# What's the longest you've ever spent on a bus? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 21, 2013, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-youve-ever-spent-on-a-bus/653539 "2013-03-21T15:09:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2013, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-youve-ever-spent-on-a-bus/653539/1 "2013-03-21T15:09:06Z")
What’s the longest you’ve ever spent on a bus? I’ve been on two all-day coach bus rides, one in 2004 between Saskatoon (Saskatchewan) and Banff (Alberta) and one in 2008 between Austria and Tuscany. A class mate of mine went from Vancouver to Montreal on a bus. three whole days! :eek: I don’t know how he managed it. I think it’d drive me insane. My sister and I found out that it’d take 5 whole days to ride a bus from here in Montreal to Whitehorse in the Yukon, way up in the northwest. Though we don’t plan to go there by bus. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2013, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-youve-ever-spent-on-a-bus/653539/2 "2013-03-21T15:12:39Z")
The summer after my graduation from high school, I took a Greyhound from Rhode Island to California to visit an old friend who had moved there… while there, I took the bus to the Grand Canyon and back, and then returned to RI. I would never do such a thing again, but at the time, it was great, because I’d never been west of New York State and never done anything remotely like that on my own. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2013, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-youve-ever-spent-on-a-bus/653539/3 "2013-03-21T15:13:36Z")
Thirty hours. Spring break. Montreal - Ft. Lauderdale. Hardly any sleep. Some drinking. Mostly 19 and 20 year olds being loud, obnoxious and restless. If I had to do it now, I’d kill myself and take everyone on the bus with me. ---
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2013, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-youve-ever-spent-on-a-bus/653539/4 "2013-03-21T15:18:40Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > Thirty hours. Spring break. Montreal - Ft. Lauderdale. Hardly any sleep. Some drinking. Mostly 19 and 20 year olds being loud, obnoxious and restless. > > If I had to do it now, I’d kill myself and take everyone on the bus with me. To add some info to my OP, the two times I was on a bus for a full day, it was with a bunch of friends, so it wasn’t so bad. If I was on a bus for several days with a bunch of strangers who were being annoying, I think I’d go nuts. I find the people on local public transit annoying enough. I took the train to Ottawa and back once (2 hours each way) and the other passengers were well-behaved, so it wasn’t bad. But my sister used to make that trip often and she said that there were plenty of annoying people on the bus, fairly often. I don’t mind taking the bus to somewhere 2 hours away, though I may try a longer bus trip sometime (though probably not a whole day or longer.) ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2013, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-youve-ever-spent-on-a-bus/653539/5 "2013-03-21T15:22:48Z")
> [@EmilyG](#): > > To add some info to my OP, the two times I was on a bus for a full day, it was with a bunch of friends, so it wasn’t so bad. If I was on a bus for several days with a bunch of strangers who were being annoying, I think I’d go nuts. I find the people on local public transit annoying enough. It was a college organized trip so we were all 19 and 20 with more adrenaline and stamina than brains. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2013, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-youve-ever-spent-on-a-bus/653539/6 "2013-03-21T15:22:51Z")
My longest bus rides have been Saskatoon to Lethbridge and Toronto to NYC (with a transfer in Buffalo). I thought about doing Washington D.C. to Atlanta as part of the same trip with Toronto-NY (I was using an unlimited travel bus pass), but I couldn’t find an overnight trip without a bunch of transfers. EDIT: I also went on a band trip by bus from Saskatoon to Minneapolis, but that had an overnight stop along the way. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2013, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-youve-ever-spent-on-a-bus/653539/7 "2013-03-21T15:32:37Z")
As far as coach tours go, my wife and I have done Toronto to PEI and back, and Denver -\> Deadwood -\> Billings -\> Yellowstone -\> SLC -\> Denver. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2013, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-youve-ever-spent-on-a-bus/653539/8 "2013-03-21T15:32:39Z")
Let’s see… Houston to northern New Mexico. Going, it was something like 13 hours of driving with stops to eat in Decatur, TX, a break in Wichita Falls to switch drivers and gas up, and breakfast at 5 am in Dumas, TX. In total, it was like 14-15 hours. Then, 2 weeks later, after hiking the entire time, we went back the same way. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2013, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-youve-ever-spent-on-a-bus/653539/9 "2013-03-21T15:41:37Z")
I took the bus (Greyhound and Trailways) a lot when I was in college. Back and forth from school to home (Madison to Green Bay) was about a 3.5 - 4 hour trip. I went up to St. Paul from Madison several times, to see my girlfriend (she was also a student at UW-Madison, but was from the Twin Cities, and went home during the summer). That was about a 8 hour trip. It’s been over 25 years since I took an intercity bus trip, and the smell of bus exhaust still triggers memories of those trips. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2013, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-youve-ever-spent-on-a-bus/653539/10 "2013-03-21T15:42:49Z")
50 hours from LA to Chicago. Then about 24 hours from Chicago to Boston a week later. Never ever again. ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2013, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-youve-ever-spent-on-a-bus/653539/11 "2013-03-21T15:45:06Z")
