Do you have any experience/advice about traveling by Greyhound bus?

Don’t sit in the back, near the bathroom. Trust me.

I have on several occasions. How long is the journey you’re looking to make? Greyhound is insanely cheap, but it takes much longer than a normal car ride because of all the stops. There’s an interesting montage of people who ride Greyhound. When the bus isn’t too full it’s nice, you can read, listen to headphones, do your own thing.

@tinyfaery That makes a lot of sense.

@emilia_eclaire I’d be traveling about 850 miles. I looked on the website for a round trip fair, and it was US120$, which for someone that’s broke (such as myself) is amazing.

What do you mean by “interesting montage of people”? This sounds like something I’d be interested in.

Give me the train every time. I once travelled from London to Manchester by bus and it was long and boring, because I could not get up to stretch.

I travel from NY to Boston via bus (although it is the Chinatown bus, not a Greyhound), and it’s always fine. You can sleep the whole way, or listen to music, read, etc. It’s definitely better when you take an early morning or late night bus, because less people are on board, giving you a little more room to stretch out and such.

When you sit down on any bus city or greyhound put your mean mug on. What I mean is glare and look pissed off at everyone boarding the bus so they don’t sit next to you. Not sharing a seat with someone is a blessing in my book.

@ boots

It’s a truly eclectic mix. Students, people just getting out of jail, people traveling with all their things in a plastic grocery bag, THE AMISH! I love it.

850 miles round trip or one way? If you’re traveling to a destination 850 miles away, the ideal way to do this would be to break it up once or twice somewhere in the middle. If you have a friend somewhere in between or a hankering to see Phoenix (or whatever random city somewhere along the way) I’d definitely do that. 850 miles would be kind of a haul. The longest I’ve ever traveled via Greyhound was 530 miles, and that took 12 hours. To and from.

BUT I do believe Greyhound offers multi-day passes for such excursions that allow the passenger the necessary amount of flexibility.

Bring some decent snacks in case the places the bus stops for passenger refueling don’t have anything you want to eat.

As others said, do not sit in the back near the bathroom. I like to be directly behind the driver personally, but sometimes that seat is reserved for handicapped.

I rode round-trip from Tucson to Seattle and discovered the best way to get a seat to myself was to carry some live slugs in a plastic box, which I would periodically feed with cheerios and lettuce and talk to. No one wanted to sit with me.

Bring a pillow, plenty of books and an iPod.

Be prepared for interesting smells.

If given a choice between a more rural route or one that runs through big cities, opt for the rural route. I find the people at the stops in the small towns are interested in seeing new faces, while the folks in the big cities heir jobs without any problems.

On the whole I prefer the train because the bathrooms are less “interesting” and you can move around and stretch your legs. But the train does cost more.

It’s a bus. It’s not going to be pleasant after a point. Airlines are begging people to fly and there are some awesome deals to be had.
I know it might be a little more $ than taking a bus but spending less time in transit might result in more time with the person you’re going to see.
There aren’t many moments in life in which you can actually buy time bit from a certain point of view this seems like it could be one of them.

@Darwin I love the slug idea!

@Darwin – OH! I just snorted out loud, reading the slug comment. That is perfect!

@emilia_eclaire It’s 850 one-way.

@Darwin Great info!

Now where do I get slugs…

@boots – That depends on where you live. Try putting a board outside on the lawn on a damp day and then looking to see who is gathered under it the next day. Of course, they could also be invisible slugs. That would work just as well as actually having to carry the real thing.

I’m a systematic terrestrial malacologist so that’s my excuse.

@boots

yeah you definitely don’t want to do that in one sitting. you’ll arrive barely a human being at all.

@emilia_eclaire According to the ticket I looked at (on line), it said there was 2 stops. Is that good in that situation?

I haven’t had much of a chance to read the other responses yet. But let me say I sadly do not reccomend it. In my experience the Greyhound has been very dirty/unclean. I just don’t feel comfortable sitting in crusty seats. The train was much cleaner and had a much more open atmosphere. Also on the Greyhound you are pretty much stuck to your seat whereas in a train you can wander around if you need to. Anyhow I’ve had to ride the Greyhound because of prices pretty much my entire childhood and some of my adult life. I don’t reccomend it. I also ditto @tinyfaery comment about not sitting in the back. It smells. Just another thing you have to deal with on the bus.

