Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
After much deliberation over the years, here is the conclusion I have come to:
Plane - best way to go as long as you book wisely
Car - whether your own or a rental car, it's tough to beat this option; only plane beats it for long distances
Bus - I don't mind the people that everyone complains about, but it's just not efficient for long distance trips, and even for shorter distances it's not as efficient as driving a car
Train - for such a fast vehicle it sure takes long to get places. Too many problems, delays; prices are not really that great, savings are not huge, tough to justify a trip that takes longer than every other form of transportation, pretty much
There is the part of me that has yearned to hit the open road with someone else driving, to watch America go by from the window of a Greyhound bus or Amtrak train. "Colorful" people? Great! More adventure, for better or worse. And save a few bucks to boot? How bad can it be?
But I have realized that it just doesn't make sense. If I REALLY want to see the country, driving gives me more options. I'd hate to watch something fly by the window and think, "oh, wow, if I were driving I would have checked that out!" and instead be at the mercy of wherever the bus or train has set their stops. I think if the trip were through a scenic part of the country that might help, but even then, I sometimes have to pull over when driving through someplace that's so scenic and just stop for a while and take it all in, so a car would be better.
As for saving money, neither bus or train TRULY save someone money, really. If I REALLY just want to get to Salt Lake City or Las Vegas or wherever, then flying can't be beat if you get even a decent fare, because the time involved translates to money. If I take a trip to Vegas and going by train will save me $300, but lose 3 days of the trip to traveling time, as opposed to spending that $300 and gaining back 2.5 days from the travel time because I'm flying, I have increased the value, the "bang for the buck" I get out of that trip. I will get 2.5 days more IN Vegas as opposed to being stuck in a train. And if a few hundred bucks is gonna make or break me, I shouldn't take that trip. With one exception - if I get to the point where I'm desperate and I'm making a one-way trip to somewhere to start fresh, and can't afford the plane, then it's worth taking the bus or train.
I guess for a shorter trip it's not so bad. My mom has taken the bus many, many times (Greyhound) from NY to Montreal to visit her family. She has never had a problem and a few times met some nice people, never anyone scary or weird. As far as I'm concerned, it sounds like a lot of the people who take the Greyhound are poor, and I feel for them, so if they're a little weird in any way, oh well, they have problems, I shouldn't feel offended for it. So it's not pleasant, so what? If that were a concern I should have just driven a car. I've had my share of people on planes who were not so great either - you name it, same as the bus crowd, because a plane is just a bus with wings. Just a lot faster and better value for the $. Large people, smelly people, obnoxious people, chatty people - all on planes as well.
But what it comes down to is that for getting from point A to point B works like this, to me:
My rules of thumb for choosing travel methods:
- under 5-7 hours drive, best to drive.
- Anything over a 7 hour drive, start thinking of plane, considering costs involved of plane vs. driving and considering the time each will actually take from your trip
- Always check bus and train schedules/prices, but vast majority of the time (almost always) they will NOT be that much less in price but they WILL be considerably more in time and therefore not a good option
- If a "scenic trip" is important, then bus or train may be more attractive, but you better love scenery because you'll have hours and hours and hours to watch for scenery; consider also sleeping situation before committing to a train or bus trip...
Every time I drive by a Greyhound Bus I tell my self I am going to take the bus from New York City to Washington DC. I think it would be nice to leave the driving to someone else. But I suffer from a fear of closed places and wonder if I would freak out if the bus is stuck in traffic and I could not get out. Or maybe the people would not be so great on the bus.
Anyone have Greyhound Bus stories?
Yes,I have many many many stories.. the lights will wake u all night as they turn them on whenever passengers get on board at 1-5 am, the food is awful,, all truck stops and fast food, and I took this cross country, twice, And now have to again. Scary, weird, other-worldly, and some incredibly rude drivers who yell at passengers at 4 in the morning. PLEASE take another mode of transport if u can at all afford it. Also, your legs get very stiff and hurt when they march you off the bus at the 'stops', if you have been sitting for hours and hours.
[quote=recycled;2288133]KevK is right, Amtrak is the way to go from NYC to DC. If traffic on the I95 corridor is bad or the weather is bad, the bus gets stuck in traffic or can get delayed. On the train, delays on the NY to DC corridor are not very frequent, they run pretty tight schedules. Plus, if you don't like who sits next to you, just get up and move somewhere else, even to another train car. Most Amtrak routes let you pick where ever you want to sit, hopefully the Azela route is like that too. Train might cost a few $$ more, but it's worth it.
