It depends. Most of the routes - not so nice.

BUT, some are very nice. The DC-NYC express in particular is spotless, quick, cheap and attracts a nice group of riders.

An overnight trip on a Greyhound for a young person is a Rite of Passage, something one has to do to become an adult bona-fide traveller. It also counts for bragging rights.

I just did two four-hour trips in the midwest where flights seemed impossible - my first re-acquaintance with Greyhound after many many years, and I was pleasantly surprised. Legroom was adequate, I had an empty seat next to me both times, nobody even looked at the two (modestly-sized) bags I took into the cabin (rules say only one, and only one checked...), and the toilet was clean, the overhead light worked - what's not to like? Ah, the price - it was ridiculously low, I couldn't have driven for the same money.

My 21-year old nephew took Greyhound from Albany, NY, to Birmingham, AL, last summer over night.

He wouldn't say it was a great trip but he has done hosteling in Europe so he's seen some weird things in his life. He felt safe but hopes he never has to do it again. It's something everybody should do once at least.

A couple of years ago we were driving home from Colorado and stopped for gas and quick food take out somewhere in the vast wastelands of western Kansas.
I went into MacDonalds at the same time a cross country Greyhound stopped. I think my eyes bugged out, because the passengers looked straight out of central casting for a movie. Some of the scariest looking men just covered in major tattoos...like they had just broken out of prison and others who appeared to not know what was going on, probably hadn't for years! What a group, I still remember it vividly and as I said it happened two years ago. yikes!

I'm glad to see posts that recommend the experience. The posts about weird characters reminds me of last night when I stopped at a local farm stand in rural NH and ran into a neighbor and her family. Well, her husband is a hard working, responsible guy but he's got a fuzzy, unkempt beard half way done his chest. It looked like the sweater he was wearing had been half eaten by a goat. If I didn't know him, I wouldn't sit next to him. BTW, our son used to dress in awful work clothes when he had a job cleaning dog kennels. He once got stopped by the police because he looked like a suspicious character. I know you want to steer clear of some of the weird looking people but they're not all dangerous characters.

Just think, to the others passengers you may very well be one of those "weird characters". :-?

Just think, to the others passengers you may very well be one of those "weird and dangerous characters". :-?

Just think, to the others passengers you may very well be one of those "weird and dangerous looking characters". :-?

There is a hilarious book (sort of a narrative actually) called The Greyhound Diaries. Google it or watch it on You Tube.

Red Rock, you must really mean that!

??

I wonder what happened to my post(s).

Somewhere between preview and edit all were posted. :&

??

When I worked at the DA's office in NYC I learned that the bus routes from FL up through DC and on to NY are used by drug traffickers to transport drugs because they don't get searched, road blocks, etc. Just sayin.

I completely agree with the poster who said that you could just as easily get seated next a "psycho" on the airplane.... AND have you ever seen the red-eye flights arriving in NYC? I would describe those people as scary looking zombies too.

This bus-ist attitude is a big problem in this country. I wish people would get over it.

Actually, I just realized that the last person I know who rode a bus is my brother. He rode it from Key West to Maryland.
He is VERY scary looking. Waist length dreadlocks, scarred face from unfortunate adventures, until you start talking to him. People love him. People follow him and want to interview him.
He has been in several magazines.
This is one of the articles:

http://www.soundingsonline.com/ME2/d...A8FD9CD716ADE3

He is scary looking though :)

What? No picture of scary brother?

Bus-ist? That's a new one. I'm not sure why it's a problem for you, happy train. In fact, it seems to me that the more of us "bus-ists" out there, the more likely you are to get a seat on Greyhound next time you want to take it!

The OP said that this is Thanksgiving. Busiest travel days of the year. All bets are off on quality of travel no matter what your mode may be. Same thing with car reservations .. might arrive to find the cupboard ...er, parking lot.. empty. Nothing available, nothing.

