this and that and she says "well Y’all picked the perfect day to get stranded here cause the roads closed due to too much water " but didn’t offer much after that and gave us snacks mean while the clientele which seemed to be cowboy types bikers and desert rats started coming in (which made the black chick from Compton more nervous that she all ready was…)
Well after a while I noticed there wasn’t much in the way of real food and there wasn’t much discussion about payment for anyone in the bar and when I asked about both I got a smirky but polite " just be patient"
All of a sudden about 7:30/8 pm these huge tables were put up and what turned out to be a a huge texas bbq buffet was set up with kegs and all and it was announced that there was an open bar starting at 8:30 and someone slid up next to me and said as long as I was cool they weren’t carding anyone for the bar on and don’t mention anything about paying for anything
Then the party started and from what I was told every one in 30 miles came and went and All of a sudden a yosmmitie sam but taller look aaike showed up jumped on the bar and said eat and drink what ever ya want its all on his dollar everyone ate like starving pigs got pretty smashed … even the bus driver because he didn’t have to go anywhere til 7 am the next day theen there was dancing music and such
Now there used to be a rule in some parts of texas that in a bar they stopped serving at a certain time but as long as someone was still drinking they weren’t required to close
So when last call was announdced in a drunken slur billy bob (never did know the dudes name) jumps on the bar turns to whats left of the staff still standing up and says I want 100 shots of whats ever left of what he paid for and they filled up one of the tables with every glass they had and just began passing them out and would refill the glasses … lets just say not a lot of people made it home that night and the never closed that night …at breakfast the next morning it was announced the road was clear and our bus would take us to where we needed to be… I think the driver (whom was smarter that the rest of us went to sleep about 1 am )politely ignored the no drunks on the bus cause we sure as hell weren’t sober …that was the quietest bus ride because of sleeping it off
I did ask one of the local guys on the bus about it and he says "Oh that’s a local holiday around these parts … happens 2 or 3 times a year billy bobs cattle ranch is the big employer in the county he runs something like 20-50 k head of cattle and has contracts with meat companies all over but billys bobs usually a cheap unsociable loudmouth type but to keep the locals and ranch workers happy he throws a picnic/ party about 3 times a year when he ships out the beef and gets the money
that “shingdig” we attended costs him about 3-5 grand and mostly gets written off as business expenses
Funny thing tho I noticed Compton girl wasn’t on the bus… someone said she went off with ne of the cowboy types … She never got back on the bus… apparently she got a job and learned about raising horses married the cowboy and they took care of billy bobs horse ranch and had about 6 or 7 kids and inherited it when he passed on
She became something of a legend because she was the only one billy bob was always polite to of course her " whuppin his ass " a time or two helped
I seen the driver a couple of years later on another bus trip and he filled me in
Have you considered Amtrack? You will get some nice views of the scenery.
I dont think you will meet “the real America” so much.
I use Greyhound to travel to the airport for international travel. Actually, a Greyhound partner, but everything is Greyhound except the name on the side of the bus. I’ve never had any problem with buses leaving or arriving on time. My baggage is only carryon, on my lap.
Greyhound ticketing is neanderthal, they “are working on” some of the ticketing conveniences that the computer makes so easy. But they’re still a generation ahead of Amtrak.
The main point of Greyhound is that the low-paid terminal employees are likely to be as nice or as cranky as the client they served just before you, and they get crank a lot, given their usual clientele.
I travelled a fair bit by Greyhound at two different times: the early 80s and the late 90s. Both times, I had little trouble with missed connections (I’ve had MUCH less reliable service from certain airlines we could mention), and I saw a very interesting selection of both big cities and small towns. My introduction to biscuits and gravy came at an early morning stop in southern West Virginia, at a small city/town where the bus stop was at the pharmacy/diner counter/post office/bus station. That’s an authentic experience I have never regretted.
If you want to see the “real” America between Kansas City and St. Louis, Greyhound is a 4 1/2 hour trip on Interstate 70, with a single 10-minutes stop in Columbia.
Amtrak takes an hour longer, but mostly follows the Missouri River and makes eight brief stops in (mostly) scenic small towns. That particular route also has a cafe car and is a damn site more comfortable than an intercity bus.
According to my adult children, passengers on trains tend to be less grumpy than the ones on the bus.
Dude, don’t Do it.
Don’t do it.
Greyhound fare is about $155 that week. Trip takes 44+ hours, if all goes well.
Southwest airlines has promo fares from $164 that get you there in about 7 hours.
Not worth the nominal savings to take the bus. And You won’t see much of any interest going by bus, other than getting to experience how large the USA is.
I travel on Greyhound frequently, though almost always on shorter (< 5 hours) trips in the northeastern US. Not a miserable experience at all, and travel/delay hassles are certainly no worse or more frequent than on airlines.
Maybe buses in the rest of the country are in fact crammed with unwashed drug-mule peasants, but that hasn’t been my experience. I like trains too, but their delays are often worse than other transit modes because IIRC freight lines take priority over passenger lines in case of schedule conflict. So a small delay can easily turn into a big one.
It is true, however, that when changing buses you are responsible for getting your own luggage to the next bus. There isn’t a “check-through” system as for airlines.