I Majored in Greyhound

Time I Spent on the Bus* vs. Time I Spent in Class** from June 30 2009 - June 30 2010

I caught the bus from Missoula, MT to Portland, OR yesterday. I began to reminisce about all the time I've spent on the bus this past year. In late June 2009, I purchased a 'Greyhound Discovery Pass' which allowed me to travel anywhere in North America for 60 days. I spent over 150 hours on the bus during those 2 months.

Months later, I bought another discovery pass- this time for 15 days. I went from Toronto to Vancouver and back. That's another 150+ hours. Over the past year I have spent over 350hours on the Greyhound, more than double the time I spent in class. Not surprisingly, I know a whole lot more about the Greyhound than I do about linguistics. Here are my tips on what to bring and why:

• Water- duh.
• Duct tape slippers- Waterproof and easy to slip on when you just want to get off the bus for a minute. Not great on ice.

My duct tape slippers

• Travel scrabble- in case I find a friend
• Knitting- in case I don’t
• Ipod- Not nearly as important as people seem to think. On a 76 hour bus trip, 7 hours of ipod battery doesn’t get you very far.
• Sleeping bag- every time I pull out my sleeping bag people look at me like I’m a genius (funny that). This isn’t rocket science folks, if you want to sleep on the bus- do it properly.
• Eye mask and ear plugs- KEY! Get in your own little bubble.
• Swiss army knife- This is greyhound, safety first.
• Food- Before every long bus trip, the most common question I get asked is ‘Do you have snacks?’ which is usually followed by them trying to give me some, even though I said yes. They always give me easy-to-eat snacks like chips, nuts, apples, candy etc. They mean well, but to be honest, it’s not what I want to eat on the bus. When you eat a muesli bar, you unwrap it, eat it, then throw away the wrapper. This will take 10 minutes at best. I want something that’s going to take me ages to eat and prepare.
• Boiled eggs are a favourite of mine. First you have to find something to put the egg in, then you have to peel it and find somewhere to put the shell. Next, you need something to mash it with and maybe something to mix it with ( I usually bring sachets of mayonnaise, salt and pepper). Then you might have to wait an hour til the next bus stop, at which time you can look for some kind of bread. Maybe it will be a hot dog bun, or perhaps you’ll get corn chips and use it as a dip. Get creative. Finally, it’s ready to eat, and you’ve killed close to 2 hours.
• If you do want some easy-to-eat foods, I recommend getting them at the bus station. I know it can be a little more expensive, but I can kill a good 40 minutes looking at a vending machine deciding what I want.
• Thermos- Greyhound stations don’t have much, but most of them have boiling water, and you can do almost anything with boiling water. Tea, cuppa soup, instant mash potatoes, 2 minute noodles, those awesome camping meals. You can have yourself a very satisfying 3 course meal right there on the bus.
• Toiletries- Sure it’ll make you feel fresher; whacking on some deodorant is pretty much the same as having a shower, but be warned: the better you smell, the more likely it is that someone will sit next to you. That’s a bad thing.

Things to remember:

• Set small goals. Don’t think ‘I’ll be in Vancouver in 70 hours’ think ‘I’ll be in Sudbury in 2 hours (hoorah!)’
• Go west to east if you can. Thinking it’s 10pm, then all of the sudden it’s 9pm again, is incredibly depressing.
• Don’t multi task. Ever. Multi tasking is your enemy. If you’re eating, don’t listen to your ipod. If you’re talking to someone, don’t be knitting. Etc.

*'Other buses' include Mega Bus, Orleans Express, Coach Canada and all buses used for Queen’s Bands. Excludes local buses and all other types of transportation including rideshares.

** 'Class missed' is based on 4 weeks I was absent as well as 2 classes missed every other week.