Grey Hound

Greyhound. The US of A's nasty, annoying cheap-but-not-cheap-enough transit method. Ugh.

• I don't know why I'm divulging this, but Greyhound is owned by Laidlaw transport... A Canadian company.... so it's not really the U S of A's after all.... -Adrian

There's also GreyhoundCanada, which isn't nearly so evil (or cheap)

Australia, and probably other places, have greyhound too. and then there is GreenTortoise[0]...

Advice for taking Greyhound... anyone? things like, while traviling the west cost, avoid the Seattle bus station as much as you can get away with, and if you do find your self in it, and someone comes up to you, and mutters something to you, that sounds like they want to know where they can buy something, or if you have something to sell them, or anything else that might give you the impresion that they wish you to help them in their buying or selling of some kind of drugs... just say "No" or if you find your self in Des Monis Iowa, for an extended amount of time, remember that there is a gas station that you can almost see out the front doors, and at that gas station, they will give you $0.05 cash, for soda cans, and bottles, and that in the bus station, they will only let people with tickets, pick through their trash... or that if you want to sleep on the portland bus station floor, be prepared to be woken up, and asked if you have a ticket, and that the best way to sleep with bags, any place, is to either lay over everything, with your arms and legs in your carrying straps, or, to carry some chain, and a lock, and lock your stuff to something, like a chair.

Hmm, I tried to make this page and it's already here... fun stuff. Anyway, I have some questions for you traveler type people. I'm going to be traveling Greyhound for three months this spring, going all over the continent. What's your advice? Anything one should never ever under any circumstances do? What if you get a psycho bus driver? What's the worst place to have a layover? The best? How to deal with "interesting" people? What's your worst GreyHound experience? Your best? What's your story, people, I know you've got 'em.

Marina... Take a pillow, a walkperson, and avoid the Seattle station during non-daylight hours. Take lots of water, quarters for the vending machines, and any healthy food that you will crave. Take a journal, luggage you can carry reasonably easily by yourself, and an (optional) hostile and or extreamly preoccupied demeanor. If you're traveling in the Northern states, concider Canadian Greyhound, it's much nicer, though it doesn't cross the border in very many places. Come visit me. If at all possible avoid getting your period on a day that you have to spend sitting in one position with nothing to distract you and access to only a tiny bathroom without a sink.

Man Alive! I think the part about the Seattle station should not only be repeated (and given a healthy Amen!) it should be extended to all hours of the day. Because its it's the dirtiest hole on the planet, and last time I was there it was so fuckin packed with boxing day people and the line-up was a mile long and all the strung out scary people that you thought were only there at night were there.

The End.

-Adrian

• I agree, if you can't avoid seattle at all, try to avoid hoiday travel there, it's litterly packed from wall to wall

• Yeah, I agree that the Seattle station is nasty bad at any time of day, but at 2:00 a.m. it is destinctly worse. The only not unlovely thing about that station is that occasionally you can phone Mitchell, and he'll come hang out with you during your layover!

, who has spent way to many hours in that hell hole, despite the occcasional Mitchell perk.

• Amen! Amen! Been to the Seattle bus station once, and it was enough, but I will probably end up going through there a lot, I imagine. -mike

I have had a little experience on GreyHound, like 2 weeks on it total. I find that the most helpful part for me is to pack healthy food that isn't half sugar, half fat which is pretty much the only things you can buy along the way. A cd/tape player is also nice, but not absolutely necessary, it makes the long hours go by more quickly. I like having an Atlas so when we pass by a town I know where we are, and also go online to www.greyhound.com and print out a schedule for all your routes, it will have all the breaks, what time you arrive at each stop and is very helpful. Pack everything, even your checked luggage, in bags so that it is easy to carry, and pack as light as possible, because extra junk means more stuff you have to carry around for a long time. And more to worry about in bus stations. In all bus stations I keep my eyes, and if I can, hook my arm or leg through straps, just so my bags don't wander off. I find night travel to go easier, because you can sleep and most other people are sleeping on the buses, so it goes by more quickly. Having a journal is nice, but I have found the bus rides are not smooth enough that I can really write without half of my letters deformed, and I also don't particularly care to write and have somebody next to me looking at every word I write. As a male I can't really give much advice for a woman traveling alone, but just be alert. I would be happy to answer any other questions. -mike

I really have no experience with extended trips on Greyhound, but I take public transportation around my city a fair amount, and I like to have a walkthing/CD player with me..even if you aren't listening to anything, you can keep the headphones on and have an excuse to ignore obnoxious people. :P The only downside to this being, I suppose, that you cannot pretend to be deaf. Emma

• thing about CD players, and the like, is they take batterys, and those are bad for two resons, they cost alot, and they are nasty for the enviroment, once they are used up, and in a CD player, or tape deck, they usely only last 4-6 hours, and on a long trip, that is not much at all.
• Actually, these days a newer CD/tape player can run quite a while on batteries, but yes they are not so kind to the environment, but when I am around home I use rechargable batteries, they cost about 3 times as much but you can recharge em, assuming you have a charge which probably is not more than $20. And you can use them over and over and over. -mike

SUCKS!!! The End -Matt H

Links

[0] http://www.greentortoise.com/

[0] http://www.sleepinginairports.net