Tell me about your Greyhound bus experience

[JudynTX]

We're going to Dallas next month and decided to take Greyhound. First time ever traveling by bus.

Please list your bad and good experiences. Thanks.

[Agloco]

Prepare to meet some interesting personalities.......its a different clientele than those who fly (at least it used to be).

The only bus trip I took was when I was in my early 20s. I decided to take a bus from Phoenix to Miami for a cruise. Sounds strange, but I was game for a different type of experience back then.

And I definitely got that. I met a 25 year old woman traveling to Alabama with her 4 year old daughter. She was the cutest little girl. I remember playing dolls with her and counting cars to keep her occupied. I also met a wrestler (forgot his name), another girl who was going from San Diego to Orlando to visit her mother, and 2 drunks (who sang gospel all the way through Missisippi........creepy). Another person kept trying to sell us stuff from South America. I think he was Peruvian.

A lot of stories got exchanged over that 30 hour ride. If you're with someone, it's not as bad. Alone, it can be pretty frightening. We stopped in some places in Louisiana and Mississippi that were straight out of "Deliverance"..... I wasn't about to step foot off of that bus, no matter how thirsty I was. Getting rest was next to impossible.....I was sitting next to the biggest dude I've ever seen, and I'm not exactly puny myself. I wasn't about to rest my head on his shoulder.

I can tell you that the trip made reaching the destination (Port of Miami) that much sweeter.

Fortunately I won enough money by gambling in the ships casino so I bought a flight back to Phoenix. I've filed the experience under: Glad I did it, would never do again.

Hope that helps. =)

[JudynTX]

I'll be with my husband so we'll be ok there. The things I worry about are the restroom. I'm gonna try not to drink anything the whole trip.

I like people watching, so it should be entertaining.

[Agloco]

I'll be with my husband so we'll be ok there. The things I worry about are the restroom. I'm gonna try not to drink anything the whole trip.

I like people watching, so it should be entertaining.

Well, if you're heading up I35 there aren't too many bad places I suppose. Certainly not like I saw.....

The restroom? Yeah, empty out before you go......

[JudynTX]

Well, if you're heading up I35 there aren't too many bad places I suppose. Certainly not like I saw.....

The restroom? Yeah, empty out before you go.....

Sure enough.

Did you take a flask?

[SA DAVE]

I used to work for the Texas Dept of Criminal Justice, and part of my job was to escort prisoners off of the greyhound bus into a car and then deliver them to Bexar County Jail. If you see someone wearing all white, he's most likely a prisoner in transport or a painter. Hope that helps

[lebomb]

Axe murderers prefer the bus as their form of transportation.

[PakiDan]

You don't have a car?

[spurs_fan_in_exile]

San Antonio to Houston wasn't too eventful, though someone must have took a bigger than usual dump. The warning I got from a friend who use Greyhound a few times a year to visit family around Texas was to sit as far away from the bathroom as possible, but really if anyone uses the thing the whole bus is going to smell it for 30 minutes. This one lingered for at least an hour and who knows how much longer after we got off the bus.

The return trip was a less smelly, but more memorable. I ended up sitting next to this huge Mexican dude (at least I assumed as much from the huge Mexican flag on his shirt) whose arms were covered in tats and was wearing a surgical mask. Guy sat down next to me, didn't say a word or make eye contact with anyone for the entire trip. Just sat there like a ing statue. Then there were four or five nuns that were the chattiest group of people you ever saw. There were two that were sitting together who spent the entire time talking very loudly to each other. The others ended up talking the ears off of the people that who say next to them, probably thinking that sitting next to a nun was safer than ending up next to a massive serial killer looking guy and then ended up trapped because there's no way to tell a nun to shut the up without feeling bad about yourself.

[spurs_fan_in_exile]

Oops, double post.

[mrsmaalox]

Hmm I wonder what nuns chat about? Had no clue they could talk someone's ear off

[Viva Las Espuelas]

Echo

[Viva Las Espuelas]

Well, be prepared for some interesting smells. I travelled back and forth on them when I started college. I don't know if I'd do it these days though. Good luck.

[Viva Las Espuelas]

Oh and rule number one is you never on a bus. I don't care if there's a toilet. Its for urine and puke.

[spurs_fan_in_exile]

Hmm I wonder what nuns chat about? Had no clue they could talk someone's ear off

Well the two that were talking to each other were the only ones I could actually hear clearly enough to understand. The only thing I remember well is that they were coming back from New Orleans and had a lot of "these kids these days" sort of things to say. This trip was in mid March so I'm sure they had a saw more than a few Spring Breakers.

