Introduction
After over 100,000 miles of travel around the U.S.A., Canada, and Mexico
by bus, I have decided to share some of the tips and lessons I have
learned in these pages.
The single most important point is to simply do it! You can't see
America by sitting at home. Each trip and each day is a new experience.
If you don't go, how can you have any adventures?
Just as there is a Zen or philosophy to the Internet, there
is a Zen philosophy to long distance bus travel. Most travel
stress is
self-generated, so the right attitude can make it disappear.
Start by
accepting your trip for what it is and will be. Surely one or more of the
sites you wish to visit may be closed on the day(s) you are there - such
is life. It will rain on you too. Don't expect perfection, but enjoy and
take advantage of your opportunities as they come to you.
Allow yourself the freedom to have your trip unfold,
following your interests rather than an ironclad schedule. Accept any
delays or hassles on the way as part of the expected costs of traveling.
In traveling, less is more. The less you carry, the more traveling you can
do. Fortunately, you can travel more comfortably, using some of the tips
and tricks described below.
Trip Themes
I believe that your trips will take on an added dimension of fun and adventure if you build them around a theme.
Low Cost Travel
Bus travel has the advantage of being one of the lowest cost ways to see
the entire U.S.A. Using an Ameripass bus travel pass, it is not unusual
to get your travel costs below three cents per mile! An Ameripass is an
unlimited bus travel ticket, for a given period in days (7, 15, 30, 60 day
periods). Greyhound Bus Lines also offers frequent discounts for advance
purchase tickets (currently, $59 anywhere one-way with 30 day advance
purchase, $109 round-trip). Buses stop at far more locations (13,000+)
than either trains or planes, as well as many places along rural routes (by
prior arrangement).
By comparison, train travel is usually at least two and a half times the
cost of similar long distance bus travel costs (e.g., $179 for one-way
trip with advance purchase). While trains are often
more comfortable, the cost for a sleeper berth ticket is usually comparable
for an airplane ticket for the same long distance travel. Trains only
stop at a relatively limited number of stops compared to buses.
You can find discount air fares to
single destinations via the Internet or ticket bucket shops that
are nearly as cheap as single bus tickets and faster. But you often spend
some of your savings getting from the airport to the downtown sites via
costly airport shuttles. Some of the time savings are also lost getting
to and from the airport, past security, and waiting after checking in the
recommended hour before traveling.
Traveling by private car is obviously the most flexible approach to
seeing the U.S.A., but also the most costly. Your direct costs will be
not just gas and oil, but also repairs on a long trip (10-15,000+ miles).
You have to do the driving, unlike on a bus. You may run into other
direct costs
such as insurance (e.g., side trips to Mexico, Canada) and parking. Indirect
costs are also likely to be higher too.
A bus ticket or Ameripass can offer very low costs per mile for
travel. You let the bus driver do the driving
while you sightsee or sleep. You can pick more places to go, and you get
dropped off in the center of the city (not a remote airport). In short,
traveling by bus to see America offers many advantages besides lowest cost.
Bus Tickets Tips
Bus tickets have some hidden benefits you need to know about. For
example, the tickets claim to be good for only a given date of
travel. But Greyhound ticket staffers say that even the discount tickets
can be used at anytime up to 60 days from the date of travel indicated.
The full fare tickets may extend this time to a full year. Obviously, you
should check out the current restrictions before you purchase your
ticket, as these conditions may change.
My second tip concerns tickets within tickets. If you buy a bus ticket
from Dallas to New York City, you get a series of tickets to intermediate
stops too. You might have a ticket printed to go from Dallas to Memphis,
from Memphis to
Washington D.C., and from Washington D.C. to New York City. Now each of
these tickets represents a segment of the entire route. Your driver will
collect one of these tickets at the start of each segment of the trip.
But you can stop at the intermediate destinations, getting a free visit
to each city as part of the longer trip. So long as your travel is within
the permitted period (e.g., 60-days on discount tickets, one year on full
fare tickets currently), you can stop off as long as you want!
On a transcontinental trip, you
might get as many as six or seven trip segment tickets, allowing you to stop
off in a
half dozen cities enroute to your final destination. In effect, your $59
advance purchase ticket is not only getting you across the U.S.A., but
letting you stop at half a dozen major cities enroute.
Another non-obvious tip is to extend your planned round trip to take full
advantage of this ticketing practice. Suppose you really need to go from
Dallas to
Washington D.C., but wouldn't mind visiting New York City and Montreal
for free. For $109, you can get your round trip ticket cut to go from
Dallas to
Washington D.C., or for the same $109, you can get a round trip ticket
cut to Montreal (Canada). You now have the option of going from
Washington D.C. to New York City for a few week's visit, then a fun trip
up to visit the beautiful old city parts of Montreal in Canada. By
perusing the express bus routes, and asking some questions, you have
greatly extended the fun and value of your discount bus ticket dollars!
Bus Passes
Greyhound Lines Inc. offer the Ameripass Bus Pass, which is good for
unlimited travel over most of their lines during a limited period of
time. You can buy an Ameripass for 7 day, 15 day, 30 day, and 60 day
periods of time.
Foreigners should be aware that you can get a discount on the
International Ameripass ticket by buying from a foreign travel agent before
you
come to the U.S. If you forget, you can still buy one at a discount from
one office in New York City. Savings are around 10% or so currently over
a domestic Ameripass.
For Mexican citizens only, there is a Mexican Ameripass with huge savings
for travel within the U.S. (e.g., $249 for 30 day pass, $199 for 15 days,
$149 for 7 day pass). You have to buy the pass beforehand, in a zone not
near the U.S. border. Mexican senior citizens over 55 get a 10%
discount too.
In the U.S., senior citizens over 62, military personnel, and students
are
also eligible for discounts. Senior citizens get a 10% discount, military
personnel get a 10% discount and a cap on one-way fares of $99, and $169
for round-trips. The standard student discount is also circa 10%. A
new program for students boosts savings to 15% if you register in advance.
I should note that student means just that. If you are currently a
student, with proof in the form of a student identification card and/or
current enrollment paperwork acceptable to the Greyhound clerk, you can
get these discounts. This student designation includes graduate students
in their 30's and 40's too.
Bring your student card and paperwork with
you, as many travel discounts and museum entry fee discounts and the like
will apply, if you ask for them! You should also ask for discounts at
hotels. Most hotel clerks can provide an automatic 10% to 15% discount
if asked. It doesn't hurt to ask, at worst they will say no, but you
will be pleasantly surprised how often they say yes!
