Greyhound is the only form of transportation I've taken that passengers will actively band together to protect each other from the company, because you'll start as a loose group heading in the same direction, but end up like sailors in a lifeboat trying to pull everyone onto the right bus and fighting off sharks. Greyhound is the great American equalizer, because you're all gonna be treated like braindead cattle regardless of race, creed, or origin.
If you join Amtrak's online club and receive notifications, Amtrak has wonderful promotions providing great fares... Ditto with the airlines... Of course that implies traveling during the slow times, not the very busy peak times during the year...
As a former Greyhound driver, (like, waaaay before you guys were born) it was kind of nice to see in your video how some things have changed and some things remain the same. I worked there when Greyhound Lines was part of the Greyhound Corporation, which was also the parent company of Armour-Dial, famous for hot dogs and soap. Greyhound was struggling to survive unsubsidized in a newly deregulated interstate bus system competing with heavily subsidized Amtrak and also, recently deregulated low cost airlines offering cheap flights. Greyhound Corp sold off the bus company and rebranded to Dial Corporation. Most of the old classic bus stations were sold off as valuable real estate. When I drove for Greyhound, our longest scheduled route was between Seattle and Miami via San Diego and then I-8 rejoining I-10 to Phoenix and points east. And of course, the reciprocal westbound schedule. Extra sections (additional buses) were added based on demand. The “first section” bus always made the entire run even as drivers changed every eight to ten hours. Extra sections were added as needed or not needed. Some extra sections were made “express” between two points that skipped all of the small town stops. It was a system that was modeled after early railroading, as was the drivers’ union contract with the Almalgamated Transit Union. (Fun fact: Jackie Gleason, aka Ralph Kramden, was made an honorary member of the ATU for his portrayal of a New York City bus driver) I liked driving for Greyhound but as an extra board driver, I was strictly part time. That’s no way to make a living. I too had my share of threatened violence on the bus so it became an easy decision to change careers. I have been an airline mechanic for the past 33 years. Absolutely best career move! Note to Greyhound drivers: If they’re killing you with this shit, if you feel like you’re spinning your wheels, if you don’t have “learn to fly money,” find a community college with an aviation maintenance technician program. Two years and passing an FAA A&P license written and practical test, you too can get off the road and start working for a major airline! United Airlines is currently offering a $10,000 cash signing bonus to new technicians! Give it some thought. That goes for the rest of you kids watching these videos wondering what you’re going to be doing with your life.
Amazing stories, thank you so much! Miami to Seattle on one schedule is INSANE...I would totally try to ride that whole thing if it still existed. Now the longest is NYC to LA, which I did at the beginning of 2020.
I would imagine that with a commercial bus license, the shift to a commercial trucking license, or even city bus operator (especially if your city has a regional transit agency/division, like the MTA express buses, or GO Transit in Canada), so for those that want a career change but can't afford college or don't have the time for it, that might be an option.
@@smitastic7030 cuts in the airline industry? I thought I heard there was a massive shortage .... pilots, fa's right through the line to gate agents > Blancoliro been saying this for over a yr now
It’s amazing that in the long history of passenger bus service that the experience is still so awful. In my youth (17-25 yrs old) I used to ride Greyhound and Amtrak a lot. I’ve seen things ON the bus that I’ve never seen anywhere else. I’ve seen the driver toss people off in the middle of nowhere. I’ve seen people having very vociferous adult relations. I’ve been on a bus that was raided by the DEA and people arrested. On my very last bus trip in 1991 this kid (14 yr old girl) sat next to me. Her mom in Philly was sending her to live with her dad in Miami and put on the bus with no food or money. I was getting of in Orlando which was a 28 hr ride and she was goin to Miami,a 34 hr ride. I ended up buying the kid all her meals along the way and left her a $5 bill so she could get another meal along the way to Miami. The one thing that’s always prevalent on greyhound and Amtrak is that travel funk that permeates your clothes and hair. You always have to hit the shower as soon as you reach your destination.
sending a kid from philly to miami in 1991 with no food or money OR cell phone, yeah pay phones would be the equivalent I guess but jeez, i truly truly hope she made it
I used to take Greyhound from Montana to Oregon, which doesn't sound so bad but it can be over 30 hours at time. I watched a drive once kick a guy off in the absolute middle of nowhere in eastern washington at like 3am. We were 20+ miles from any town. It was absolutely wild. The guy was drunk and bought a cheaper ticket but overstayed his ticket.
