Thomas

Has anyone taken the greyhound bus from California to New York City? Does the bus stop at hotels along the way in different cities? How many days was the trip? Would you do it again? What route did the bus take, north, south? Any info would be helpful. Thank you.

Ryan

I've driven across country so not exactly the same thing. Honestly, unless you're on a Jack Kerouac type experience, it's not all it is cracked up to be.

Don't know the schedule but I've got to believe the economics for Greyhound only work if the bus in in motion. Overnight stops would seem to be impractical as that would stretch a 2.5 day to 3 day trip even further.

Given how low some fares can be on JetBlue, I assume the cost difference may not be substantial.

All that said, it is interesting to see our nation from coast to coast and if you can create your own schedule with stops, it could be memorable.

rkkwan

Go to greyhound.com and it will show you schedule, fares and routing.

From Northern California, it'll take I-80 to Salt Lake. Transfer to another bus, and continue on I-80 but drop down to Denver. Fron Denver, depending on schedule, it may go up through I-76 back to I-80 to Chicago; or stay on I-70 to St. Louis.

From LA, there are many routes, depending on time of departure. Some go east on I-10 to Phoenix, and then cut back north through St. Louis. Or stay on I-10/20 to Dallas and then go through Memphis. Or it may start NE from LA through Vegas to Utah/Colorado.

So, you have choices to make.

Don't know about stopovers. You will need to call them to find out if you can stay at one city or more for extended periods. The regular ticket is for non-stop travelling.

Would I do it? Definitely no without stopovers. Sit in a bus for 60 hours straight? No way.

birgator

Did the US by bus in the early 70s as a foreign exchange student -- even then it was taxing and grueling at best. Took two days plus non-stop from NYC to Seattle if I recall.

There is a Discover America pass but it's not cheap, about $500 depending on the length of your ticket. That permits unlimited stops and starts. Bus stations tend to be dismal, and often in tired sections of any town, not conducive to wandering around looking for a decent place to stay.

It was a great deal in those days ... $99 for 99 days, but I was younger and more adventurous then. And it WAS memorable and it WAS Kerouac-esque indeed.

B/

rb_travelerxATyahoo

The greyhound website will also give you the addresses of the bus stops, you could do a YahooMap/ Mapquest, etc to find nearby hotels. As a youth/young adult I'd have done something like this, but never today.

rjw_lgb_ca

Knowing where Greyhound bus stations tend to be in the cities where they stop, and having discussed this with my sister who did a relatively short trip on Greyhound once (Once!), I would say:

Don't even consider this out of desperation. Seedy and unpleasant at best. There are SO many better ways to travel.

eriberri

Aside from whole-heartedly agreeing about the location of bus terminals and the comfort of a bus...I personally traveled from Charleston, SC to Boston on Greyhound in Sept of 2000...I would rather WALK next time...crowded, uncomfortable, bathroom was beyond gross and the places we stopped were scary, by anyone's standards...If you want to do a cross-country, try the train or buy an old, cheap car...anything but the bus!

That being said, I'm sure someone will have had a better experience...

LoveItaly

Hi Thomas, not to be another spoilsport but I have to agree with others here.

My neighbor just had two different nieces travel from St. Louis to N.CA (a month apart) and each of them said it was the trip from h*ll. The one that arrived yesterday was at her aunt's and she was actually shaking from the ordeal of the trip. Nothing bad happened to her it was just the whole situation.

Did you want to do this trip thinking it would be fun and give you a chance to see some of the counrty?

If you just need to get to NYC I suggest that you go to www.jetblue.com and see what their fare is to get you from CA (I know they have flights from Long Beach, Oakland and Sacramento) to JFK. Everyone that flies with them raves about this airline. Just a thought. Best wishes.

FainaAgain

If you want an adventure ride - try Amtrak coach, at least you'll be able to buy 3 meals a day in a sit-down restaurant, get up and walk whenever you want to stretch your feet.

Greyhound bus stops are usually in unsafe areas. Bus stops at hotels? No. At designated stops (like a pole in the middle of nowhere) or bus stations.

mikemo

I always thought that it was pretty outrageous that Greyhound and Greyhound Bus never contributed a cent to the remarkable Greyhound Rescue Organizations world wide.
M

rb_travelerxATyahoo

Why, are people trying to rescue Greyhound buses?? From what??

Ok, seriously -- many cities and area transportation agencies spend all kinds of money building Taj Mahal airports and even train stations, I guess to impress out-of-towners -- but never give a thought to those who might arrive by bus. Everytime I read about politicians' cross-country bus tours (or "whistle-stop tours") I wonder why they don't try the regularly scheduled bus & train service as the rest of us are stuck with?

bluestructure

I agree with Faina, take the train. Those train tracks will go where some roads can't and you'll see some awesome scenery. Plus you can get up and stretch your legs & get some food while your moving. I couldn't imagine riding a bus cross country. I've seen the kind of riff raff that rides those things and to end up sitting next to smelly sam for hours on end, OMG. Yeah, so I would take the train if you want to see the country and if you just want to go the cheap way...well you'll find out how it feels to be cheap when you get to your final destination.