See Ameripass
Prices for current price information.
Ameripass Price Anomalies
When is fifteen days really sixteen days? When I bought a 15 day
Ameripass, the clerk added fifteen days to the start date. So I really
got a pass for 16 days of travel, not fifteen. Was it an error, or
standard procedure? The clerk claimed it was standard procedure. But if
you start on the first, add fifteen days to get to the sixteenth of the
month as the ending date, then you really have 16 days of travel on a 15
day Ameripass.
Another tip or two about starting and ending travel times. If you leave
on an 11:55 p.m. bus, you lose a whole day's travel for that five minutes
of travel time. But if you leave on an 12:05 a.m. bus, you can start your
Ameripass on the next day and get a full day's extra travel in effect by
taking the early a.m. bus instead of the late p.m. bus. Make sense?
I don't recommend running over your Ameripass time limits, now that you
can't extend the pass on a day by day basis. But recall that your bus ride
is split up into segments. Once you start and clear the ticket hurdle for
that segment, you aren't likely to be thrown off the bus at midnight even
if your pass expires then. So leaving Memphis at 11:05 p.m. to arrive in
Dallas at 5:45 a.m., you should end up in Dallas even though your
Ameripass officially expired at midnight. The main problem here is that
the 11:05 p.m. bus departure could be delayed waiting for another bus
until 12:05 a.m., when your pass would be considered to have expired.
Ooops! So don't plan things this close, but keep this tip as an option if
the need arises!
My personal
recommendation would be to strongly consider the 30 day Ameripass, due to
its relatively low cost per day. In 30 days, you can see most of the U.S.A.
On the 60 day pass, you are more likely to spend more days without
traveling. Yet you will still be paying for those non-travel days even if
you don't use them.
If you prefer the more leisurely pace, or have the time and
want to travel more, the 60 day pass is also a good bargain. But you can
see much of the USA on a 30 day pass with planning and the tips below.
You can also mix an Ameripass with an advance purchase
ticket (currently $59 one-way 30 days in advance). So you could see
the U.S.A. on a 30 day pass, end up in Yellowstone National Park to go
camping
for a month or two, then go back to school using the $59 one way
advance purchase return ticket,
stopping at several intermediate cities along the return route
segments. You could also end up in Mexico or Canada, tour that
country, and then return home with one of the $59 tickets.
If you use this approach, you can enjoy some spectacular scenery and bus
trips at very low cost in Mexico too. Compared to a 60 day ticket ($599),
your 30 day ticket ($409) plus one-way advance return ticket ($59) will
save circa $130 US. You can buy bus tickets to see most of Mexico over
the course of your available trip time (2 weeks+) for $130 US. In Mexico,
even first class air-conditioned bus travel is a lot cheaper than in the USA.
Costs of food and other trip expenses in Mexico would also likely be less
than in the USA (except for film - take plenty!).
Alternatives to Greyhound Bus Lines
Since absorbing Trailways, Greyhound has had a near monopoly on national
bus travel. A few regional bus company competitors, such as TNMO (Texas,
New Mexico and Oklahoma) coach lines, remain active. You will find
former segments of Trailways operating in some states and Canada. Within
Texas, we
also have Kerrville (TX) bus lines. I was somewhat startled to see our
Greyhound bus driver get off, and a Kerrville Bus lines driver get on
to drive us on a route through the Kerrville Bus Companies territory.
For Ameripass holders, you may be asked to get tickets cut (printed)
instead of just showing your pass and ID. Usually, this request is
because you will be riding on a non-Greyhound segment which requires a
ticket for receiving payment.
In the past, you had to wait in line and
get tickets cut for each trip even on Greyhound. That paperwork is now
thankfully
waived and you just show your Ameripass and some photo identification
to get on the Greyhound bus.
A series of bus lines catering to travel
to and from Mexico and the U.S.A. has also developed, such as El Conejo (the
Rabbit) lines and others. These post-NAFTA Mexican bus services are
especially interesting if you want to visit Mexico or points south. But
you can also get low cost trips to cities such as Atlanta from Dallas.
These buses are most popular with Spanish speakers for obvious reasons.
Mexico is a great place for the long-distance bus traveler, largely due
to the very low cost of even its first class air conditioned buses. A
number of lines such as Tres Estrellas Del Oro (3 Gold Stars) offer
service from most of the border towns. Costs are about a fifth to a third
the cost of similar distances in
the U.S.A. The views are often spectacular, especially in crossing the
mountain plateaus of Northern Mexico. You can also connect to buses
going further south such as Guatemala or Merida in Mexico City.
In the past, the Ameripass was usable to go from one end of
Canada to the other along the Trans-Canada Highway. Unfortunately, that
option is no longer part of the Ameripass. You can however still arrange
to visit Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver with your Ameripass without
paying extra fees. You can also purchase tickets to transit Canada on
their own bus lines too (formerly Trailways Canada). There is a bus line
from Vancouver to Alaska that is reportedly quite scenic, but rather
expensive as an extension.
Greyhound ticket agents will sometimes claim they don't go to certain
popular tourist locations such as the Grand Canyon or Yellowstone
National park. They do, but not directly. Concessionaires run bus service
into and out of some parks (such as Yellowstone). For the Grand Canyon,
you can get off in Flagstaff's Greyhound station and catch one of two van
services to the park (cost including entry fee to park is only $31 to
$39). Once in the Grand Canyon park, there are free bus services that
take you out along the beautiful canyon rim for breath-taking views.
Bus Schedules - Freight versus People
Bus schedules seem crazy. Most buses seem to arrive at night or at early
morning hours when you would rather be sleeping. The secret is that bus
schedules are set to
ensure that bus freight is picked up and delivered within minimum times
between regional cities where most of the bus freight traffic lies. The
freight provides the profits for the bus lines, while carrying the
passengers pays the costs. Since the freight is time sensitive, it
dictates when and where buses run directly. Local buses are run to
collect and consolidate freight at regional collection and transfer points.
Now you know why nothing happens in the bus station for hours, then
suddenly there are four buses all arriving and leaving at about the same
time. The simultaneous arrivals and departures are needed to collect and
shift the freight from one route onto another. Most of the traffic is
city to city within a region. If a bus fails to arrive on schedule, the
other buses may be delayed to ensure that the freight it is carrying is
removed and transferred properly. Some of that freight includes heavy
items that are time sensitive, like blood products frozen for transit.
