Taking Greyhound: A Gadling blogger’s thumbs up experience (mostly)

by Jamie Rhein on

As airline fares go up, or your favorite route gets canceled, don’t push aside the possibility of taking Greyhound. I’m serious. This summer, due to high airfare costs, I traveled with my six year-old son to New York from Cleveland, Ohio on the train. (see post) We bused it back to Columbus because that was more convenient.

Although the train had a bit of panache, and felt like a grand excursion, (it doesn’t take much to please me), the bus was good enough for getting home. Fun even.

For my son, Greyhound was an adventure that was almost as wondrous as the train. Our one-way tickets from New Paltz, New York to Columbus cost $180 total. (Children’s tickets are 40% of adult fares.)

Advantage of bus travel:

  • I didn’t need to know our exact travel date or departure location until last minute. Although buying a bus ticket early can save a few bucks, it’s not so much money that you need to plan ahead. I shuffled our travel plans a few times and enjoyed the flexibility instead of being held to a travel date and time.
  • We took loads of snacks and drinks on the bus without problems.
  • There wasn’t a fee for the first checked bag for each of us. I carried our bags to the bus myself so there wasn’t a chance of our luggage going to the wrong destination or being left behind.
  • Upon arrival we didn’t need to wait at baggage claim, but snagged our suitcases right as we got off the bus.
  • My husband could meet us right at the bus so he was able to help carry our bags, a big help since our son had fallen asleep and had wobbly legs.
  • I was able to read to my son, read my own books, and enjoy my son’s company.
  • There were three rest stops and one dinner stop which broke up the journey. Rest stops were about every three hours.
  • The service plazas where the bus stopped had a variety of food, generally much less expensive than airport eateries. We bought lunch to eat on the bus at one service stop and ate dinner at the Pittsburgh bus station. The meatball sub was actually pretty good.
  • We could watch the scenery go by. Granted there’s not a lot of variation with highway travel, but there is a sense of movement.
  • We did not have to go through security.

Disadvantage of bus travel:

  • It took us 12 ½ hours. If we flew it may have been half that long, but then again, with a delay or a canceled flight, it could have been the same.
  • Changing buses in Port Authority in New York City is a pain if you don’t know what you’re doing. In general, airport signage is easier to follow. (Part 2 tomorrow.)
  • Bus stations are not as snazzy as airports.

Tips for bus travel:

  • Because there are various route options, check carefully beforehand so you don’t end up arriving later than you want, or making unnecessary detours. We were almost routed through Cleveland which would have been STUPID. Very STUPID.
  • If you can purchase priority seating, do. For $5 extra for each ticket, we were able to board the bus first at Port Authority in New York City. This meant we were able to get first dibs on the seats. This option is not available at all stations.
  • Sit close to the front of the bus. If you sit too far back, you’ll notice the bus’s movement more. Also, sitting close to the front meant we could look out the bus’s front window.
  • Bring a lightweight jacket, sweater, shawl or some sort of cover-up. The air-conditioning can feel nippy.
  • A neck pillow can help you sleep more easily.
  • Wear slip-on shoes. Taking shoes off when seated feels more comfortable than leaving them on.
  • When you get off at a rest stop or for dinner, leave your belongings on the bus in order to save your seat.

What we didn’t have which I didn’t miss, but would bring the next time just in case:

Something to listen to music.

What we did have that lasted just long enough:

A laptop so my son could watch a DVD until the battery became too low.

What my son played with most:

Silly Putty

Megabus Experiences: Is Cheaper Better?

by Josh Lew on

High airfares and high gas prices have had many people feeling like they are stuck in a corner. Or at least stuck at home. For me, a Twin Cities resident with friends and family in Chicago, the $100 round trips of the past (AirTran and NW) made it easy to call The Windy City a second home. Likewise, my Cubs-loving acquaintances were only an hour or two away from watching a team that has actually won the world series in the past 100 years.

But, rising fares have recently made the two neighboring cities seem farther away than in the past. A drive is still doable, if you have a car that gets good mileage. But there is an even cheaper alternative: Megabus. A ride between MSP and Chicago averages around $25, depending on when you buy your ticket. That’s cheaper than one tank of gas. But is it worth it?

Most college students and budget travelers had a certain reverence for the bus line, which is owned by Coach USA. You can’t beat the price. But there were a few negatives:
1. The buses arrived later than scheduled. Every. Single. Time.
2. They offered free wi-fi but it often didn’t work.
3. If you don’t have headphones, you’re in for a noisy ride.
4. The drop off point in Minneapolis is a bit dodgy, especially late at night. Basically, it’s under a bridge, next to a vacant lot.

And, to be fair, the good:

1. Price
2. Dropped off in central locations
3. Price
4. Reasonably comfortable
5. Price

Greyhound in a pinch: It’s cheaper and it gets you there

by Jamie Rhein on

This past Sunday I put my mother on a Greyhound bus. She agreed to get on. I didn’t make her. This was a last minute trip. Last minute on an airplane would have cost $600 plus for round trip between Columbus, Ohio and New York City. Greyhound was $208, tax included. Planning ahead would have made this cheaper than that, but this was last minute.

After considering the price of airfare, the hassle of going through airport procedure nonsense, the chance that a flight would be delayed or canceled, and the added cost of getting from the airport into Manhattan made a plane ticket seem totally not worth it. Without a direct flight available, the trip could have taken several hours anyway.

Driving was nixed because she would be driving by herself which would require many stops and possibly a hotel stay somewhere. At the time we found out she needed to go, it was late afternoon. Plus, there is paying for parking in New York City and the cost of gas. So, Greyhound, in its convenience and thrift, won out.

Here are the pros and cons of the decision to hop on Greyhound in retrospect.