Daniel_Williams

Hey

I have not done the trip you suggest using Greyhound, but have used Greyhound on different legs of travel. These include: Montreal-New York City, Washington DC-Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh-Harrisburg-Baltimore, Washington DC- Williamsburg VA, New Orleans-Houston-San Antonio, Laredo-San Antonio-Houston.

Things I didn't like: At busy times such as holiday seasons, Greyhound did overbook, which I saw resulted in some people unable to get on the bus they wanted to. Make sure to get a place with plenty of time in line.

Some bus stations are kind of dreadful in appearance (Baltimore, Richmond) with pretty horrific food options sometimes (Baton Rouge, Albany). Bathrooms on the bus and sometimes in the bus station can be a hold-your-nose affair too.

Things I liked: Observing the countryside, sometimes the bus would stop in towns I'd never heard of before and I'd get to see a slice of small town America life I hadn't given any thought to.

Seeing the demographic change as you ride the bus (the transformation from New Orleans-Texas, entering French Canada the same). I've had some interesting conversations with people too from all different walks of life.

I generally enjoy the experience but I think I'm more stoic about certain things than I think many other people. This said, California-New York City sounds incredibly daunting to me. I'm OK up to about 10 hours on a bus during daylight and then I start to get antsy to get off. Night buses drive me stir crazy because I can't sleep and there's no scenery to watch. I typically only do around 12 hours MAX on a bus and plot out a place to stay at night in advance.

Have fun whatever you decide. DAN

wantsomesun

Shortly after 9/11, I was on business in Atlanta, and my return flight on Delta, I was supposed to come home on Sunday, and I was done with work on Friday. Now normally, since I traveled with Delta ALOT in the past, when I got to the airport, I either was able to fly standby or for a small fee, got to go home. Not THIS TIME.

They wanted to charge me for a new ticket and it would have been $500 so, instead of staying until Sunday, I went to Greyhound and took the bus home to NYC. NOT a fun trip, and I had to change buses at least once, and it took all night and most of the next day.

After that experience, I would NEVER recommend taking the bus, it was awful, and I would never do it again, unless it was an emergency. One person who sat next to me had not bathed in recent years, and another person, kept talking when I made it clear that I was trying to sleep.

JetBlue is a wonderful suggestion. It is the best airline out there, with TV and ontime schedules, I HIGHLY recommend JetBlue.

Amtrack is also interesting, I tried it once on a trip to Cleveland from NYC. I had a sleeper car both ways, but again the times were strange, and sleeping is a challenge, because you are being bumped around all night long.

Good luck with your trip, and choose wisely.

Stephanie

I've taken Greyhound before but only across PA. I met at Pittsburgh a woman who travelled from Kansas City to Philadelphia and she stated she would absolutely never travel by bus again. She sat next to me because I seemed normal and didn't smell. Really, go by train its alot nicer.

Thomas

Thank you one and all for your comments. I will probably discourage my friends, 2 girls from France, from going cross country to NY by bus. I know I wouldn't do it.

Anonymous

Yikes, for two girls from France, the idea is beyond terrible.

birgator

See, a typical instance of not getting enough information up front in the question. It's altogether different to take the bus non-stop from LA to NY from using Greyhound to "see America." If they have time to meander across the country, and break up the trips to arrive in different cities at "safe" times, they can use youth hostels along the way and actually have an amazing experience.

I met a lot of young tourists from all over the world in youth hostels a couple of years back who were doing exactly this. And since there are two of them (how old?), if they use some common sense, they should be safe enough. Just don't stay on the bus much more than 6 or 8 hours would be my only recommendation.
Just my 2c worth.

B/

suze

Hearing this plan is for two European young people, my comment is that I think people often do not realize how HUGE the U.S. is, because Europe is so much more compact.

IF they are serious, I'd look into time tables so they understand just how many hours and hours and hours will be spent on the bus. If this is a backpacking tour and they have loads of time, then I suggest you get info from a guidebook or website like Lonely Planet.

Also possibly looking into the more off-beat bus tours like Green Tortoise or the like might suit them.

If they are planning a nonstop just to get from point A to B, then I suggest a plane ticket.

Livio

Dear friends,we would like to plan a coast to coast trip in Usa using Greyhound buses and&or Amtrak services.We have not found any complete guide apart from nay suggestions gathered from many sites. However we have understood that many of you have had this experience ,thus we would like to know pros and cons about it.We will travel from Italy to New York in the month of august 2006 and from there our intention is to move to Los Angeles having stop overs on the main attractive places. An alternative otion could be to travel from L.aA. to New York but this choice depends on the cost of the plane.
Could You please help two italians on the subject__
Thanks for Your cooperation
Livio