My worst experience travelling took place aboard a bus (name omitted) bus several years ago. My father was dying from leukemia in Arizona and I had to go see him. However I do not fly. So it was between our transcontinental railraod (name omitted) or the bus. The bus was a tad more affordable and so I booked my seat.
First of all, you change drivers every few hours or else the driver falls asleep. Well of the buses I was on two broke down or had to be fixed. We weren’t strandedor anything, but mind you we were all a tad antsy and I was having panic attacks. One of these “layovers” was over an hour wait for another bus to come in and take us to the next bus depot.
So we get down to Tennessee and these two old ladies get aboard. Of course they sat right behind me.All I hear is them talking about dead animals and how to prepare them. I am a vegetarian. I was so nauseas, but I didn’t want to use the bathroom aboard the bus. Why? Because there was no toilet paper as I had so found out earlier. Not only was their no toilet paper-there’s no sink. They hand you wipes. The toilet was FILLED! It was as if the driver never bothered to dump the waste from the previous people before leaving. The scent was so disgusting that I held my breath the one time I used the bathroom! I was also happy that I was sitting up front.
In another state this really hot guy came aboard. He sat next to me for two minutes. When he got the opportunity he sat next to this 18 year old girl who had told me her life’s story in twenty minutes, and proceded to finger her. Then the next morning the old guy two rows back was telling his wife about it and laughing. He was going into blunt detail. I felt very small. What? I wasn’t good enough for him? I also felt very nauseaus. I’d hate to be the one who had to sit on those seats afterwards.
One of the drivers had no idea where they were going and kept asking us for directions. Most of us were from New York. We hadn’t the foggiest clue. Thank G-d there was one man from the state we were in who knew where we were. He lead us to the next depot.
We passed through Texas, and I never saw so much desert in my life. Desert and oil rigs. I don’t know what highway we were on, but that is all we saw for miles. Everyone on the bus fell asleep. Of course, I had just woken up –again– and just as we passed a tiny little Haliburton building. No comment. That was actually the humorous part of the trip.
On the way home, in New Mexico, we were boarded by customs. I fumbled around for my ticket. I was so scared. I thought there was a terror threat or something. For about a half hour, customs agents boarded the bus and looked everyone and thing over. They wound up taking a man off the bus. I was never so happy to leave New Mexico as when that bus pulled out. Mind you, customs did not board the bus on the way there.
In an emergency I guess it’s good that I have the bus to take, but I would prefer never to use it again.