[JudynTX]

I used to work for the Texas Dept of Criminal Justice, and part of my job was to escort prisoners off of the greyhound bus into a car and then deliver them to Bexar County Jail. If you see someone wearing all white, he's most likely a prisoner in transport or a painter. Hope that helps

Watch for those wearing all white - check.

Axe murderers prefer the bus as their form of transportation.

Watch for axe murderers - check.

You don't have a car?

We do, but this is on our bucket list. And we're only going to Dallas, how bad could it be?

San Antonio to Houston wasn't too eventful, though someone must have took a bigger than usual dump. The warning I got from a friend who use Greyhound a few times a year to visit family around Texas was to sit as far away from the bathroom as possible, but really if anyone uses the thing the whole bus is going to smell it for 30 minutes. This one lingered for at least an hour and who knows how much longer after we got off the bus.

The return trip was a less smelly, but more memorable. I ended up sitting next to this huge Mexican dude (at least I assumed as much from the huge Mexican flag on his shirt) whose arms were covered in tats and was wearing a surgical mask. Guy sat down next to me, didn't say a word or make eye contact with anyone for the entire trip. Just sat there like a ing statue. Then there were four or five nuns that were the chattiest group of people you ever saw. There were two that were sitting together who spent the entire time talking very loudly to each other. The others ended up talking the ears off of the people that who say next to them, probably thinking that sitting next to a nun was safer than ending up next to a massive serial killer looking guy and then ended up trapped because there's no way to tell a nun to shut the up without feeling bad about yourself.

Please tell me they have electrical outlets for my iPod.

Well, be prepared for some interesting smells. I travelled back and forth on them when I started college. I don't know if I'd do it these days though. Good luck.

I'll take some Febreeze.

[Viva Las Espuelas]

You seriously gonna take a bus? I'd take the train. Probably cheaper but a little more travel time. Less urine, and armpit stench too

[mrsmaalox]

A short trip like Dallas is probably the best; I've never been on one but my uncle told me the noise on those is deafening----lots of snorers!

[tlongII]

Riding the Greyhound is fine. It's waiting at the bus station that can be interesting.

[JudynTX]

You seriously gonna take a bus? I'd take the train. Probably cheaper but a little more travel time. Less urine, and armpit stench too

We're seriously gonna do this. Hmm, didn't think about the train.

A short trip like Dallas is probably the best; I've never been on one but my uncle told me the noise on those is deafening----lots of snorers!

I'll take my ear plugs too.

[Viva Las Espuelas]

Mexico bus drivers are one of the worst on the road. Those jackasses are always flying up and down 35.

[spurs_fan_in_exile]

Riding the Greyhound is fine. It's waiting at the bus station that can be interesting.

That's true. I was almost sad to get on the bus in San Antonio because there was a cop talking to a couple and it looked like things were starting to get heated. Wonder how that turned out. And I was definitely not sad to get on the return bus because there were plenty of shady characters at the Houston stop, but that's pretty much any block in downtown Houston.

Also reminds me of my uncle's favorite story to tell which he swears is 100% true. I don't like giving out anyone's names, but it's pretty central to this story; in this case Dwight Pearson. This would have been in the early 70s if I recall correctly. He was going to college in North Carolina, and the trip he booked took him home to New Orleans with a stop to switch buses in Atlanta. For some reason his mom wasn't sure if she'd be home that night so he had told her his trip schedule and gave her the number the Atlanta station so that she could call and let him know if he'd need to catch a cab to her house or to his buddy's where he could spend the night.

So he's waiting on the second bus when a Greyhound worker comes and taps him on the shoulder and tells him he has a phone call. It's his mom, they talk, gets his plans squared. As he's hanging up the phone it dawns on him they didn't announce his name or anything so he asks the guy at the desk, "How did you know the call was for me?"

And the guy says, "Well they said they wanted to talk to 'da white person' so I looked around and you were the only one here."

[Ryan Fitzpatrick]

I was born in the backseat of a Greyhound bus, rolling down Highway 41

[CosmicCowboy]

Funniest thing I ever saw involving a Greyhound bus was on Highway 21 in 1974. It was in the summertime before they air conditioned the buses. I was behind the bus which was behind a cattle truck going about 50mph...painfully slow...we followed the damn thing for miles and the bus finally pulls out to pass...the underpowered bus was going like 1 mph faster that the truck side by side when a heifer that was backed up to the outside of the trailer started to pee...and this solid stream of pee was going right in the windows of the bus and drenching everyone on the right side window by window...I could see inside as everyone started screaming and trying to rush to the other side......it was almost to the end when the bus driver finally realized what was going on and BRAKED and did the pee fire hose in reverse back to the front of the bus.

I had just finished firing up a doobie and nearly wrecked I was laughing so hard...

[Landon Donofag]

I got a handjob on the greyhound once.

good times