I feel your pain. In 1966 I took a Greyhound from San Francisco to NYC. I was 16 and Greyhound promised my uncle & father I would be safe and watched over (yes back then minors which I was had to be babysat). Well in Sacramento the bus broke down and I changed buses. That' where Greyhound lost me. In Reno I had to take a bathroom break but the bathrooms were on the other side of the casino. Had to have security follow me through the casino. Changed buses again in Omaha and on to Chicago. At that point I called my dad and he was panicking. He had been calling Greyhound for hours and they had no idea who I was or where I was. Finally got to NY and I think I slept 3 days to catch on sleep. Oh yea-had to take the bus because the airlines were on strike.
And Flixbus and RedCoach... But the Dog Greyhound is the worst... If you wish to travel long distances in America ride on Amtrak trains in coach, especially if you use the Amtrak 30-day RailPass promotion... If Amtrak doesn't serve that destination, Greyhound may not either... In those cases rent a car for the short hop to your destination in the same manner as flying...
Lol America was never built for public transit. Buses and trains are for communists. Us free people here have our own cars. We travel at our own pace, at our own time in our own space.
@@apt62 because cars and planes exist. Nobody wants a train except those in cities. There's zero point in having them outside the northeast Florida and maybe Texas. The USA is too spread out, but what do I know
Decades ago a friend got out of the military and took the bus from California to Texas. He told me the bus stopped at every little town. It took so long he met a woman, started a relationship and ended it all before making it home.
@@qjtvaddictThey basically turned it into tourism, but there is a route that I use though when travelling to and from college thats actually worth it from a practical perspective
Hello. It seems you were passengers on the bus I was driving, the last part of your trip between Stanfield, Oregon and Seattle, Washington. I certainly recognized my voice over the PA system, and if it was July 27, 2022 as I think it was, it was also my last day working for Greyhound. The night before myself and a coworker (coming in from another bus) were supposed to check into a hotel in Spokane, Washington where we had a standing reservation before myself returning to Seattle (via Stanfield, Oregon) the next day, the day you were on my bus. However when we got to the hotel, Greyhound had canceled the contract meaning we didn't have a hotel room. I spent 2 1/2 hours trying to secure a room for each of us. About two hours into this I called Greyhound corporate in Dallas, Texas and told them if we weren't given a hotel room, I was going to return to my bus and drive it back to Seattle and park it there and go home. I was told that if I did that, they would call the Washington State Patrol, report my bus stolen and press charges against me. Assholes. Anyway a few minutes later they finally gave both of us each a hotel room. The following day, the day you were on my bus that is, I drove my schedule back to Seattle. After that I returned the bus to the Renton yard 13 miles away, parked the bus, got in my car and drove home never returning to Greyhound again. I have since heard from a former coworker that Greyhound has since cancelled more schedules in the Pacific Northwest because they can't find enough drivers to drive those schedules. So yeah, it was a bittersweet day for me, your bus driver as well. It's sad to see the once great Greyhound bus company dissolve little by little and be bought up by it's new competitor FlixBus. I'm sorry to say that if Greyhound hadn't finally got me a hotel room in Spokane the night before like they were supposed to have, I probably would have driven my bus directly back to Seattle that night even after being threatened by Greyhound corporate. Still I knew that there were passengers like yourself that had reservations the following day who were innocent pawns in Greyhound shenanigans, and I had a change of heart and decided to drive my schedule back the following day so those people with ticketed reservations wouldn't be stranded on short notice. And yes, the Seattle Greyhound bus station was closed when I got in, only opening at certain hours to save Greyhound money. I suspected that would happen before I got there, but I didn't want to announce it to the passengers until I pulled into the station to find it closed in the off chance that it might be open. It's a bad place to drop passengers off, homeless and high crime in the area and no place to find shelter if the weather is bad. If a passenger has to wait for a connecting bus there, it's very unsafe. Anyway for what it's worth, it was a pleasure to get you safely to your destination on the twilight of your journey and mine. Thanks for the video, it was a pleasant surprise. God bless†
What an amazing story, and I'm so sorry Greyhound treated you like that. I hope wherever you've ended up since then, it's been at a better job than THAT, which sounds just absolutely atrocious (how can they not give their drivers a HOTEL ROOM??). We made the trip on July 12th so it wasn't QUITE that last day, but I remember thinking that (as far as I can remember) you were the only driver that said thank you at the end, and that meant a lot. It was fitting that it was at the very end of our journey - and as you said, it was nearing the end of yours too. Thanks so much for commenting, and for getting us the final stretch of the way to Seattle!
