Have you ever ridden on a long distance bus? Where were you travelling to?
On Saturday morning, Shirley and I travelled by "National Express" coach right into the heart of London and returned on Monday afternoon via the same mode of transport. Sheffield is 170 miles from our nation's capital city. For the two of us the cost of the return fare was only £42.00 (That's US$52 or AUS$80).
The buses were pretty new and clean with plenty of legroom and it was nice to let someone else do the driving as we read our books or, in Shirley's case, knitted little hats for babies. We had made sandwiches to consume halfway down the motorway and the same on the way back. We were not irritated by other passengers for there was a quiet, respectful atmosphere on board our two coaches.
When I was in my early twenties, I climbed aboard a few Greyhound buses in The States. I guess the longest journey I took was from Bloomington, Indiana - changing in Chicago before carrying on to Minneapolis. I also journeyed between New York City and Cleveland.
However such bus travel pales into insignificance when I recall the return coach journey I took in the summer of 1980 from London to Athens, Greece aboard The Magic Bus. I dimly recall that the journey took over 24 hours - so long that it seemed it would never end.
In northern Yugoslavia in the middle of the night, I opened my eyes to witness the horror of our two drivers swapping over at the wheel while travelling at seventy miles an hour along an arrow-straight road. I am sure I did not dream this.
I also took a long distance bus from Santiago, Chile to Mendoza, Argentina in 2009 - right through The Andes passing close to Aconcagua - the tallest mountain in South America. Long distance bus travel appeared to be a vital means of connection in South America where the rail "network" is patchy or non-existent.
Earlier today I was asked to complete a customer survey by National Express and I found it rather nice to score ten of ten for just about everything. We had no complaints but I guess we were also quite lucky that there were no hold-ups on the M1 motorway because of accidents, congestion or roadworks. That is pretty unusual.
My longest bus ride was from Hay river to Edmonton , not once but twice. The bus was an old beater and the roads were terrible.
ReplyDeleteThat's over 1000 miles!
DeleteI have never traveled a long distance by bus but I like the idea of seeing the countryside while someone else drives!
ReplyDeleteWhat kind of a Democrat are you if you have never ridden on a Greyhound?
DeleteThe 3am Megabus from Manchester to London is surprisingly packed out, but dirt cheap and gets you to Victoria for the start of the day. Personally, if i had the money, I would always use the train.
ReplyDeleteOne of the reasons we decided to to by bus was train strikes.
DeleteMy experience of long-distance coach travel was, unfortunately, rather different to yours. It was a journey back to London from Morecambe, and should have been an overnight trip on an appropriate style coach. However, after a significant delay the "wrong" coach eventually turned up, just a ordinary day trip style coach. After setting off we next had a stop at Preston bus station to pick up additional passengers. At that time, some 50 years ago Preston bus station was a singularly depressing concrete monstrosity, not helped by the heavy rain that had now started. After what seemed like another interminable delay, we finally set off to London, but unfortunately one of the new passengers from Preston chose to sit next to me, and proceeded to talk non-stop for the remainder of the journey to London. So, instead of a reasonably relaxing trip it was sheer hell, and put me off long distance bus travel for a long time.
ReplyDeleteOh God! A fellow passenger with verbal diarrhoea... and from Preston too! Such a tedious combination. Things are much better these days. For example, the coaches are no longer pulled by horses!
DeleteI travelled by long distance bus back in 2004 to visit my mother and again in 2013 to visit the same town to see my sister. Never again! Both times the bus was noisy with passengers and there was no leg room at all. I'm short and felt uncomfortable, so I can only guess at how taller passengers felt.
ReplyDeleteI have heard you have a lot of camels in Australia. Can you travel by camel?
DeleteDid you share any busses on the buses?
ReplyDeleteAt one point the driver announced, "Any more snogging and you will have to get off this bus at Milton Keynes!" A fate worse than death.
DeleteThat's handy to read, we are planning our own trip to London in December and have spoken about taking the bus and not driving, our journey will be a shorter ride than your.
ReplyDeleteI imagine you will be going from Portsmouth to Victoria. Usually you can reserve two seats together for about £4 extra.
