It was either a $68 bus ticket, $100 gas for my own car (plus wear & tear), or a $148 plane ticket.
Having never traveled through Texas by bus, I decided this was too good a
So, I told friends and family that I was going to text them by phone LIVE my adventure.
and about 9 people were interested (my mom, two sisters, my 12 yr old and a few friends)
Here are my texts from the beginning of my journey, north of Dallas, all the way to Austin.
Enjoy!
9:45am
- On bus now & driver was surprised I had a ticket. Apparently most people dont.
9:53am
- I have two seats to myself but something smells funny and I dont see seatbelts.
10:03am
- looks like we are stopping in Richardson and that wasnt on the itinerary. crap wonder how many other stops we have.
10:15am
- I had to enlist the help of my neighbors to figure out how to adjust my seat.
10:27am
- should I be worried the driver sits in a bullet proof booth?!
10:30am
- if anything goes down, i am jumping in there with him.
10:42am
- in big bus station in dallas now to transfer buses. station packed but has gift shop cafe and potties and an arcade.
10:45am
- i want to take picutres but fear being mobbed.
(at this point, one of my sisters recommend I not use the toilets on the bus and not to make eye contact. And a friend told me to take secret photos with my camera phone, which I did, but have no idea how to get those to this blog.)
11:03am
- my arcade choices are house of dead, mrs pacman and cruisin exotica.
(my 12 yr old son texted me back saying "pacman" thank goodness)
11:08am
- now in line to get on next bus...at least i think its the right line.
11:29am
-an asian girl in line behind me told everyone this was her first bus ever. newbie.
11:36am
- hope the himalayan salt lamp in my suitcase isnt broken yet.
11:43am
- driver just told us that there is no smoking on the bus and that the bathroom is part of the bus. duh
11:48am
- this bus sounds like it is passing gas every 5 sec and i am not kidding its every 5 secs i timed it.
11:51am
- crap where are we stopping now?! oh, dallas south station.
12:13pm
- passenger behind me is snoring...that may be me in about an hour.
12:23pm
- update on annoying noise every 5 sec: i figured it out its the bus windshield wipers!
1:25pm
- made it to waco! nice station here with clean bathroom and the snow has followed me
2:57pm
- finally made it to austin
To sum things up...bus travel was OK. It was nice not to worry about traffic, and I was able to read, listen to my iPod, nap and text up a storm...but it has some disadvantages.
Half the time it wasn't clear which bus I was supposed to be on.
A lot of time was spent waiting.
But it was an interesting experience.
13 comments:
Sounds like you had an interesting ride.
Oh course you could make anything sound interesting though.
Holy geez woman, next time take a plane!!!!
Justine :o )
I had an awesome and fun time when I rode a Greyhound from Dallas to Rexburg Idaho when I graduated high school a long time ago. Heck, come to think of it that was over ten years ago and they didnt have bullet proof screens for the drivers.
I got some funny ones on my cross country trip: the man that kept taking my camera and shooting random photos, the time we begged the driver to stop on the side of the road so me and a bunch of 40 yo's could play in the snow in Colorado off the side of a mountain (hey I think the driver wanted his smoke break), me thinking a guy on Temple Square in Salt Lake was deaf because I could see a wire coming out from behind his ear (later I realized he was security--yes, I am a dummy).
PS: I have a giveaway on my blog right now--$50 gift account from sticviews: http://www.screweduptexan.com
PPS: We should totally do a Greyhound bustrip together. It would be rad.
You are a braver woman than I am!!
You rock!!! I'm totally jealous cause I think that would be such an awesome adventure!!!
I traveled by bus back and forth to college. It is really fun isn't it?
I had to take a greyhound from Saint Louis to Ft. Leonard Wood, Missouri once.
Being a newbie I didn't think about my attire and wore some pretty nice duds. I called my husband crying into my cellphone.
"I think I'm going to be murdered."
It was one of the longest stretches of time I've ever endured.
growing up in that area, I can truly appreciate your humor on the bus. My first and last bus ride was from Dallas to Houston and it was VERY interesting.
more power to you!!
I saw your blog on Blogs of Note so I stopped by to read a post or two. It was awesome, and your 10:45 made me laugh. :)
Hilarious! I have so been there. Normally an hour drive somehow takes three and your ready to shove a sock in that screaming four-year-old's mouth. Oh well. You get what you pay for I guess!
I used to ride the bus from Dallas to Roswell, NM when I was 15-16 y.o. The major drawback to taking the bus, like you experienced, is the time it takes to get somewhere. 6hrs from Dallas to Austin, which is just 2.5-3hrs trip in a car. Other than that, I don't mind the buses.
i like to ride bus.
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