A side effect of this freight scheduling approach is that you will often
find buses arriving in cities early in the morning. Their goal is to
provide time to off-load cargo and contact and transfer it out. But for
the traveler, you can move overnight with the same buses, and arrive
early in the morning in a new city with the whole day ahead of you for
exploring.
About Buses and Where to Sit
Most Greyhound buses are surprisingly new, with first class seats and air
conditioning/heating and a small bathroom. There is an art and a science
about where you sit in any bus which merits discussion here.
The worst place to sit is right next to the bathroom at the rear of the
bus. I admit I don't like the smell of chemical toilets, so I sit up
front. Besides the smell, the engine noise is higher in the back. You
also are trapped behind lots of people when you want to get off the bus.
Most of the alcoholics and smokers head to the back, hoping to be far
enough away from the driver to avoid getting caught smoking or drinking.
In a recent change in law, you are not supposed to have alcohol with
you in the bus. No longer do they have to prove you are intoxicated,
just having a bottle with you is enough to get you tossed off. Smokers
will often have 90 minutes or so between rest stops.
The one redeeming feature of the back of the bus is the last row of
seats, which is three across on most buses. In a near empty bus, this
longest bus seat is the ideal spot for a short person to sleep. I would
also bet a fair number of babies have gotten their start back here too.
The very front of the bus has disadvantages too. The best view on the bus
is from the seat next to the driver. Photographers take note, this is the
seat to get the best and most scenic photos. But usually this seat is
reserved for handicapped folks, so you should be ready to move out if
asked. At night, you get the full glare of on-coming lights in your eyes. I
also don't like the lack of a seat in front of you, under which
you can stretch your legs. The first seat has a metal panel which has a
small hole for your toes to poke under, but otherwise you can't stretch
your legs out. If you get a talkative driver, or one trying to stay
awake, you may end up having to also engage in conversation when you
would rather be sleeping.
Most drivers don't allow kids behind or next to them, due to problems.
The seat behind the driver has the worst view, if any, on the bus. The
driver usually puts their travel cases on the seat, or at best, in the
overhead rack in the seat behind them. So you have to move your items to
another rack behind you, a minor inconvenience. If you like playing music
loud with your headphones, pick another seat, as the driver is very likely
to hear and object to any noise here. The major advantage is you have less
road lights at night (as the driver blocks these). You also have somewhat
more space to put your feet forward compared to the other front seat, but
not as much as with the other seats. Finally, you are ideally positioned
to be the first passenger off the bus.
If you are a music lover, you should bring your tunes with you, but
also bring
good foam padded headphones that minimize outside noise. Spare batteries,
and plenty of tapes are also recommended. Many times you won't be able to
find an AM radio station, let alone FM radio, in the mountains and
valleys between them, so tapes can be really useful. But if you bring and
play tapes, don't sit in the first third or so of the bus unless you feel
lucky or play very quietly. Better to sit towards the rear of the bus
where you have more distance from the driver.
The choice of left or right sides isn't arbitrary either. At night, you
will get more on-coming car lights in your eyes on the driver's side of
the bus. During the day, you can project which side the sun will be on
during the morning or evening hours, based on your general direction of
travel. I prefer to avoid the direct sunlight myself, so I sit on the
shade side of the bus.
Finally, the right choice of odd or even rows will put the window frame
either directly in your way or right behind you on many Americruiser II
buses. For photographers and sightseeing fans, check for the amount of
dirt or smudges on the window too before you jump into a row. Sometimes I
have snuck out and cleaned a spot or two on my window to make photography
easier. Most folks won't notice these factors until after they have
sat down, and the bus filled up, when it is too late.
The rest of the bus can be divided up into fill-in zones. Some people
want to sit up front, partly as the aisles are narrow and it is easier
for them to get on and off. So the first 3 or so rows tend to fill up
even on a relatively empty bus. Conversely, once the first few rows start
to fill up, people move on past into the rear of the bus, spreading out.
As the bus starts to fill, people tend to move to the back, hoping to
find seats there. Parents with kids tend to head towards the back,
presumably to be closer to the bathroom? Students seem to do the same,
perhaps to be as far away from the authority figure (driver) as possible
too? So most buses seem to start filling at
the front, then spread out and fill from back towards the front.
My own experience suggests that the best place to sit is towards the
front, in the fourth or fifth row. You are close enough to the front of
the bus that you can get off and on quite quickly. You are far from the
smells and secretive smoking at the back of the bus as you can be. You
can stretch your feet out under the seat in front of you (unlike the
first row). You can see forward, out the front window (from the aisle).
You can play a radio or tape player, just not as loudly. Finally, these
seats seem to be the ones least likely to get taken in a nearly full bus.
If you sit here, you probably have a better chance of getting both seats
to yourself.
Aisle or Window Seat
Choosing the aisle versus the window seat is a matter worth considering.
The window seat has a better view, and is really needed to do any bus
photography (see below). The aisle seat has a decided advantage for
those of us with longer legs. We can stick our legs out farther towards
and even into the aisle than we can under the seat in front of the window
seat. So if you have long legs, or need and want to stretch out, look
into the aisle seat. If you are shorter, or want the better view and plan
on taking photos, go for the window seat.
When you first sit down in the seat, be sure to check to see if the seat
actually works to move backwards and forwards. If you don't, you may find
yourself stuck in an awkward position on a full bus, so you can't change
seats even though your seat is broken.
Why You Need A Sweater in Summer, or about Bus Air Conditioning
The window seat is also right next to the air conditioning outlet. Not only
is cold fresh air blowing up out of the lower window vent into your face,
but it is also chilling the metal vent under your side and arm. So you
will probably need a sweater or other warm clothing on most buses even in
summer. You can either wear the sweater or use it as insulation against
the side of the cold metal vents.
Travel Modes
How you use your Ameripass bus pass depends on how you want to
travel and what you want to see. Some folks don't want to sleep on a bus,
so they are limited to traveling circa 400 to 500 mile jaunts followed by
an overnight hotel stay and city visit on the next day. Others like to
travel for a half day or so, perhaps 200 to 250 miles worth, then
stop overnight. Both these approaches are perfectly valid ways of
traveling. With either of these approaches, you will be limited to
about a 6,000 mile trip around the U.S. with a 30 day Ameripass.
Neither approach will let you do a true great circle tour of the
U.S.A. unless you have the longest duration 60 day Ameripass.
