Bitter

Have a wedding in Spokane, but plan to go to Seattle for a few days. Open jaw flights seem reasonable. However, rental car prices for return in another city seem particularly high ($150/day for Hertz?).

Looking for other options. Commuter flights were suggested in another thread, but that seems like a bunch of work and time (back to the airport, security, waiting around etc.; though the flight itself is quick).

Greyhound is as cheap as $20 each. Any experience with this? Or do you have other options. (Looks like Amtrak is in the middle of the night?).

Thanks!

enzian

Amtrak works well FROM Seattle but as you noticed it leaves Spokane going westbound in the middle of the night.

Greyhound is OK; the terminal is downtown at 8th & Stewart not far from the main retail core and nice hotels.

Or you could reverse your open jaw flight and fly into Seattle, spend a few days, and then take the train to Spokane for the wedding, and fly home from there.

AAFrequentFlyer

Isn't it about 7+ hours on the bus?

If it was me, I would definitely fly.

An hour flight + 2-3 hours total before and after = 4 hours at worst.

Beats sitting on a bus for 7-8 hours.

Nothing wrong with Greyhound but it is a long trip.

Dayenu

You can also look into train one way, bus another. Both Amtrak and Greyhound don't charge penalty for one-way tickets.

Also, they both offer age discount, Amtrak AAA discount, not sure about Greyhound.

I'm not saying don't fly, I'm saying if you choose not to fly, remember about discounts

enzian

If the bus takes 7 to 8 hours that would not be good.

Driving time by car(for me, anyway) is 4.5 hours, so I have to wonder why the bus is so slow?

AAFrequentFlyer

I'm just guessing, but many bus stops along the way?

happytrailstoyou

The 10:40 a.m. bus takes 5 1/2 hours and gets to Spokane ahead of the 9:15 a.m. bus. I couldn't find out how many stops there are, but apparently the earlier bus makes more.

The ride is quite scenic between Seattle and the Columbia River, which is a little less than half way to Spokane.

I would take a good book to read in case the high dessert becomes boring.

If you can't face the return trip on Greyhound, you can find some other way to travel back to Seattle.

HTTY

HTTY

Bitter

Thanks everyone. Interesting idea about starting in seattle. However, Amtrak to Spokane arrives after midnight, which isn't ideal.

5.5 hours by bus isn't too bad, and I wouldn't have to drive.

What I'm not hearing (yet) is that the Greyhound is awful. I've heard/read horror stories...

Gardyloo

I'm seeing cars (National for instance) at $100 a day or less for one-ways, so I don't know about $150 for Hertz.

I imagine the bus is okay, there seems to be a noon departure from Spokane that gets into Seattle at 5:30 PM; other services make a lot of stops and travel via Stevens Pass, Monroe and Everett, a true milk run. But it's a bus.

IMO the drive is 3/4 boring and 1/4 scenic, and depending where you end up in Seattle it can be 4 to 5 hours or more, depending on traffic, density of state troopers, and how long the wait is for your burger at Zip's in Ritzville.

Me, I'd fly it for $74 and if you're really craving a bus ride, the 174 or 194 from Sea-Tac to downtown is $1.75 and takes around 30 min.

Check-in and security at GEG is rather faster than at, say, Miami.

suze

I'm not sure what "horror stories" you have heard. It's just Greyhound and not all that long of a trip (not like you're trying to go cross-country or something).

All that said, personally I'd fly.

AAFrequentFlyer

I'm not sure what "horror stories" you have heard.,

some of the routes are just terrible.

Many, many moons ago a friend and I took a Greyhound from Chicago to Detroit for a MNF game. Little did we realize that the bus stopped at just about every prison between the 2 cities. It was a nightmare. It wasn't dangerous but it was crowded with mostly wives of the prisoners and many of their little kids, smelly and took forever.

That said, I have a feeling the Spokane-Seattle run, although not very scenic is probably much different in that regards, so I don't think you can compare the 2 runs.

But just like you said, flying is probably the best option.

enzian

I can guarantee no prisons between Spokane and Seattle.

However, if the flight is only $74 I'd go that way, expecially if you are starting from Spokane. It's a small airport and as Gardyloo said very easy to negotiate. From SeaTac you can take the Greyline airporter bus direct to downtown (very comfortable). It stops at 5 or 6 of the major hotels.

And flying, you might get great views of Mt. Rainier and our other volcanoes. That's always a treat---especially if you have a chance to see all five.

Dayenu

About safety on Greyhound for single passengers.

You can be seating to a questinnably looking person if the bus is full. Walk on the bus, see who is seating by himself/herself, and if you like how the person looks, share the seat.

Do not sit down first on a 2-seater, anybody can join you. Better you join somebody nice.

happytrailstoyou

Greyhound is a high-class act compared to some of the buses I've ridden on in Guatemala, India, and Egypt.

Please don't be discouraged by the naysayers.

Also, by going Greyhound your trip from Seattle to Spokane will be an adventure about which you can regale your friends and family members at the reception following the wedding.

suze

I'm not a "naysayer", but from my point of view it's one long and very boring bus ride, or one easy and quick plane flight.

happytrailstoyou

I forgot to mention the worse bus ride I ever took.

It was from--Iguazu Falls, Argentina, to Asuncion, Paraguay. We were the only foreigners on the bus, and the bus driver thought it would be good fun to ditch us while our passports were being examined at the border. I had to throw myself in the road in front of the bus to get him to stop. He thought it was hilarious.

But I am glad to have had this experience and many others that I would not have had if I always traveled by the most comfortable and fastest means.

HTTY