Since summer is starting, I thought I’d share a post about travel along the east coast.. While finances are certainly something to take in to consideration while traveling, you will see below that sanity is very important too.
Spacious seating, free Wifi, and a relaxing trip from DC to Boston, all for $51.00 round trip? Sure, I’ll take it.
Have you ever heard the expression, “If it’s too good to be true, chances are it probably is?”
I am sitting in the front row on the top deck of a double-decker Mega Bus somewhere in Connecticut. It is currently 7:13 PM, and I have been in this very seat since 10:15 this morning. I brought things to do to fill the ten hours I have been here, but noticed shortly after my trip embarked that there was no WiFi. Ok, so I can listen to music, watch movies on my iPad, and the like… But then I realized I can’t really do anything productive, like stalk people on Facebook or post a blog (I’m writing this in AppleWorks)… Or, most importantly, check in to my classes online… Or find out which chapters I need to read tonight. Ohmygosh. How did we ever survive without the Internet?
So, why even take the bus, you ask? It’s an additional 2 hours, yes, but I figured I would rather be sitting here doing things than driving my car, spending more in gas, doing nothing productive other than listening to Going Rogue for the third time… I should probably expand my audiobooks collection.
I had no idea about all these stops, though! So far today we have stopped in:
Baltimore
Philadelphia
Seacaucus, (?), New Jersey
Yonkers, NY for dinner, which turned out to be a Burger King chicken sandwich, which I do not think I’d had since high school… At least not sober.
Well, at each of the first three stops, we both dropped off and picked up new people. Now, I am a welcoming person under normal circumstances, but I would much rather not share my not-so spacious row with someone if I don’t have to. Well, for one leg of the trip, I had to, with a gravitationally-challenged woman with a Travon Martin tee shirt… Awesome. Fortunately it was only between Baltimore and Phily. From Philly on, though, I learned one very important lesson: Lie across the seats and act like I’m sleeping. All passengers are officially on board here on MegaBus, and I have my own row, looking out onto the New English world below… Which has progressively gotten an almost stained glass effect from all of the bug guts we have acquired along the way.
Another thing I have learned from this trip is the importance of water drinking strategizing. One must never use the bus bathroom. Ever. It is a fact of life that you WILL get syphallis, or at least AIDS, if you even attempt it. So, I asked the bus driver when rest stops will be, and sipped accordingly. It’s survival and it must be done.
OK, so the MegaBus is cheap, but is it worth the headache of stopping every five minutes and game-like strategizing? Maybe.. Considering as flights were $350 this weekend, I saved myself $300… And added a few grey hairs. Plus the view of the miles upon miles of open road was pretty cool. A view from the top, potential productvity, and an eventual arrival to see a best friend? OK, fine.. MegaBus might not be ideal, but it saved me money, and a LOT of it.. I’ll take it.