OK, that said about the fact it's Turkey day ... I don't understand some of the posts. <b>RESCUE</b> a 20 some year old? My god, he might be in Iraz or elsewhere in a year or two. How will he be &quot;rescued&quot; then? 5 am in Boston's South Station? We're talking early hours of morning commute.

A suggestion I'd give for young people who get oh-so-bored without electronic stimuli is some DVDs or iPod and maybe extra batteries. Sure, the trips may be boring, but each passenger brings something to the table too as far as perception. Feel the trip will be ugly, it probably will.

Strange or violent characters? Gee, how about that 1st class passenger who when refused another drink climbed on a beverage cart, took a dump and wiped himself with napkins? I don't think I've read about anything like that on buses.

And I agree with the post about a round-trip drive being more a danger too. Come to think of it, the trip in Mom &amp; Dad's car between home and whereever (bus, rail, airport) may be more dangerous than the bus too.

It's late, I'm rambling, time to say gnite.

Bringing some toilet tissue is not a bad idea .. including Amtrak trips.

TxTravelPro - you with the scary bro - and anyone else with scarily long URLs to share: If you go to www.tinyurl.com and input that long sucker you'll have a short and manageable one in about 3 seconds.

if you want to see zombies coming off a public conveyance, tattoed or otherwise, watch the crowds getting off the incoming flights from Australia in SFO or LAX. They left at something like 3PM and they are getting in at something like 10AM THE SAME DAY (because of the dateline) and most have the prospect of another domestic flight ahead of them. Zombies for sure.

My two sisters and I rode Greyhound from Atlantic City to NYC and were the last three on the bus. I sat in the back with a pleasant-looking older lady who laughed silently to herself several times before falling asleep with her head on my shoulder. My one sister was in the middle next to a person who loudly swore every other word. &quot;F*** the bus, f*** the traffic, etc.,&quot; My twin sat toward the front next to someone who passed gas frequently. Altogether, I'd say the laughing/sleeping lady was the best of the bunch!

rbtraveler, my use of the word &quot;rescue&quot; our son at South Station was intended to be humorous. At the time he was returning from USMC combat training. The Marines had to buy bus tickets to get home. (Our son would have preferred to fly but you don't argue with Staff Sgt.) DH hates to drive in any city which is sort of a family joke. Worst trip DS ever took was a USMC chartered flight on a commercial air carrier to CAX training in CA near 29 Palms. It is all part of the practice to move people and equipment in time of war. Marines were in full combat gear, apparently the rule against bringing guns on boards is waived for these flights. DS said some of the guys didn't behave very well on the long flight from the East coast. I think he enjoyed amphibious landings more except for the time when he dove into a fire ant nest.
So, in addition to drug traffickers, you can expect soldiers, sailors, and Marines are riding on Greyhound routes along the east coast.

On the east coast, it seems that half of the passengers are college students or recent grads, either traveling between school and home, or visiting friends.

Dear <b>dfnh</b> - sorry that I failed to read the intended humor - one of the problems with written word.

Yes, the military takes most effective means for travel. If more people served in military - with the &quot;deluxe accomodations&quot;, &quot;roommates&quot;, bathrooms, etc. then there's be a lot less belly-aching on sites like this when a hotel only had &quot;off-brand&quot; shampoo!! The worse hotels don't seem so bad when I recall sharing a room with 26 others in triple-decked &quot;racks&quot; (beds).

Prayers for your son's continued safe travels and good health.

My daughter takes the greyhound from Boston to NYC and Philadelphia quite often. Says it is boring, but she gets homework done on the long trips. I know that a few times it has been delayed by a bit., but nothing major.

My Mom in law took GH from Portland OR to San Diego last year. Arrived about 5 hours late. The dispatcher told us that her bus had arrived in SD on time (Obviously it hadn't!) so we were scared something had happened to her, and couldn't get through on her phone.

Turned out the surly driver told the passengers to turn off their phones and she took it literally, instead of turning off the ringer.

As we had a wedding rehearsal to attend, it was a nightmare that afternoon!