If you add some of the long distance express bus transits, you can cross
the U.S. in about 3 or 4 days, depending on starting points. This
approach works especially well for sparsely populated transits across the
scenic top of the U.S. through Idaho and Montana and the Dakotas, where
cities are few and far between. Once you reach either coast, you can
switch to the more leisurely city to city exploring pattern suggested above.
For city visitors, the center of the U.S. also has some cities worth
visiting, depending on your trip themes and interests. Chicago, Detroit,
and Cleveland to the North, Saint Louis, Denver, and Memphis in the
middle, and Houston, Dallas, or New Orleans in the South are popular
mid-country stops. Most cross-country express buses will stop in and pass
through one or more of these city sequences.
Great Circle Tour of the U.S.A.
The great circle tour of the U.S.A. is possible to do on a 15 day
Ameripass or longer. The idea is to make a great circle around the U.S.,
going up one coast, across the top of the country, down the other coast,
and back across the bottom or middle of the country to your starting point.
For example, starting from Dallas, you could travel to El Paso, then San
Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland and Seattle (or Vancouver),
then across Idaho and Montana to Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland,
Philadelphia, and New York, to Washington DC. and down to Miami, and back
through New Orleans to Houston, San Antonio, and Dallas. On a 15 day
pass, you would need to spend over half your nights on the bus, but with
reasonable luck, most of your main city stops above would allow a full
day of exploration. Close-in cities like San Diego and Los Angeles would
involve a short, few hour bus trip between them with most of the daylight
hours left for exploring.
On a longer 30 day bus pass, you have the luxury of filling in the center of
the
country. For example, I like criss-crossing the Rocky Mountains, so I may
go between Denver and Las Vegas and Reno and the California coast via
several routes (esp. over the Donner Pass). You can stop off in Phoenix
and Tucson, visit Flagstaff and the Grand Canyon, or possibly take a
scenic Old West Tour if you like. You can visit all the major border
towns from San Diego to Brownsville, getting a glimpse of modern Mexico.
Or perhaps you want to visit Vancouver from Seattle, see Toronto from
Chicago, and visit Montreal by way of New York City for a glimpse of
Canada tour?
The big advantage of the great circle tour is that you really see many of
the
major U.S. cities, many of the major ecosystems, and some of the great
scenic sites and vistas as well. Express buses make it easy to clock
10,000, 12,000, even 15,000 miles on a 30 day bus pass while seeing it all.
With the expense of a 60 day pass, you have the extra time to explore and
ability to do 12,000 to 15,000 miles in shorter 200 to 250 miles a day
segments. I suspect that most long distance travelers will prefer to
extend their time visiting each major city. Otherwise, you will spend a
lot of time in small intermediate cities in the middle of the country
with few major sites such as museums. Then, in the major cities, you will
only be able to spend a half-day or so sightseeing before moving on. So I
think that the 30 day trip pattern would be used, but with extra days
used to flesh out interesting sites to see in the major cities. You can
also use some days for relaxation periods every week or two, perhaps in a
scenic national park or other rustic area?
Unfortunately, the seven day Ameripass just isn't quite long enough for
you to get to either coast and back around the entire U.S.A. If you only
have seven days traveling time or funds available, you can do a
mini-circle tour. Such a tour would go on a half-circle, through the
middle of the country. From Dallas, one might go to New Orleans and then
Miami and up to New York, with a side trip to Montreal. From New York,
you could go to Philadelphia, Chicago, and then Saint Louis, and finally
back to Dallas. Or you could go west, from Dallas to Denver, to Las
Vegas or Reno, San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego and Tijuana, and Tucson
with a
side stop at the Grand Canyon. A quick stop in El Paso to visit Mexico
again, and then Houston to Dallas.
Personally, I don't like returning through my home city when I could be
visiting some exotic distant city's sights. But some folks might like to
pass through their home city, during several spoke or circle trips out of
their city for a week or more. On each return leg through their home
city, they can stop, clean up, check on their homes, pay bills, and so
on. This approach tends to work best if you are located in the center of the
country. But you will spend a lot of your bus time criss-crossing
territory near your home. The great circle tour avoids this figure eight
pattern, while maximizing your time away from home.
Crashing - or a quick guide to sleeping on the bus...
Crashing overnight on the bus is a great way to cover long distances
overnight, while you are asleep, to arrive in a new city early the next
day. The key here is to plan your trip into segments which involve
journeys roughly 7 to 9 hours (400+ miles) in length.
Naturally, express
buses with few stops are preferred over local buses with many stops. Some
buses claim to be express buses, but then go local on portions of their
routes. Local bus stops mean many chances to get awoken during an
overnight transit, and should be avoided. Ideally, you want an express
bus which makes a direct overnight run to the next destination, with few
or no stops inbetween.
You should be able to find regional connections between
major cities where the buses leave in the evening, after businesses have
closed (and shipped out their freight for overnight delivery). You get on
the bus in the 7 p.m. to midnight time frame, travel overnight, and
arrive at the destination city early in the morning. In effect, you sleep
overnight on the bus, saving the substantial cost of a hotel room,
while maximizing your time during the day in the new city.
One advantage of this approach is that you arrive in the new city early
enough in the morning to travel via local bus services to the local
hostel or budget hotel. You arrive just as folks are checking out in the
morning, money in hand, and are most likely to get any openings. It is
much, much harder to turn away somebody in front of you for a room, than
someone who is calling on the phone. If you wait until after you have
spent the day exploring the city, the rooms at the hotel or hostel could
all be rented out. Usually, you can get into a room long enough to take a
shower, change clothes, and drop off any unneeded items. Most
hostels will check in your excess bags to storage for a nominal fee ($1
per bag). Now you are ready to go exploring, with most sites such as
museums coming open after 9 a.m., so you haven't wasted any site-seeing time.
After a good night's sleep, you can check out, and proceed on a short bus
hop to a nearby city only a few hours away. Visiting San Diego after Los
Angeles, or Fort Worth after Dallas, would be good examples. After
exploring the nearby city, you are ready for another overnighter to
another regional city hub. This approach cuts your hotel bills in half,
yet provides a lot of traveling distance overnight while you are asleep.