Pros:

  1. Putting her on the bus was easy. She had bought her ticket the day before thinking that she needed to go on Saturday, but it seemed like she didn’t need to go after all after she paid for the ticket. Since the ticket is good for a year, she held onto it.
  2. Once we found out she did need to go, she was packed and at the bus station two hours later ready to take the 7:00 p.m. bus. Although, her ticket was for the day before, she didn’t need to change her ticket or pay an extra fee. She didn’t need to pay for baggage either. She had a carry-on size, a purse and another small bag. All went on the bus with her. If she had checked her bag there would have been no charge.
  3. There was no stress. I got her to the bus station at 6:20 PM in a quick 15 minute drive from where she lives. There was parking right out front, and since it was Sunday, the meter is free.
  4. There was not a TSA experience to deal with or a long trek to a gate. She could keep her shoes on. She had a full water bottle and regular sized tooth paste. She didn’t have a snow globe, but no one would have stopped her if she had.
  5. The bus goes right to Port Authority Bus Station near Times Square so there’s not an extra cost or hassle getting into Manhattan. From Port Authority there are plenty of ways to get to where you need to go. She took a cab.

Cons:

  1. Sleeping on the bus was not easy or restful. My mom said it made five stops and each time, they had to get off.
  2. Although she doesn’t need a car in Manhattan, if she goes to upstate New York like she is planning to, she’ll need a car once she’s there. Plus, there’s the bus trip back.

Solutions to the Cons

  1. She’s planning on taking the bus back during the day since not being able to sleep at night is something she doesn’t care to repeat.
  2. I may drive her car to New York the beginning of next week and use her bus ticket to come back if that’s possible. If not, I’ll get my own one-way bus ticket. I was planning on going to New York later this summer, but I could go now. That way, she has her car and I can take the things she was planning to take if she drove. Otherwise, she’s driving to New York again later on.
  3. She rents a car after she takes a bus to Kingston, takes the Greyhound back here, and then she and I can drive to New York in August when I was planning to go any way. Hmmmm. Now, that’s an idea.

The reason why it is still good my mom didn’t take the plane.

Her return bus ticket is for June 4. She can’t come back June 4 so she would have needed to change her ticket. The bus ticket change costs $15. The plane ticket change would have been at least $100, and probably more as Grant has pointed out.

Photo of the Day (1/09/08)

by Jamie Rhein on

My first major trip on my own was when I was in the 12th grade. I had a summer job in Maine working at a kid’s camp. Great way to learn how to water ski. My mode of transportation was a bus from New Paltz, New York to Augusta, Maine. Oh, the glory of the whoosh of the door before the bus pulled away from the bay. Freedom.

Our very own Martha’s shot of someone boarding a bus in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico Puerto capture’s the essence of a grand bus adventure. Besides that, I love the mix of color and black and white.

Add your own adventure inspired photo to our Gadling Flickr Pool. (or make it just a really, really, really, great shot.)

Tour the U.S. on horse and feel better about the world

by Jamie Rhein on

The story about Bill Inman, a rancher who is traveling across the U.S. on his faithful steed, Blackie, caught my attention. Inman’s stated purposeof this journey is to find out the good things about the America amid the bad news. The war in Iraq, the housing market bubble burst, the gas prices, etc., etc., etc. All of this what’s wrong news can make people feel downright crabby. Anyway, Inman thinks what we hear or read is too gloomy and wants to discover the sunnier side of life through his plodding travels. He travels about 25 miles a day. (photo by Charlie Riedel, AP)

So far, wherever he has stopped, he’s found people friendly. Although, one might say, people are friendly because of his horse. Maybe that’s true but I found a similar situation after I got back from the Peace Corps and I wasn’t traveling with a horse or even a small dog, a kid or a hamster. I was traveling with my close friend, a fellow RPCV (returned volunteer) whose mission was the same as mine. Let’s avoid getting real jobs for awhile and see the U.S. as a good reason for not earning a paycheck. Without a horse or a car, we relied on Greyhound (or Trailways) and in two cases Green Tortoise. Twice we found plane tickets cheaper than bus tickets.

We started our bus journey in Kentucky (we had car rides from New York (me) and Massachusetts (her) and zagging across the U.S., stopping to stay a night or two with relatives, relatives of relatives, friends, friends of friends, parents of friends and people we didn’t even know. We didn’t know anyone at the center for wayward women in Des Moines, Iowa. We weren’t even wayward women, but they let us stay. (Maybe we were wayward women but we didn’t know it.)

The point of this story is, we did not have one bad experience. Not one. We found people to be helpful, kind, and interested in us. People gave us rides to the bus station if we needed it. Offered us food and company and even a police whistle when we asked if the bus station in Denver was in a bad part of town. Perhaps, it helped that we told people that we had just finished serving in Africa for two years in the Peace Corps and that we were traveling across the U.S. to learn more about the wonders in our own country. (Okay, perhaps a bit thick, but it worked.) So, I found the U.S. to be a marvelous place–even Texas which was the place I expected not to like for some reason. I loved Austin and San Antonio. Still, I’ve found every country I’ve been to (and it’s a boat load) mostly marvelous. It helps to go into a place thinking you’ll find no different. At least, that has been my experience.

I hope Bill Inman keeps finding the same pleasant experiences that he has so far. I wonder how he’s getting home. He lives in Oregon. I flew to Albuquerque, New Mexico from Las Vegas, the last stop of my three month trip. I finally needed to get a job and Albuquerque seemed like a good place to land for awhile.

Oh, if you ever do make your own lengthy journey across the U.S., here’s a tidbit of advice. Go easy on the margaritas and ice-cream. It doesn’t take long to develop a paunch.