Last year I took Greyhound across MO on I44. When I called to inquire, their agent said I could wait at the St.Louis airport and buy a ticket from the driver. Two soldiers Fort Leonard Wood and I got the last three seats on the bus, luckily.

Mine was next to a very sweet, soft, warm ~375 pounder. He gave me the window seat and tried to hold himself in as much as he could. Avoiding body contact was not a possibility, but so what. I napped as if under a heavy comforter.

When we got to Rolla, the bus pulled into a McDonald's parking lot, and as if by a secret signal half the passengers sprang into the aisles holding their cigarettes and lighters expecting a smoke break. At Fort Leonard Wood a lot of soldiers got off, so I found a less crowded seat.

Coming home, there were a decent number of free seats. Truckers going to Tulsa apparently take that bus a lot, and I found my fellow passengers pleasant if not genteel.

My only reservation with taking the bus is not being able to count on getting a seat, even if I had a ticket.

thanks rbtraveler. DS is out of the military now. Thank you for the chuckle about off-brand shampoo. And thank you for your service. Best wishes.

On many of the Greyhound routes you may now purchase a &quot;board first&quot; pass for $5. I've not used it and I don't know how they cut it off, but I do think that the extra $5 when it is offered would be a good choice if you are traveling on a tight schedule.

The Dog is little more &quot;boring&quot; than a rail trip ... except that there's no lounge/snack car. But the time can be used for reading, cards, sleeping, or even watching videos (bring the extra batteries!) My viewpoint is that kids are time-rich and money-poor so let them get some experience meeting people outside their usual comfort zone.

Vivi,

In response to your new information and route disclosure, don't hesitate to send your college age son on Greyhound on that trip.

The people reporting the worst of the Greyhound stories live in the more densely populated areas of the country, and those are where the Greyhound populace is worst.

The path from Sacramento to Eugene is filled with nothingness. (does anybody ever talk of a &quot;homeless&quot; population in Grants Pass?? - no, of course not!)

Furthermore, even the people going from one spot to another as cheaply as possible (read: Greyhound) don't tend to live on one end of that path AND have faily at the other end.

In addition, with it being Thanksgiving weekend, there will be a fair number of &quot;regular&quot; people infiltrating the steerage section of Greyhound so as to give your son the impression that the clientele is of a higher class, on average, than you have been led to believe.

As they say:

&quot;Go Greyhound...&quot;

Google Greyhound and watch as murder/decapitations/assault etc come up.

When I was in college I worked for the SC Department of Corrections (internship) and was in charge of inmate furloughs.

I put all my inmates on greyhound which is what all prisons do.

Would I ride greyhound? Never in a million years.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/...n4313498.shtml

See GoTravel that is what our local PD told me. We have two prisons here in my city. And yes, they leave via Greyhound.

Greyhound Update!

With some trepidation I dropped son at the Sacramento Greyhound station last night. The bus left precisely on the dot and arrived in Eugene early. He said he had a whole row to himself and slept the whole way. All for $58. So he is rested and ready for todays OSU-Oregon showdown after Fridays family Thanksgiving dinner.
It was a successful first run for him on The Dog! Thanks for all your stories!

PS. He is flying home!

Thanks for the update; we love happy endings.

thanks, vivi.

I rode many an old dog in my day, and lived to tell the tale.

Good update!

One of my college kids boards the dog tomorrow for his 9 hour ride. It'll will be crowded, but oh well, he's a kid - he'll live.

(And yes, our dogs not only transport parolees but also drug addicts coming from downstate to the upstate rehab places. Just what we need here. More drug addicts.)

1. Those who don't make it alive don't post.

2. A business cannot kill off <b>all</b> its customers. It needs at least <b>a few</b> return customers.

:p

One more part to the Happy Ending: Oregon upset Oregon State tonight making the 9 hour ride for game day exceptionally worthwhile! (I am sure the Beavers are stunned, this loss robbed them of a Rose Bowl berth.)

Here is a little tune by Roy Clark for all those that ride The Dog.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=848C6...eature=related