The USA is really REALLY big
Apologies for length, hopefully there's a bit of humour to make up for it.

Hoaxy's tale reminded me of my own experiences on the greyhound travelling around America my own epic trip was from Seattle to Boston which google tells me is approximately 2484 miles. 2484 miles, on a bus, on my own, yeah...

I'd decided (as a result of a drunken bet) to quit my job and spend 3 months travelling around the USA on a tourist visa, I booked my return flight to New York and my first night in a youth hostel and that was quite literally the extent of my planning, I got there and started to explore. My first hint that going across the entire f***ing country on a bus was going to be a bad idea was going across 3/4 of it (Chicago to San Fran) and after 3 days travel arriving stinking, exhausted and with a random throat infection caught from a redneck's child, but no, I was an intrepid explorer (and to skint for a plane) what could possibly go wrong?
My first hint that something might be amiss was when my first seat partner told me she was on her way home after being discharged from the army for being mentally unfit to see combat and the rest of her group confirmed that as they had been as well, yes mentally unstable trained killers, on a bus surrounding me, it sounds like the start of a really bad horror film. The army, along with prisons send people they've finished with home on the greyhound rather than pay for flights. However she seemed nice enough, although dumb as a rock, she was shocked at how well I spoke English despite me telling her I was from England and seemed more happy to believe that we spoke Birtish (a strange amalgamation of French, German and English I created when she wouldn't believe we spoke English). She also couldn't work her debit card at all until I pointed out the fact the card had debit written across it meant she should probably press that not credit in the ATM.
My next seat partner was some sort of wannabe gangsta who within 5 minutes of sitting next to me asked if I had any pot and would I be interested in smoking with him. Now I have nothing against marijuana at all but it did seem a little risky to basically use that as an introduction to a stranger on a bus. As the journey progressed he got weirder and weirder not like happy baked but creepy on something that's not weed, he would alternate between propositioning me and berating me, getting quite verbally abusive and aggressive, when I moved seats he followed me and started telling me how I should give him a chance and he was on his way to rehab to get clean. He eventually got kicked of the bus for being obnoxiously intoxicated and left at a random bus station, I was pretty relieved to be honest.
The rest of my journey was uneventful but pretty depressing people moving house on the bus or who seemed to be basically homeless, random 5 hour layovers in little towns that made me feel slightly homeless and so much junk food (literally the only option for eating) that by the time I got to Boston all I wanted to eat was salad forever.
I eventually arrived at my hostel in Boston, tired, really stinky and with the worst back ache I've ever known (the seats are not designed for comfort), although fortunately still alive unlike the poor guy who got beheaded in Canada.
I guess the moral of the story is don't go on a really long bus trip, get a plane, it's quicker and the passengers might be saner.
(anotherdoublewhiskey, Wed 20 Jul 2011, 10:57, 2 replies)

Amtrak
I travelled across the USA by train for two months - only cost about £450 for a 45 day pass!

Massive double decker trains. Seats were huge and reclined almost fully with leg/ feet rests! Although were fairly slow and infrequent, they were brilliant!

I would say the fellow passengers are saner than the ones on Greyhound too...

Went from NYC to LA but via Memphis/ New Orleans/ Texas...

Loved it!
( awayfromthenumbers, Wed 20 Jul 2011, 11:25, closed)

What do you do to the redneck's child?
Make out?
( monster munch person, man, woman... camera... TV?, Wed 20 Jul 2011, 20:19, closed)