You can extend this preference so you travel overnight to a distant city,
visit it, then travel back whence you came to visit a city that was near
you the previous day. You can bounce back and forth like this across
the entire country. Sounds like Mao Tse-Tung, two steps forward, one
step back, doesn't it? But the effect is that you get to crash on the bus
overnight, and arrive at the start of a day at the new city. The
alternative would mean you travel during the day, so you lose some of
your time during the prime daytime hours to bus travel rather than
site-seeing. Traveling while you are asleep at night seems to make more
sense to me.
You can take this program to extremes, and become a bus-zombie,
traveling through your own twilight zone of bus mega-miles in a semi-tired
state.
I personally have trouble getting the same depth of sleep on the bus as I
do in a nice bed. So I suggest that you consider taking a day off now and
again as needed, to catch up on some sleep, see a movie, or otherwise
stock up on munchies and do laundry. Places like Idaho and Montana are
great for enjoying the mountains and recharging your batteries, without
too many local museums or sites to worry about seeing or missing.
I am a light sleeper, so I have an especially hard time sleeping on a
bus. Here are several tricks I use which may make your bus crashing
nights more restful. Start by bringing a pillow of some sort. You can put
your laundry into a pillowcase, and use it as a pillow. You can bring a
real small pillow, as I prefer. The smallest and lightest pillows are
inflatable plastic ones. I dislike the plastic inflatable pillows, as they
tend to make you sweat and are uncomfortable. Bring a cloth covering (or
use a tee-shirt) or
pillowcase to make the plastic pillow more acceptable if you use one.
The next secret to sleeping well on a bus are to get ear plugs. Who cares
if the rotten little tyke behind you cries all night, if you have 30 dB
earplugs in place? I like the silicon plastic lumps you can roll into a
ball and press into your outer ear, but the twisted ear plugs work okay too.
Most drug stores carry these earplugs, and they cost only $2-3 for two
pairs or more.
While buying earplugs, buy a sleeping mask in the same drug store section
(cost around $3-4). The sleeping mask is a dark, opaque cloth that covers
your eyes, with a flap over the top of the nose, and elastic band to hold
it on your
head. The older version had two elastic bands, which were adjustable, and
better quality sewing. The newer version has only one band, and it tends
to pull out, or did on the two I have tried. I simply punched a hole
in the side of the mask, and tied a knot to hold the elastic in place.
With a sleeping mask in place, you won't be bothered by lights from
oncoming traffic, local road lights, or someone using a reading light
at night behind you.
Finally, I usually have a sweatshirt handy. If I have both seats to
myself, I simply wear the sweatshirt, or stuff it against the cold air
vent at my back as an insulator. If someone is in the seat next to me, I
usually grab the aisle seat. Now I use the sweatshirt in an unusual way
that works for me, and may for you. I put my arms inside the sweater or
sweatshirt, so they are kept close to my body and not flopping around. If
the bus is pretty warm, I put both arms into the bottom of the
sweatshirt, as if I were going to put it on, but not into the sleeves. The
sweatshirt is just left resting upside down on my chest, with my arms
tucked into it.
Again, my arms don't flop around, but are restricted almost as if in a
sleeping bag. Since I am not wearing the sweatshirt, just have it against
my chest with my arms in it, it isn't as hot as it would be wearing it.
Another tip is to loosen your shoelaces, or switch to more comfortable
footgear (moccasins) at night. You don't want to go barefoot because of
possible trash, bottles, or spilled fluids. You should be able to move
the footrest under the seats into an out of the way position, allowing
you to put your feet out under the seat (except in the first row of
seats). From the aisle seat, you can often stick your feet quite far
under the seat and toward the aisle at night. If you have been doing a
lot of walking, your feet may tend to swell overnight when at rest, so
loosening your shoelaces will make you more comfortable.
I also suggest that you remove unneeded pens, combs, cases, and other
items from pants pockets into bags or carrying cases. You can't change
into pajamas, but at least you can keep items likely to jab you at night
out of the way by offloading them at night.
Different people are different in height, weight, and comfortable
sleeping positions. Personally, I am too big to be really comfortable in
the window seat at night, so I prefer the aisle seat. If I have both
seats, I prefer to curl with my back against a sweater or insulator
against the window seat, with the aisle seat all the way down. I put the
pillow in
the crack between the two seats. I put the aisle seat slightly upright,
so the pillow stays caught between the two seats. I let the leg against
the seat come up onto the two seats, and the outer leg parallel to it but
being too long, it sticks out under the aisle seat space. In effect, I am
curled up in a semi-fetal position, with my back to the window. With
earplugs in, and sleeping mask in place so the passing bright lights of
cars and roadway don't disturb me, I am good for hundreds of miles of
sleep.
I generally do not put things on the floor of the bus. On a dirty bus, or
if someone spills something near you, you risk getting yucky stuff on
your bags. When buses are cleaned, items on the floor are fair game to be
cleaned up and removed from the bus. I also don't check bags in at the
side of the bus, as that slows me down too much and I travel light
anyway. I prefer to put my bags near me, in the overhead rack above me.
Before I toss my bags up there, I feel lightly with my fingertips to see
if there has been a spill or other mess left there, just in case. If so,
just check another nearby luggage rack. Rarely happens, but once was
enough to teach me to check first!
Avoiding Montezuma's Revenge
Traveling means visiting new places, and that means changes in the
bacteria encountered in local water and food sources. One avoidable side
effect is traveler's diarrhea due to these unsettling changes. You can
avoid many problems by drinking fluids such as sodas or beers which are
likely to be filtered better than water. In some areas, avoiding leafy
vegetables or peeled fruits is a good idea too. Heightened cleaning of
hands before and after eating may also help.
Personally, I recommend the pink solution - literally. You can buy either
the original Pepto-Bismol (trademark) or the similar acting but cheaper
pink bismuth generics available at your pharmacy. I prefer the tablets,
since they are much lighter to carry than an economy size bottle
equivalent. A few doses, taken every other day or more often if needed,
seem to be all that is needed to prevent the problem entirely.
Still, I prefer not to have to use the rather marginal in-bus bathroom for
sitdown emergencies. So I make it a habit that when in doubt, I go to the
bathroom during rest stops, even if I don't expect to do much there.
Going right before you sleep also seems to remove yet another distraction
from getting a better sleep too.
Emergency Supplies
If you forget all other tips, remember this one. Always, always travel
with some drinkable fluids. You can refill a plastic soft drink 20
ounce
bottle with water for your emergency supply, and dump it when you get
off the bus rather than carry the water around. But it is always possible to
have a bus breakdown miles from any source of water, and four to ten
hours wait for a replacement bus. Now think of hot weather, without any air
conditioning, and you will understand why you need to carry emergency
water with you.
