Greyhound?

  • Thread starter Thread starter TheVerve
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I take Greyhound fairly often, and overall I think it is a pretty good way to travel. Some things to keep in mind:

1) Busses keep to schedule fairly well, but delays are likely if you are traveling into big cities (such as NYC). If you are traveling into a big city near rush hour, you may arrive 3-4 hours later than planned.

2) Greyhound busses can sometimes be very smelly (they don't clean/empty the bathroom after every trip). The smell usually doesn't stick, but you may not want to wear your suit on the bus.

3) Your luggage/suit may be manhandled. Everything tends to be thrown (sometimes haphazardly) into the luggage space. You would probably want to carry your suit on with you (in its bag so as to avoid the urine smell, see #2).

4) Most people on Greyhound are perfectly nice, but you probably want to stay alert. It is not terribly uncommon for people to steal money from others while they are asleep, and I personally woke up once to find a fellow passenger stealing my sandwich...

Other than that, it's cheap and fairly convenient, but for long distances it's usually about the same price to fly.
 
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Be sure to keep your head on your shoulders and you will be fine...
 
thanks... how bad is the transfer? i would need to transfer once.... how do the transfers work?
 
TheVerve said:
thanks... how bad is the transfer? i would need to transfer once.... how do the transfers work?
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Don't sit in front of the guy with the Rambo knife. Thank me later.
 
If you're traveling in the Northeast there are a couple of other options for travel to major cities (Washington D.C, New York, Boston, Philadelphia) which conveniently have a bunch of med schools.

Other options:
Lucky Star - typically from NYC to Boston ($15 each way)
Fung Wah - same as Lucky Star
Boltbus - great bus that goes to a lot of different places. Has wifi and outlets for your laptop on the bus. ($1 - $18 each way)
Megabus - good bus that also goes several places. Has wifi but no plugs for your laptop. ($1 - $18 each way)

You can buy all of these tickets online.
 
URHere said:
I take Greyhound fairly often, and overall I think it is a pretty good way to travel. Some things to keep in mind:

1) Busses keep to schedule fairly well, but delays are likely if you are traveling into big cities (such as NYC). If you are traveling into a big city near rush hour, you may arrive 3-4 hours later than planned.

2) Greyhound busses can sometimes be very smelly (they don't clean/empty the bathroom after every trip). The smell usually doesn't stick, but you may not want to wear your suit on the bus.

3) Your luggage/suit may be manhandled. Everything tends to be thrown (sometimes haphazardly) into the luggage space. You would probably want to carry your suit on with you (in its bag so as to avoid the urine smell, see #2).

4) Most people on Greyhound are perfectly nice, but you probably want to stay alert. It is not terribly uncommon for people to steal money from others while they are asleep, and I personally woke up once to find a fellow passenger stealing my sandwich...

Other than that, it's cheap and fairly convenient, but for long distances it's usually about the same price to fly.
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Sounds pretty god awful. I can't stand being on a bus for an extended period of time so I personally would avoid this method of travel at all costs.
 
i recommend amtrak over greyhound anyday
 
I travel on the greyhound pretty often as I spend 8 hours on it going from home to university.

It's usually a pretty tame way to travel, most people just want to sleep. But like everywhere, stay alert for seedy individuals.

As a note, I've probably traveled on greyhound 30 times and I have never had a problem or even seen something out of the ordinary.
 
ponybreeder4 said:
i recommend amtrak over greyhound anyday
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Agreed. If you are going a long distance take the train. Busses get really old after about four hours...and if you do take the bus pray that it won't be full. Either way when you get on the bus/train and it looks like there will be only a few open seat make sure you sit down quick, put on some headphones, wear a sweatshirt and put the hood up, and spead out a little. This way most people will walk right past and you will enjoy your trip much more.
 
What do you do with the suit if you take it with you on the bus?
Just leave it on your lap?
Should I put it in the overhead compartment?
I don't know what to do with my suit,
I don't want to put it in my tiny carry-on luggage, but I also don't want to hang onto it for the whole busride.
 
i wil try to hang it up from something on the ceiling. when the ballroom team travels, most ppl need to bring in their costumes onto the bus and i remember always seeing them hanging form something above their seats
 
wow, okay, that's great!
thanks, that's exactly what I wanted to know.
 
flip26 said:
Be sure to keep your head on your shoulders and you will be fine...
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Oh gawd. That story still haunts me. Horrific, really.

But OP, I believe it happened in Canada, so you should be fine here in the States. 😉 Though yes, I prefer Amtrak.
 
that bus story is absolutely crazy....

although I had to make a joke about it....its funny how greyhound pulled their "cuz you've never heard of bus rage" commercials asap after that happened. guess there is a little bus rage after all
 
Just an aside. I would bring pepper spray. Actually, in general, pepper spray is good to have when traveling. It's just a good thing to have. Actually I might have a bias. I'm a pepper spray lobbyist.
 
I am actually going on a greyhound-interview-trip bright and early tomorrow morning.

Does anyone know if all greyhound buses have somewhere to hang a suit, or just some?

I would really prefer to take the suit on a hanger with me (instead of packing it in a bag), but I don't want to end up holding it on my lap for 4 hours if there is nowhere to hang it.

Can people comment at all on whether "hanging equipment" comes standard on all buses?

I kind of want to call greyhound, but don't think that the salespeople will know any more than me. Plus, it's almost midnight.
 
TheVerve said:
thanks... how bad is the transfer? i would need to transfer once.... how do the transfers work?
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You are responsible for transferring your own luggage if you checked it under the bus. The drivers and ticket clerks don't tell you, so remember it from here.

Some other things:

Greyhound will get you where you're going eventually, but you will need to allow plenty of time before interviews. I've used Greyhound extensively for traveling, and I've had to spend a night each in the Albequerque, Dallas and Grand Junction bus stations due to bad weather or the bus breaking down. The Dallas bus station stinks. Don't ever travel by Greyhound through Dallas.

Customer service is nonexistent. Forget about things like refunds, help with lost baggage, and polite clerks.

Chat with your fellow passengers. Most of them are very friendly. Griping about previous bus trips is a great way to start a conversation, since just about everyone has some good stories about how awful Greyhound can be (PM me for mine). Everyone on the bus is poor, uncomfortable and unable to trust Greyhound to solve their problems like airlines will, so people have to rely on each other for help. Be a team player, and don't be afraid to try to make some new friends.
 
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Greyhound is a great way to travel but if you are going a long way the ride get really uncomfortable. Be careful who you fall asleep next to and never stow anything that can be broken easily. Theft is also very common so make sure anything of value is very difficult for some one to get to. Lap tops really do need to be secured with a laptop lock or something. Expect to arrive 3 to 4 hours behind the time the ticket says for ETA. Don't eat or drink anything at the bus station unless you want the jon on the bus to be where you spend most of your time.
 
This is an old thread...

Anyway, Amtrak can be cheaper at times, so be sure to get a price quote from them too. Regardless, you need to make sure that no one touches your junk!....just like when you fly 😀.
 
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