Throughout this December, students travelled home for the holidays by car, carpool, plane, train, or even bus. For me, I typically take the Greyhound bus home. Their fares are reasonably priced, and my destination is a short car drive away from home. Taking the bus is always cheaper than filling up the car tank, and I never run into any issues with Greyhound, not to mention they provide outlets for charging and free WiFi that works pretty well. However, there are people on my Facebook feed who say otherwise, and to them I say that's fair, I have not been to every Greyhound station in the country where the infrastructure is more deteriorated, unreliable, or downright sketchy. Perhaps I have just been lucky, but let me tell you to give it a second chance.

Sure, paying to board a bus unsure of how crowded it may be full of God knows what kind of people raises skepticism. These strangers could be snorers, felons, screaming children, or people who play audio off their phone without headphones, like, I get it Brad you really like listening to Eminem and you want to break into the rap sceNE BUT PLEASE JUST PUT SOME EARBUDS OR LITERALLY ANY AUDIO JACK INTO YOUR CELLULAR DEVICE THERE ARE PEOPLE TRYING TO SLEEP IN AN ATTEMPT TO GET RID OF MOTION SICKNESS BECAUSE THE DRAMAMINE DECIDED NOT TO KICK IN.

Anyway.

A few weeks ago a friend told me a customer service horror story where he argued with the desk at his local Greyhound station about a reboard ticket that he never received but needed to get to his destination. He was scolded by the worker for losing a ticket he never received. Eventually, he was allowed to board due to the driver pulling some strings to give him a seat. It was one of the most wild customer service stories I have ever heard, mostly because I never experienced that kind of attitude with people in that industry (knock on wood). I can imagine it was an unnecessarily stressful situation for him and justification for never taking the Greyhound again

On the bright side, it gave him a good story to tell, as experiences on the Greyhound bus would. A few summers ago I took a Greyhound to Cincinnati, Ohio with my roommate, and when we arrived a man, in an almost cartoon con man fashion, opened his trenchcoat and asked if we wanted to buy some gold. This is a mild tale, and I hope to live out more entertaining ones. For now, you can always read the numerous reddit threads on riding the Greyhound (with this one being my personal favorite).

Riding the Greyhound provides a fascinating psychological and sociological study of human behavior. Personally, the Greyhound would serve as a fantastic environment for an ethnographic study. One time on my way back to college, I sat behind two Amish men who smelled particularly putrid, and I dreaded the next three hours of this bus ride. We departed from Point A, but around 45 minutes into reaching Point B, the driver took an exit off the highway and turned into an unlit dirt lot (I suppose Point A and a quarter). The driver stopped, and passengers, myself included, looked around at each other with unease. It was 8 P.M. and nearly pitch black. Suddenly, the two Amish men in front of me stood and got off the bus, hopping into a buggy where the horses trotted out of the lot and on the road. No one said anything, and our bus ride continued.

So the next time you make a fuss about the Greyhound, look the bright side. At least you will have quite a story to tell.