Greyhound Hell

[Matteroo]

took buses in Venezuela, Peru, and Bolivia. It can go from awesome to down right scary and insane. Depends a bit on the route. Major route between 'major' city centers, generally a fancy bus that is pretty damn plush and they make great time. Going somewhere a little more out of the way -- you get a greyhound equivalent bus. Somewhere really out of the way? a really really janky old thing that god help you stays on the road as it speeds around corners at 10,000ft in the rain.. Hmm.. in 2 months in Venezuela had a bus break down twice. Then again we took perhaps 10 or 15 buses in that time.. once was on a mountain road and we hung out for about 2 hours, nice views, great stream..washed my hair.. the other time in the middle of the night in the llanos (flat grasslands) hot as hell mosquitos like crazy.. why? because they have bizzare ass roads. I bet there is more miles of roads from the forest service in Oregon and/or Washington than the whole Venezuelan country - and they barely maintain them (bridges out, 2 foot deep potholes..etc--its very entertaining)

also, on the really nice buses, they have air conditioning - but it is permanently set at 50 degrees - seriously, take a long bus trip in Venezuela, take a blanket!

[Matteroo]

ps. Bucket (gf) took a greyhound from Detroit to Vancouver, BC.. she has a story about that! She actually wrote a short novel about it, lol.

[Phoenixdadeadhead]

sorry guys I did the hound thing 1 time and that was enough. I would rather thumb bum or hop a freight train. I know a lot of you are thinkin, isn't that dangerous? Yeah they both have there trials, but to be honest I have had very few bad experiences. With trains, the only thing that sucks is sometimes they stop out in the middle of no where for a few days, but if you are geared up, it's great, a few days of campimng so far from every1 that u swear u are the last 1 on earth. As for hitch hiking, there are 3 types of people who give you a ride, Religous, old hitchers, and homosexuals. All 3 are easy to deal with, the the Religous you say "Yes I have accepted Jesus", to the old hitcher you "That's cool" and listen to his stories (they prolly are pretty cool), and to the Homo you say "No thanx", unless of course you want to, then hey go for it. It's free, easy, and you meet lots of cool people, oh yeah and it is faster than the Hound.

[Chaco Taco]

sorry guys I did the hound thing 1 time and that was enough. I would rather thumb bum or hop a freight train. I know a lot of you are thinkin, isn't that dangerous? Yeah they both have there trials, but to be honest I have had very few bad experiences. With trains, the only thing that sucks is sometimes they stop out in the middle of no where for a few days, but if you are geared up, it's great, a few days of campimng so far from every1 that u swear u are the last 1 on earth. As for hitch hiking, there are 3 types of people who give you a ride, Religous, old hitchers, and homosexuals. All 3 are easy to deal with, the the Religous you say "Yes I have accepted Jesus", to the old hitcher you "That's cool" and listen to his stories (they prolly are pretty cool), and to the Homo you say "No thanx", unless of course you want to, then hey go for it. It's free, easy, and you meet lots of cool people, oh yeah and it is faster than the Hound.

Wow didnt think hippies thought like that

[zoidfu]

You can't argue with the variety. There are some people in China who'd kill for 3 choices.

[little bear]

o man, I hope that Grey Hound is not that bad. I just bought a ticket from Raleigh to Ashville to see Chaco and go to TD with him. Could not beat the price so thats why I went with it. It says trip will take 5 hours 35 min, is there time not accurate?

[Dogwood]

Be careful when traveling the dog these days. If you can get a ticket with as little as one week advance you can often take Amtrak cheaper! I would rather be on a train where I can walk around, stretch out, eat in the dining car, and avoid the many transfers and time delays that I so often encounter on Greyhound. Also, I just got a mid week flight from Newark to Denver non-stop at a reasonable time at the last moment(3 days before I left) for $110 one way. The same ticket with a 3 day advance purchase would have cost me $197 on Greyhound. Nice arriving at your destination ready to hike because you feel fresher because you just spent 5 hrs traveling by plane rather than 2 + days cramped in a bus seat! Greyhound doesn't always hit the rock bottom price of travel these days!!!

[Dogwood]

I also bought a one way walk up ticket on Amtrak that took me from Denver to Green River, Utah for $44. The same ticket bought the same way on the dog would have been $57.

[Phoenixdadeadhead]

Wow didnt think hippies thought like that

Why wouldn't we think this way? I was going to ask how you knew I was a hippie, but I am guessing my name might have givin it away lol,

[toothpick]

Took the Greyhound to Hagerstown for an early April section hike and thought it was a good way to go. Other than a women in the waiting area cleaning her feet it was a good experience.

Toothpick

[Chaco Taco]

o man, I hope that Grey Hound is not that bad. I just bought a ticket from Raleigh to Ashville to see Chaco and go to TD with him. Could not beat the price so thats why I went with it. It says trip will take 5 hours 35 min, is there time not accurate?

Its short, only 2 stops