When FirstGroup sold Greyhound to Flixbus for $78 million it did not include the real-estate. ie: bus terminals and garages. That was sold to Twenty Lake Holdings of Stamford CT for $140 million. Such is the reason that Greyhound is kicked to the curb in so many cities.
This is so strange to me as such bus terminals in Australia are government owned and are for all bus companies servicing that area. They are not owned by any bus company itself.
Some cities do have transportation facilities that Greyhound can move into and that's good for bus passengers because company owned stations for Greyhound going forward will be few and far between.
Everything WorstGroup touches is run into the ground. So far they've ruined: First Great Western/GWR First Capital Connect (aka Worst Crapital Disconnect) South Western Railway First TPE/Transpenine Express Avanti West Coast First Scotrail First North Western And now they've ruined greyhound too The only thing they sort of didn't ruin was First Great Eastern but that fell too
Marry the girl! She's gorgeous, brave, intelligent and has spirit. Your editing skills are second to none. I'm an old timer, I enjoyed the whole trip but, I found the pace a little too quick most of the time. Respect for being having the balls to do this in the first place.
It took me 25 hours to get from Orlando to Indianapolis back in 2016. It was an experience that I would not wish on any one. Thanks for documenting your experience that was 4x as rough!
I agree it’s rough but if you’re mentally prepared and have done it many times it’s not bad. For me, I put myself in “3rd world country” survival mode. Basically I think of myself as a soldier in a military operation to help tolerate the trip. Even though I’ve never been in the military but that’s what I imagine
I don't know if I could go that long without showering and mostly wearing the same clothes every day with very little sleep. At least not comfortable sleep. This is the type of trip that only people in their 20s or 30s could handle.
@@joemckim1183back when I was young I took Greyhound from the Midwest to California to visit a friend. Would never do it again. Got there and my buddy said we're going to a party. I replied nope take me to your shower. Met lots of interesting people. A Mormon evangelist, and a cool guy from Kentucky that shared his canned ham and loaf of bread with me, a professional gambler down on his luck and several other folks you'd not normally talk and visit with.
I did this trip from Baltimore to San Francisco back in 1999. I met the strangest people on that trip, and we shared alcohol and painkillers to get us through it. I think it's a trip they should put people on in order to teach them patience. I learned a lot about myself and other people on that trip lol
I done the Montreal to vancouver line before they shut it down entirely. That was the point I barely speak any good English. I met some real good construction worker and they changed how I see blue collar class. Now I am in pursuit my Canadian plumbing license.
I smoked a joint with whatever random person was down with it from Maine to Vegas right around that same time. Even peed on a mail truck tire in Chicago. Fun times
What I loved was your realizing on day 4, you had become the strange homeless looking people you sometimes see. ......LMAO..... Very well done kids!!!.... I subscribed.
If you haven't already seen it, you should check out Noel Phillips' recent video of his Greyhound trip from NY to LA, via St. Louis. He and fellow passengers faced many of the same issues you did with the service, but mainly in the first half, getting to St. Louis. He tried crossing the country FROM LA, but because buses were late, he missed a connection in Texas and had to fly to his next destination.