Editing to add: I didn’t want to say anything about the ecclectic group of people as I enjoy diversity. But since others already brought it up I will ditto those comments as well. And some of the people, are well, kinda “freaky” and since the bus is so small they are unavoidable. And this is coming from someone who does not like labeling people.

Maybe you can go to your Greyhound station and just check out a bus before buying the ticket. That might give you a better idea of what your getting yourself into.

Either way it’ll be an adventure. If you go for it I hope you enjoy it. :)

In the light of @RedPowerLady ‘s response, I would like to add to my list that you should bring a towel or throw to sit on, and also a container of Purell.

I had forgotten quite how “interesting” some of the passengers could be.

@Darwin something to sit on is absolutely necessary in my books, everytime I ride the Greyhound I find myself searching for something to sit on. And I don’t even want to use my jacket because I don’t want it touching the seats. Now I am not a germ freak either, this is one thing that gives me the heebie jeebies just thinking about it.

I’ve done it once, about 600 miles each way, and uh, if you can save up a bit for a plane ticket, it might not be a bad idea. Airfare is pretty reasonable right now… check student travel sites, too, if you’re under 25

Just be careful about who you strike up a conversation with, and stick to the bus as much as possible at stops, especially if there’s a bit of a layover. Don’t wander. My daughter rode the Chinese bus in and out of NYC, and that was fine, and had a good trip to Gulf Shores, AL on the bus. Just be really careful.

Goins was 18 when he was charged by Louisville, Kentucky, police in the August 1999 strangulation slaying of 20-year-old Melissa Januskevicius.

The aspiring country singer was on her way home to Stevens Point, Wisconsin, from Nashville, where she had recorded a CD and was waiting on a Greyhound bus. Her body was found in a lot near the bus station.

I live in Louisville, and this killing went unsolved for a very long time. It was really creepy

I wrote a blog the last time I took a Greyhound trip. It sums up my feelings on the matter quite nicely, if I say so myself.

No no no no. For the love of God, and if you can afford other means of travel, NO! I remember the last time I took the Greyhound. I wanted to go home from college. The trip from DeKalb to Chicago (about 60 miles) took 3 hours. Aaahhhhh! And the whole time I was sitting next to some insane lady who kept singing to herself the whole time. Alas, the bus was too crowded to move to another seat. Please, don’t do it.

…and there was that guy last year who got decapitated by his fellow busmate (Not sure if that was greyhound or not)

@benjaminlevi I remember that story. I’m not sure either if that’s greyhound. But I do remember that it was in Canada, so… there ya go.

@benjaminlevi – I was just waiting for someone to bring that up. It was on a Greyhound bus traveling to Winnipeg. Scary stuff, but I’m not sure that there is much of a lesson to be learned. Just be careful.

Right, it makes sleeping next to strangers on a bus seem less safe. You can’t properly prevent yourself from being decapitated while asleep.

I took the Greyhound from Northwest Arkansas to Kansas City, MO. It takes a couple of hours more than it would if you were to drive yourself because of all of the stops it makes. Make sure that if you get off at one of the rest stops to listen to the driver about how long the bus will be stopped there. Use the bathroom at these stops because you can’t always get off at every stop, most times they just pick up and drop off people. Make sure you get back to the bus in time. If the driver says that they will be stopped for ten minutes he means it, he doesn’t know if that is your final destination or not, so make sure to get back on the bus; they will leave without you. However, it is a pretty easy and cheap way to travel. Oh, and you can eat on the bus too.

At all costs avoid letting people use the bathroom on that bus unless absolutely necessary. Keep in mind that the items deposited there will stay with you during the entire duration of your trip. Day 5 could probably start to get a little stinky. Just a trick I learned from a cousin who use to work for one of those companies.

I have made quite a few Greyhound journeys in the United States and I love seeing the country from the big picture windows they have. You don’t get that on a plane journey. The buses are big and comfortable and the drivers friendly though strict.

On one journey I made from Florida to Alabama there was a very old disabled lady on board. Her niece had intended driving her home but couldn’t manage so she put her on the Greyhound. She sat at the front and the driver and everyone on board made sure she was comfortable and looked after. There was always someone to make sure she had water, food and to help her on and off the bus and to go to the toilet.

Travelling by Greyhound is a great way to see the United States and to meet its people. I am a fan.