Yeah, worth it until the credit card bill comes. Pay cash if you take Amtrak or don't go.
[quote=charolastra00;2330512]I normally like the type of people who ride Greyhound... but not drunk, stinky ones.
Had a guy stand up on a bus, i think it was when we FINALLY got near to Montana, in 2005 and announce 'let's pass a bottle around and all the passengers were drunk on my last ride'. The people laughed, I didn't find it funny. People on the buses and public transport are very loud and inconsiderate.. my gosh! do they really need attention that bad?!
We have a bus company called greyhound in australia, no relation to the US company. Once caught one from Alice Springs in the Northern Territory to Brisbane in Queensland a cool 4000 Km (Approx 2500 miles) road trip, that took just on 50 hours to complete.
Have never hoped on a long distance bus since and never will!
Years ago while in the Army I rode a Greyhound bus from Ft Hood Texas to northeast Ohio. It took 36 hours. It wasn't an express and did grade level roads and stopped and picked up packages along the way in the middle of nowhere. We did get breaks to stop and eat and I slept most of the way.
Recently my daughter has traveled with Greyhound from Green Bay WI. to northeast Ohio. No problems, and it took about the same amount of time as when I drive from here to there in my car. As far as the riders, I guess it depends on who is onboard. You can be with obnoxious people on a plane at times.
It just depends on who is riding on that particular trip. I don't hear much on the news about much bad situations on Greyhound buses.
Getting stuck in traffic? You can do that in a car.
People are people and situations are situations. Doesn't matter if you are on a plane, train, bus, or in your local grocery store.
Most of the time everything works out alright and we just go about our daily lives.
Every time I drive by a Greyhound Bus I tell my self I am going to take the bus from New York City to Washington DC. I think it would be nice to leave the driving to someone else. But I suffer from a fear of closed places and wonder if I would freak out if the bus is stuck in traffic and I could not get out. Or maybe the people would not be so great on the bus.
Anyone have Greyhound Bus stories?
OMG!!!! Well NYC to WASHINGTON doesn''t seem as crazy as what I did. I took the STUPID bus with my 11yr old at the time to ORLANDO, FLORIDA from NYC.
IT WAS TERRIBLE!!!!! WE were so uncomfortable trying to SLEEP so we went to the back of the bus where it was even worse . Going back there was a problem there was a guy back there that looked like a PETIFILE AND A RAPIST , then another 21yr old was trying to HOLLA AT ME , mind you I am way OLDER THEN 25 so just imagine that one. All we had to eat was PURE JUNK FOOD that I bought on the bus with me and whenever we were STARVING we had to wait to get to a STOP. Don't even get me started on the BATHROOM. We are finally in Florida these people get on with like 4 kids SO LOUD AND RUDE, one kid is asking everyone near him a thousand and one personal questions like "What's your name"?, "How old are you"?, Where are you going?" turns around asks ME "Is she your daughter"? My look alone was ENOUGH to tell him and his mother noticed LEAVE ME THE HECK ALONE.... I just wanted to get off the bus by now and CRY.
Coming home the first bus BROKE DOWN!!!!!!!!! We were stuck in Orlando for about 1hr waiting on the other one . When we got to the first stop I actually needed to purchase A PACK OF CIGARETTES.....STAT!!!! I had stopped smoking before the trip. There were some loud, obnoxious spanish people sitting in back of us, the lady HATED MY GUTS and was cursing me out in spanish (which I understood everything she was saying but pretended not to because I was with my kid and didn't want problems with these people) claiming that her MAN kept STARING AT MY BOOTY from behind!!!!
Finally got to Penn Station in NYC and promised my poor kid NEVER TO DO THAT AGAIN.. Lesson learned
I took a bus when I left for my freshman year of college. From Michigan to Daytona Beach, FL. 30. Long. Hours. Don't get me wrong, nothing against buses, but sitting on one, in a small cramped seat, for over a day is not fun. But at the time, I was afraid of planes. Needless to say, I got over my fear of planes that year.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Well NYC to WASHINGTON doesn''t seem as crazy as what I did. I took the STUPID bus with my 11yr old at the time to ORLANDO, FLORIDA from NYC.
WE were so uncomfortable trying to SLEEP so we went to the back of the bus where it was even worse 
, then another 21yr old was trying to HOLLA AT ME 