Food is a distant second to water or soda as far as emergency supplies
go. You probably want to bring some hard candies, such as Werther's
butter rum flavor hard candies. Chocolate is fine except where it might
be exposed to heat and melt into a mess. Chips usually get crumbly too
easily, so I avoid them, except for crush proof packages like Cringles
Potato Chips (trademark). Cookies can be okay, especially Oreo-style
ones, but keep a trash bag handy for messy fragments and crumbs.
I double bag them in the store, keeping one bag to collect the trash and
one to store the rapidly dwindling supply of cookies.
My
personal recommendation is that you stock up on fruit, when you can find
it. You get not only food but also moisture from fruits such as oranges.
Fruits seem cooler even in hot climates. Fruits also tend to be sparce
on most fast food diets, so adding some while traveling is a wise precaution.
Greyhound Lines Inc. has arrangements with McDonalds, Burger King, and
lots of other fast food places to bring in their buses for feeding
frenzies. The buses often get freight storage areas on the fast food
establishment property. Sometimes the bus terminals reciprocate
with fast food places on their property. In any case, travelers after a
few weeks of fast food are likely to rebel, and want anything but another
MacWhopper.
One tip is to carry a second string or mesh bag with you while traveling.
You
can use it to hold large containers of soda (the economy size), cookies,
fruits, and even sandwich making stuff. I like to carry a metal knife,
spoon, fork, and small can-opener with bottle popping ability with me too.
These few items make it possible to not only vary my diet with regular
groceries, but also greatly cut the cost of snacks and drinks enroute.
With 12 oz. soft drink cans at a $1.25, it pays to buy a 2 liter bottle with
five
times the capacity for about the same price at a grocery store. You can
also stock up on items you like such as cheeses, summer sausage, and
other items which can be eaten without refrigeration. This approach works
especially well for the long-stretch express bus trips which run 32, 40,
or even more hours.
Another tip is to look around quickly and carefully while the bus is
coming to the announced fast food meal stop. I often see a small market,
gas station store, or other restaurants near the regular meal stop. While
others are waiting in line, I can stock up on groceries or at least get
something other than a burger. You can still get a meal to go or use the
restroom, with fewer lines, right before the bus loads up.
Film and Bus Photography
I admit to being spoiled. I have located some sources for short-dated film
via
the Internet and Shutterbug magazine, running $1 to $2 per 36 exposure
roll, and also mail-order
processing. The net result is to bring my film costs way down, enabling
me to shoot many rolls of film during a trip. By buying in advance, I not
only saved a whole lot of money on film, but also the time to try and
find what I needed at a remote tourist site where prices are often high.
When you start talking about shooting 50 to 100+ rolls of film on a trip,
saving $4-5 per roll or more really adds up fast!
The key to bus photography is trying it. At worst, you will get a photo
that will be a reminder of some scene from your trip. Don't rest your
camera against the window of the bus, as vibration will jar your camera.
To cut reflection and glare from windows, either use a polarizing filter,
or bring the lens close to the window. Some bus windows now have plastic
shading or shatter-proof sheeting which can cause rainbow-like "fringe
patterns" with polarizers. So remove the polarizer if you see this effect
and shoot without it.
To reduce vibration, I cup my lens front with my hand, in a ring, holding
it and cushioning it against the window. You can also use a rubber lens
hood if you have one too. Scratches on the window won't show on the
photos, although grime and smudges can reduce image contrast. You can also
walk forward in the aisle, and take a photo through the large scenic front
window, then return to your seat.
A subtlety of successful bus photography is to pre-visualize your trip.
Sometimes, the driver can suggest which side of the bus will be the most
scenic for photos, as they know the routes well. Obviously, going over
the Rocky Mountains at night is going to make scenic photography
difficult, so consider schedules and daylight hours carefully in
planning. You can also pick more scenic routes, such as the Donner pass
through the Rocky Mountains into California rather than the less scenic
coastal route. Some places like Idaho, Montana, and Colorado (Denver)
have many scenic routes which offer many enroute photo possibilities.
Sunrise and sunset are also magical times for photographers, because of
the quality of the light. Using our bus-crashing approach, you will often
be entering a city around sunrise, with an opportunity to take such
photos if you wish. You will also often have a chance to take sunset
photos before you leave on that late evening bus too.
Don't leave your camera bagged up in bad weather. Some of the best travel
photos are taken during bad weather. Don't miss out. Using proper care,
you should be able to snap some great photos during lulls or breaks in
storms. One trick is to use a plastic bag to protect your camera, with
a hole the lens pokes through secured by some masking tape. Don't
forget some raingear for the photographer too!
Traveling light as a photographer usually means bringing only a few prime
or zoom lenses, the main camera, lots of film, a few accessory filters and
cleaning items, spare batteries, perhaps a small strobe and a camera
carrying travel bag. A fast normal lens and a 28-210mm zoom (or 24-105mm
and 70-210mm zooms) offers a lot of capability for the weight. I usually
add a superwide lens (14mm to 24mm range), a 100mm macro, and a
teleconverter (2x) to this mix.
I also prefer to bring a second small camera that also uses 35mm film (an
Olympus XA with 35mm lens). Someday, my main SLR camera will fail, and only
the film from my backup camera will come out. I usually shoot one roll in
four using the backup camera, sometimes near duplicates of the primary
camera shots. I rarely run out of film in both cameras at the same time,
so I am always ready to shoot one or the other. I can also carry the small
backup camera in a pocket, with extra film and a detached strobe for it.
Safety Tips
Be sure you have serial numbers and related information on such items in
case they are stolen. Your home owner's insurance may cover you on trips,
as may some renter's policies.
Check this option out if this concerns you, and get a rider if you need it.
Personally, I don't take my best and most expensive camera or lenses on
such trips for many reasons, including the possibility of theft.
You should also keep a photocopy of your
credit cards and phone numbers to call if lost to limit your losses.
This tip is especially important with debit cards, as they have
different and higher loss limits than your credit cards. Never carry or mark
your passwords or PIN numbers on any of your cards. If you carry checks,
carry only a few, know the numbers of the checks, and who to call to
cancel the checks at the bank if they are stolen. Don't bring your check
register, and
keep your account balance separate from your checks too. If you use
travelers cheques,
you need similar information with the numbers of your checks. Be sure to
keep your register of used travelers checks separate from the checks.