From Cairns to Brisbane in Australia- I think it was 25 hours. Luckily, the bus was fairly empty, so I got a spare seat next to me, and everyone was being quiet and fairly well behaved. It wasn’t that bad, but I wouldn’t rush to do it again. ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2013, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-youve-ever-spent-on-a-bus/653539/12 "2013-03-21T15:45:20Z")
I took a bus from Erie, PA to Champaign, IL one time. Sat next to an Amish dude whilst my sleep was continually interrupted by a guy shouting the n-word along with his mp3 player. Didn’t time the trip, but it was unpleasant. ---
**Author:** ![AaronX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7bcc69/32.png) [@AaronX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AaronX)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2013, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-youve-ever-spent-on-a-bus/653539/13 "2013-03-21T15:50:20Z")
How long can you leave the bus for and still consider it a trip? Because I don’t think you people are not leaving the bus for \>24 hours. When we went to Europe for holiday, we took the same bus from Nice, France, to Germany, Italy, Switzerland and back to Paris (not in that order) over a week or so. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2013, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-youve-ever-spent-on-a-bus/653539/14 "2013-03-21T15:53:15Z")
> [@AaronX](#): > > How long can you leave the bus for and still consider it a trip? Because I don’t think you people are not leaving the bus for \>24 hours. On a long trip you’ll always have stops for gas and food at the very least. Those kind of stops certainly wouldn’t count. ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2013, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-youve-ever-spent-on-a-bus/653539/15 "2013-03-21T15:57:00Z")
Tulsa, OK to Merida Mexico. Ft Lewis WA to Tulsa OK. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2013, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-youve-ever-spent-on-a-bus/653539/16 "2013-03-21T15:57:04Z")
> [@AaronX](#): > > How long can you leave the bus for and still consider it a trip? Because I don’t think you people are not leaving the bus for \>24 hours. When we went to Europe for holiday, we took the same bus from Nice, France, to Germany, Italy, Switzerland and back to Paris (not in that order) over a week or so. The 50-hour and 24-hour bus ride only had stops at cities to pick up/drop off/change drivers and maybe 1/2 an hour at Jack-in-the-Box (or similar fast food establishment) a couple times along the way, usually paired with a gas stop. The 50 hours is door-to-door from LA to Chicago, a trip of 2,121 miles, in one uninterrupted journey except for the aforementioned stops, which brings us to an average speed of 42 mph across the whole trip, counting stops. So, yeah, that’s one trip by any reasonable definition, I would think. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2013, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-youve-ever-spent-on-a-bus/653539/17 "2013-03-21T16:01:02Z")
Seemed like a good idea at the time. I was traveling with a friend and, instead of the far superior train, we took a bus from Athens, Greece to Munich, Germany. Thought we would save some money. First of all, half the bus was English and half was Irish…gee what could go wrong there? Well, they had to stop the bus twice when fights broke out. The bus driver was insane - passing trucks on two lane roads at about 75 MPH…the screams were deafening. They did stop overnight - but it cost extra to stay in the (crappy) motel. We barely had the money but it was better than trying to sleep on that stinking bus. By the time we got to Munich, I felt like I had lived through a 6 day war (even though it was just a bit over two days). That bus went on to London - but I was never so glad to get off a bus in my entire life. Never, ever, ever again. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2013, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-youve-ever-spent-on-a-bus/653539/18 "2013-03-21T16:03:42Z")
Longest unbroken bus ride? I’ve done a lot of long overnight busses in the 13 hour range, mostly in China and India. China is nice because they have busses with rows of little beds. If we were talking trains, I’ve done four straight days cross county. If we count non-continuous journeys, I’ve gone from Amritsar to Thiruvananthapiram and back to Delhi on public transit, for a total of 5,700ish miles, excluding side trips. Overland, I’ve covered all the ground between Thiruvananthapiram and Beijing over various trips, with the exception of a 50 mile stretch of untraveled road in Nepal. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Il\_Palazzo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Lord\_Il\_Palazzo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Il_Palazzo)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2013, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-youve-ever-spent-on-a-bus/653539/19 "2013-03-21T16:06:47Z")
On a bus, about 6 hours riding home from college one time. I don’t remember why I was taking the bus since my dad usually picked me up for breaks and I had at least one friend at school who lived in my hometown and whose folks would almost definitely have given me a ride. If you count a van instead of a bus, I’ve got one longer. In college, I did volunteer work in New Orleans (post-Katrina) over spring break my last two years and the group I went with each time rented vans and drove all the way. Mapquest tells me it’s about a 13 hour drive from Blacksburg, VA to New Orleans which sounds about right; we left first thing in the morning and it was dark when we arrived. Pretty tame compared to a lot of this thread, but it’s all I’ve got. ---
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2013, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-youve-ever-spent-on-a-bus/653539/20 "2013-03-21T16:10:44Z")
I spent the better part of a summer riding on a bus for several hours pretty much every night. The duration of plenty of those trips were double-digits. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-youve-ever-spent-on-a-bus/653539.md?page=2)