DeleteDid you book online? I had great fun trying to book a airport bus in Canterbury last year. The ticket office was closed down permanently I think? Eventually a kind bus driver lady told me I could queue up at the post office and book a bus ticket if I couldn't book online. Glad you had a good journey. I recently went from Newark on Trent for to Nottingham on a 21 miles journey for 2 Pounds. They also took cash.
ReplyDeleteYes, I did book online and it wasn't a fishing line either.
DeleteI must say, distance coach travel has much improved since I last used it in the 1970s, although apparently the coach toilets can still smell bad which can leak into the seating area.
ReplyDeleteOn our National Express coach the toilet was magnificent but men should sit to wee-wee.
DeleteThe only long distance coach drive I think I've ever taken was from Liverpool to London Victoria Coach Station in about 1960. I can now travel from my home to Glasgow free on the ferry and busses/coaches. I've never done it though.
ReplyDeleteDon't you like travelling alongside common people like me?
DeleteI don't know. I've never done it.
DeleteAlthough not a particularly long distance coach journey, we once travelled between San Sebastian and Bilbao on the coastal bus route. it was about an hour and twenty minutes but seemed a lot longer due to the man sitting in front of us who had a powerful armpit aroma.
ReplyDeleteWas he called Jacob Rees-Mogg by any chance? San Sebastian to Bilbao does not count as long distance!
DeleteI never had any adventures on buses, but my family occasionally use National Express when the trains are on strike.
ReplyDeleteIt's never too late to go by bus!
DeleteWhen I was a teenager a group took a charter bus from Michigan to Colorado and back (about 1,300 miles in each direction.) I was young, it was nice to travel.
ReplyDeleteA good way to learn how big the USA is!
DeleteI take them in the Philippines to get to and from airport to our mountain home, a journey of 4 to 6 hours depending on number of stops along the way. They are very reasonably priced and comfortable. But here in the States, I avoid them.
ReplyDeleteSave The Planet! Save gasoline and travel by Greyhound or Trailways! I am sure your daughters would love it.
DeleteI've only travelled by coach on privately arranged excursions, back in the days when I belonged to our local U3A. The coaches were always comfortable and reasonably new - usually run by the same company that did the airport runs. No complaints about unwanted companions, as I sat with friends. It gave me an excellent opportunity to see lesser known parts of the country and husband stayed home with the dogs. He wasn't a fan of coach or bus travel.
ReplyDeleteYou had your late husband well-trained Carol! I guess he had to do what you told him to do!
DeleteI have yet to take a long-distance bus in the UK but based on your report maybe I'll try it!
ReplyDeleteI don't think they allow dogs on board but you could pretend you're blind and Olga could be your guide dog.
DeleteIt would quickly become obvious that Olga isn't disciplined enough to be a guide dog! (In fact I'd be guiding HER.)
DeleteI think my longest bus drive was from Seville to Granada. I prefer to take the train where I can walk around if necessary.
ReplyDeleteThat's 155 miles. Quite far.
DeleteMy longest bus drive, excluding the trip I took in the early 70's across Europe with a group from Winter Haven, Florida, was just a few hour drive from Jacksonville to Tallahassee. I have to say that it was one of the most pleasant few hours of my life. The bus was not crowded, everyone was quiet, and it rained for part of the drive. It was like a small, magical world inside that bus. I felt so safe and it was peaceful.
ReplyDeleteMy daughter May once took a bus from Tallahassee, Florida to somewhere up near the border of Washington State and Canada- about as far as you can go in this country. I am sure she will never forget that.
I had bus rides when I went to Italy in Fall 2019. It was lovely to travel from Venice to Florence and then Rome. Our tour guide would point out places of interest and we enjoyed seeing more of the country.
ReplyDeleteMy ex-husband drives a tour bus now in his retirement which always surprises me because back in the day he was an awful driver and couldn't stand to drive long distances. It was always up to me when we took the kids on vacations! ;)
It's nice to have someone else do the driving but I've never been on a bus for more than two hours. Glad you got to visit family.
ReplyDeleteI have ridden on buses early in my adult life but I much prefer trains. Ah, the romance of the rails!
ReplyDelete