If they are stolen, you will know which ones were stolen and which ones were
already used.
Expensive watches, sunglasses, and jewelry should probably be left safely
at home. I bring several credit cards and photo IDs with me, and split
them up in my pockets with a rubber band or two. I have a throw-away
wallet, without any real credit cards but various plastic membership
cards and with an impressive wad of $1 bills. If I get mugged, it is easy
to give up the throw-away wallet. Why get beat up and sent to the hospital
because the thief is irrate they didn't get any money or you got into an
argument? Don't argue, give them the money, and get on with your trip. A
money belt works well for some people, but many thieves will check for one
if you don't distract them with your throw-away wallet.
Using Zen to Beat the Weather
One followup tip on the subject of weather. You can usually get a
newspaper with long range weather forecasts for the entire country. Using
your bus pass, you have the option to change your route and your trip to
avoid areas of bad weather, at least temporarily. By being flexible, you
can reduce your chance of being snowbound in a high mountain pass, for
example, by going further south to cross the Rockies into California. If
it is too hot in Texas, it will often be just right in Montana or Maine.
So use the flexibility of your bus pass and plan your trip to avoid
problems. By letting your trip develop around the weather, rather than
fighting the weather, you use the Zen of long-distance bus travel to your
advantage.
Packing
The major art in packing properly is knowing what to leave behind. Keep
in mind the Amy Vanderbilt school of traveling motto - You can always buy
what you need, when and where you need it. The less you have to
carry, the better. You are traveling after all in a semi-civilized country,
through major cities, not into the heart of a dark continent!
You have to decide what style of bus traveling you want to do. Many
students and world travelers are used to carrying all their equipment on
their backs. They happily march off for miles of carrying 40 or more
pounds of gear in 100 degree plus heat. Not me!
Personally, I prefer to travel very light on-site, with little more than
my camera gear, raincoat, and guidebook. So I tend to leave my laundry
bag and other items in storage in lockers.
The good news is that it is much easier now to find lockers in the major
cities than it used to be. The bad news is that this is because they
raised the rates on lockers to $2 for a 4 to 6 hour period, and another $2
for any time up to 24 hours after that. So for many of the major cities,
it now costs $4 to store your bags while exploring a given city during the
day. Be really, really careful to put the five or six digit code printed
on your locker ticket in a safe place. If you lose it, it may take over an
hour to get someone to retrieve your luggage, and they will charge you $10
for the lost ticket service. The real problem is that when the new
electronic units fail, all the attached lockers fail at the same time.
In most of the older Greyhound sites, in smaller cities,
they continue to use the older lockers which use a key, and only charge
$.75 - $1 for 24 hour storage. In some places, you can store bags for up
to 8
hours, sometimes 12 hours, with the local Greyhound agent, again for a $2
fee ($4 for 24 hours).
Since the terrorist bombings of New York City, they have eliminated
lockers virtually in the entire city. You will see many surprised and
dejected travelers dragging huge bags around behind them in New York
City. Here is a tip for Greyhound ticket holders in the New York City
Port Authority Building. While there aren't any lockers, there is a
Greyhound baggage checking facility on the lower floors. For $2 per bag,
you can check in a bag for all-day storage, rather than carry it around.
Not well advertised, so many folks don't know about it, but worth doing.
Did I mention that you can consolidate several parcels and bags into a big
but lightweight mesh bag, rather than pay $2 for each little bag? I use
this same mesh bag to carry miscellaneous food and drink items for longer
express bus trips too.
Items to Carry
Start with a sturdy and clean bag. Is it really waterproof? If not, then
put one or more thick trash bags inside it, or wrap items up in
waterproof bags. It will rain on you, somewhere, sometime, during your trip!
When putting in clothes, I like to roll them up together in day kits.
Rolling clothes is less likely to cause creases than excessive folding.
Putting underwear with shirts and socks makes it easy to grab and change
into clothes on the go. The clean clothes all go together in one bag,
kept closed and hopefully waterproof.
I put a second double thickness trash bag in the clothes bag to carry dirty
laundry. Dirty
clothes go in, then when I am running low on clean clothes the whole bag
goes to the laundry and gets cleaned. I
often bring an ounce or two of laundry soap with me in a zip-lock baggie,
adequate to do such small loads. Many hotels don't have laundry soap, or
you have to find and buy a full sized box of soap (and then throw it
away rather than carry it around the USA). If you get stuck and have to do a
laundry in the field, you
at least have soap for it. Some folks prefer to clean their dirty clothes
in the sink during each hotel room stop, but not me. I find fresh clothes
help me perk up after a night on a bus, and smell better too!
Personal grooming items can go into a zippered carry bag, or a zip lock
baggie
(waterproof, a plus). Soap is messy unless it is in its own waterproof
container (from drug store). You don't need full sized bottles of shampoo
and the rest for most trips. Use samples and small sized items to save on
weight. Don't use up all of that tube of toothpaste, but leave enough for
that upcoming trip. You can usually shave pounds off the weight of these
items with a little planning.
One cleaning item or option may be useful for those taking multi-day bus
trips. Bring one or more sponges with you. Sponges can be used as an
alternative to a shower. The French claim to have invented the sponge
bath, but the concept is simple enough. At the least, you can use a
sponge and/or towel to clean and refresh yourself while changing clothes
in a bathroom during a bus-stop on a multi-day trip. A zip lock baggie or
tupperware sandwich container can hold the sponge or sponges (one can have
soap solution on it).
Despite the deodorant ads, civilization won't end if you don't take two
showers a day and use their products. But you will feel better after a
sponge bath, and more alert too. Deodorant and other scents do have a
place, especially in warm weather.
Bring some aspirin or other pills, but not an entire bottle. I use a 35mm
film cannister to hold various vitamins and aspirins that I might need.
A raincoat is necessary. Personally, I prefer the slightly heavier but
much larger poncho style plastic raincoats. These are big enough that I can
wear it, my head in the poncho, but cover a backpack behind me too. The
smaller rain capes are lighter, but don't have this coverage power. If
you get caught on a trail in a downpour, the larger rain poncho is much
more likely to keep you drier. In a brisk cold wind, the poncho can also
provide a good bit of protection from the chill. You would be suprised how
cold some desert and mountain sites are before the hot summer sun rises.
As I noted above, I like to have metal spoon and knife for eating.
Plastic spoons often break on ice cream. A real metal knife is often
needed where plastic won't do. I also carry a small can-opener with bottle
top opener built-in. This tool makes it easy to open a can of fruit
cocktail when on a long bus trip.
