My First Greyhound Experience

I visited DC at Christmas. Drove there with my parents, and stayed a bit longer to see some friends. Since I had to get myself back to Cleveland with no car, I looked at my usual method of mass transit -- the plane -- and checked out Amtrak and bus options too. These days, I have more time than money, and I haven't had a new travel experience in a while, so I thought I'd see what else was available.

The least expensive flights were on Southwest from BWI. Southwest also sells reasonably priced one-way tickets, so I wouldn't have to buy a round-trip fare than only use half of it. That's something I've done before, but feels so wasteful.

Amtrak's prices were reasonable, and trains are comfortable. Riders are also spared in the useless indigity of having their bodies and their property pawed before boarding. But the train arrived in Cleveland at something like 4am. Not ideal.

Greyhound, on the other hand, had reasonable departure and arrival times, although the trip itself is about 10.5 hours, compared to about 6.5 hours if one drives a car. Plus the extra time it takes on each end to get to and from the bus station. Greyhound's big upside, though, is the price. And I took advantage of a special mid-week, three-week advance purchase to get my ticket for $6.50, which is less than some people pay to commute every day. So combined with wanting to try something new, Greyhound became my travel method of choice for the day.

The bus itself isn't so bad. Decent leg room (unlike ariplanes!), a toilet (several rows behind me), outlets and wifi (slow but functioning). The bus isn't full either, which makes a big difference. The windows don't have shades, but they are tinted, which helps shield my touchy eyes from the hurtful sun. The temperature is neither too hot nor too cold.

[After a long Dramamine-induced nap:] The trip continues to go fine. We stopped at my favorite Penna Turnpike rest stop (yes, I have a favorite rest stop), the North Midway Rest Stop. I'm finishing up this post from Pittsburgh, where I had a one-hour-plus layover.

Speaking of Pittsburgh, let me turn to the quality of the bus depots. Pittsburgh's is very nice. Pretty spacious, well-lit, lots of seats, clean bathrooms, a charging station for electronics. Greyhound did a good job of announcing departures at the station, and the daily schedules for all buses were prominently displayed, along with their departure gates.. I could have done without the music and the TVs all playing at the same time, but that's my only complaint, really.

Washington DC's Union Station, on the other hand, totally stinks as a bus depot. Now, from what I gather, up until a few months ago, DC's bus station was a few blocks away from Union Station itself, and I think Union Station turned an old parking garage into the bus depot. But the bus offices aren't located in Union Station. Instead, Greyhound has a little shack inside the parking garage. There were no seats and very little standing room. No bathrooms either -- you'd have to walk far back to the train terminal to find a bathroom. Everyone had to wait outside for the buses, and there were no signs or schedules to let riders know if they were waiting for the right bus.

Well, we just pulled out of Pittsburgh, just a few minutes late. Downtown Pittsburgh looks pretty cool at night, and I am reminded again that I never checked it out the way I intended. Well, it's only about 3 hours from Cleveland and I still have a very flexible schedule. Maybe I'll pay it a visit soon. I also realize, as I reach the end of this post, that I didn't take any photos. A side-by-side comparison of DC's and Pittsburgh's Greyhound stations would make you all want to catch a bus from Pittsburgh, and avoid them in DC. Instead, you'll just have to take my word for it.

(Last) Year in Review: Annapolis

By now, it's really two years ago. In May 2011, I made a mini-trip to Annapolis MD, which I meant to write about but never did. Thought I'd catch up. Hmm, I find myself a little paranoid that I already wrote about Annapolis, but I can't find a post about it, so probably not.

In the old part of Annapolis.

I stayed at my pal Jane's house, which was super cool, tucked away in some woods and built like a large old cabin, with an all-wood great room. Jane has since relocated, so I won't get to hang out there again, but I'm glad I got one chance at least. Should have remembered to take some photos, but I didn't.

I did remember to take photos when I went exploring the town, though. I spent part of my visit in the old part of town, which is home to the U.S. Naval Academy and lots of old buildings and twisting roads. This wasn't my first visit to Annapolis, or even to the Naval Academy. In fact, when I was about 15, I briefly thought I might like to attend one of the military academies -- specifically, Navy. But a trip to the campus while on a family vacation opened my eyes to the reality of life there (all work, no play, no sleep) and I concluded I was probably better off at a liberal arts college.

The U.S. Naval Academy.

That same trip to Annapolis also opened my eyes to the small St. John's College (a liberal arts college!), which in many ways might have suited me very well. It's an unusual school in which students have no majors, and everyone studies the same books, same subjects, etc. I liked Annapolis, and I liked the idea of attending a "different" kind of school. Sadly (maybe for St. John's, maybe for me, I'll never know...) I read the St. John's syllabus before applying. And saw that Huckleberry Finn was on the required reading list. I had a really bad experience with Huck Finn in high school, and the thought of having to deal with it again was so off-putting that I didn't apply to St. John's. I had a pretty satisfying experience at American U, though, so my college experience turned out alright.

My other explorations through Annapolis were along the edge of the Chesapeake Bay, by bike. I hadn't ridden a bike in years (I owned one but didn't like riding around the DC area -- too much traffic) and it felt really good. I didn't wear a helmet, either, so part of me felt like a rebel and the other part felt like a totally normal person, since I managed to survive my childhood without dying of a head injury while riding a bike.

I liked the parts of Annapolis I road through; they were the newer parts, with larger homes and larger yards. But they weren't near anything except other homes and, for some, the Bay.

Here's a photo of the Bay Bridge, which scares the crap out of me even more than most bridges:

Terrifying. Even the gulls are frightened. See how they're paralyzed with fear?

It doesn't help that the bridge has five lanes across two spans, and that the lanes can flip from east-bound to west-bound depending on traffic, so sometimes the three-lane bridge has traffic going in both directions. Apparently, I'm not the only person who's afraid of the Bay Bridge: The state of Maryland contracts with a private company to drive people (and their cars or bikes) over the bridge for a pretty hefty fee.

Overall, it was a laid-back couple of days in Annapolis. If you're ever in the vicinity, or need a day trip away from D.C., it's worth a visit.

So quaint.