A map is very handy when traveling, especially when following the
Zen approach to free-form traveling. Guidebooks to cities
are handy. The Budget Hotels
Site can also be downloaded for listings of local hotels in various
places. Besides typical guidebooks, you can also use the Internet to
provide useful listings about sites to visit, hours of operation, costs,
access, and so on. If you use a trip theme, you may also want to bring
along guide books related to that theme (e.g., Guide to Art Exhibitions).
I find sunglasses and reading glasses to be necessary, along with a few
pocketbooks to read during longer bus stops. I also pack a microfiber
cloth to clean these glasses and my photographic lenses too.
Bring some quarters, and resupply yourself as you go along. A bunch of $1
bills is also useful, while you can get $20 from most debit or
ATM machines as
needed. Having coins in hand as you get off the bus may enable you to get
one of the last available lockers, while less prepared travelers are
still looking for change machines. I also don't trust many change
machines with $5 bills if I can help it. So a supply of change is handy too.
A sewing repair kit is small and inexpensive from most drug stores ($4-5),
and
weighs only a few ounces. Since I usually have only a spare pair of pants
with me, a needle and thread could come in handy. The buttons and other
items such as a safety pin are also inexpensive and lightweight insurance.
A pen, paper, some stamps, and envelopes for mailing are useful. Don't
forget an address book with your friends addresses and make a list of who
got what postcard or note (so as not to forget anyone!).
Any special medical requirements you may have are also obviously
necessary. I also throw in a thin container of dental floss, as nothing
drives me crazier than something stuck between my teeth that won't come out.
Nail trimmers and combs are similarly useful.
You generally won't have any trouble finding toilets with toilet paper, at
least if you check while you are going in. Still, it doesn't weigh much to
stock up with a few feet of the stuff before starting out. A small packet
or half-dozen Kleenex (trademark) tissues can be handy too. I like to have
a few of those alcohol swab tissues with me for emergencies. These few
ounces usually earn their keep on most long trips.
A watch that is easily reset to various time zones is handy. For some
folks, a travel alarm clock might also be useful and needed, especially
in budget hotels with no wake-up services.
We noted above that a radio and tape player could be very handy,
especially for long trips in mountainous areas. Bring some tapes you
like. Be sure to bring extra batteries. Many tape players eat batteries,
unlike when you play the radio alone. Batteries are often outrageously
expensive in road-side bus stops compared to drugstore prices. If your
setup has an external battery input, ask about a larger battery power
pack and cable at your local Radio Shack store. Some D cells will outlast
a half dozen AA cells in most tape players, yet cost much less.
You may want to bring a passport with you if you have one, even if you
don't intend on visiting Canada or Mexico starting out. The weather or a
special event such as Canada Day (July 5) may convince you to visit. You
can also use a drivers license, voters registration card, or certified
birth certificate as proof of identity. You can use these documents for
cashing checks in some places, and may need them for some hotels or in the
event of problems. Naturally, you will need a drivers license to rent a
car and even to buy alcohol or cigarettes in many places. Police
everywhere are understandably suspicious about people without
identification, so have something to show them.
If you like some of the portable electronic games, bring them. If you
need a calculator, bring it. If there is something you need I haven't
listed here, remember and bring it!
Hostels versus Budget Hotels
If you are planning on staying in the low cost hostels, you may want to
bring your own towel(s). Many hostels don't supply these items, although
they do supply sheets and pillowcases. Check with your hostel guidebook
for more items which you may need too.
Hostels are no longer just for the young, with many catering to all ages
now. You don't need to be a member to use most hostels, although you will
pay a small surcharge as a non-member. Keep your receipts. The major US
hostel groups offer a discount on membership if you have stayed at a
member hostel for 3 to 5 days in the last year. Better yet, join before
you leave, so you get the full list of hostel sites and member privileges!
Many big city bus terminals have special phones with posted ads from
local budget hotels and hostels which you can call (using 2 digit
codes). You can also look up low cost hotels via budget hotels online. In other
cases, you can try the phone book, or simply ask departing passengers
for tips on where to stay. Naturally this works best in smaller towns or
scenic sites than in larger cities, but fellow bus travlers are more
likely to pick hotels near the bus station too.
Hostels are usually the cheapest places to
stay, but they are also sometimes booked to capacity during popular
events and traveling times, especially in the summer. You can however ask a
hostel to contact their member hostel in the next city and make a
reservation for you, which many will do at minimal or no charge.
Hostels
usually charge $12 to $24 for shared facility rooming, meaning
multiple beds or bunk beds in a single sex sleeping room and one male and
one female bathroom per floor. They often have television rooms, small
stores, local travel information, and even cooking facilities. Some
hostels have private rooms for $20-$40 or so, but not all. You will
also find lockers or storage services to leave your bags while touring
the city.
Budget hotels are usually at least double the price of a hostel, often
more. You do get a private room. Where the costs are similar (e.g., near
Los Angeles Greyhound terminal), you may find shared bathrooms and
showers. Most of the low cost motels are around the outskirts of the
city, where land prices are low, rather than in the city center where the
bus stations generally are found. In many places, a downtown budget hotel
room will cost $40-$50-$60 and up. Again, always ask for a discount,
especially at the higher end hotels, and you may save 10-20% on your bill.
Day Bags
I have a camera bag that also carrys my raincoat and perhaps a 20 ounce
coke bottle, some hard candies, sunglasses, and extra film. Add some
guide book pages, a map, and a tape player and headphones. Wearing a cap,
and with a sweatshirt if needed, and I am ready for a full day of
traveling and city sightseeing.
Once back at the bus depot, I can consolidate my day bag into my backpack
for overnight trips, or put it in with the string mesh food bag with
munchies for longer multi-day long-distance trips. During a day bus
trip, I can keep my camera handy, and still have my radio, guidebooks,
reading stuff, and cold drinks and candies at hand. Works for me!
Conclusion
I have tried to share some ideas and suggestions on how to make your long
distance bus trip around the USA a successful and fun experience. Using
these tips, you can save on your travel costs, extend your trip using the
tips above, and find the most comfortable seats on the bus for your needs.
You can see more, and at lower cost, than using any other form of
scheduled travel. By building your trip around a theme that interests
you, you will also learn and enjoy your trip more.
Congratulations! You are on your way to becoming a Zen-master of
long distance bus travel in the USA.