I can smell the stale, been on a bus for 24 hour air. I can feel the exhaustion of dozing on and off for multiple day, trying to sleep in the chair. I hear the constant rattling, that you just can't get out of your head after being on a bus for so long. But damn it, your video was so good, it captured the essence of experience so well, that I think I'll just have to get a cross-country greyhound trip in one of these days.
As a greyhound driver, this was a real interesting video to watch. Intercity transit can be very effective within the states, but we are so car bounded that it's hard to make that switch, and that's a topic that can be discussed entirely on it's own lol. Trying to be politically correct here, I will say that greyhound should invest more into customer service. Seeing it from your guys' perspective, you've been on the road for days, and the last thing you should have to deal with is a representative of Greyhound talking down to you while you pay our checks. There should also be better communication.....and I'll just leave it at that. Buses that look presentable. Often times, I would get a bus that is road safe but as body damage, seats that have seen better days, no wifi, no charging ports, weak ac, etc. On the other hand though, I have had buses, with beautiful wood finishes, nice comfy seats, fresh scents, little to no body damage, and it looks like a bus I'd be happy to step on and off of as a passenger. I'm not saying go out and buy brand spanking new buses, but at least keep the old fleet looking presentable. From personal experience, I often get told I was a wonderful driver from how I treat passengers to my driving of the bus, and from the words of passengers- get told how previous drivers were yelling at them, running curbs over, hard braking, hard cornering, etc etc. Note that I'm not some customer service guru, I just talk to people the way I would want to be talked to and do what I can to help when asked questions. As far as my driving of a bus goes, I have had wonderful instructors that emphasized that I'm driving a bus with people as cargo, so you want to drive to where you're not throwing your folks side to side and forward and back and all that.
Thank you so much for the insight, and thank you for driving the 'hound - I have so much respect for you guys! I agree on all your points, especially the customer service angle...it's tough when you have to deal with angry people all day who are delayed by things outside of your control, but on the other hand, it kinda sucks that getting yelled at by a station employee is kind of a given on any Greyhound trip.
My father used to take the Greyhound from Los Angeles to Upstate New York back in the late 60s. It is a testament to how absurdly expensive pre-deregulation airlines were that anyone in his or her right mind would do that.
Never separate yourself from your passport.When I was 18 my mom and I took a cross country bus trip from LA to NYC. It was Continental Trailways. There was a hostess on board who gave you drinks & snacks all day. We were also given lunch & dinner usually sandwiches, for breakfast you were given a menu and they radioed to the next town and it was served hot. It took 4 days, day & night. Met a lot of ppl. Loved it. The more east you went the greener it got. You did a good job on this! I subscribed!
Wow, I'm an old guy and I never knew about the hostess and the pre order stuff. This type of thing can elevate a a modern bus company above the rest. Even if it's just a few A to B lines in the east where it is busy to start with...
This is an excellent way to test your relationship!!! Since you two survived that, you'll probably still be together in the nursing home when you are 90!!!
This was legitimately one of my favorite videos I've seen on this platform. The editing, the amazing energy from the two of you, the conclusion - Amazing job. And taking Greyhound for 4 days straight? Well... I am so sorry for your loss
As a legally blind guy… and recovering politician. Your end of film commentary is spot on on so many levels that I’m running out of characters. Everyone who watches this needs to spread the word. This is very important.
so - about 2 years ago, I took a greyhound bus alone about 30 hours with 5 transfers to move out from my family and move in with my partner. I had no experience with long-term travel, no ability to take a plane and couldn't afford a train. It was basically 5 months of saving up for that bus ticket (I want to say it was around 180$ but I can't quite remember tbh.) and researching just HOW i was going to pull it off, without informing my family what I was doing. I had to carry all my luggage (I paid for the second tier of ticket so I had 2 checked in bags and 1 on board bag.) as a very small person alone in foreign cities, mostly in the middle of the night. And I was incredibly LUCKY that I somehow made it on time. The first bus was late, and I ended up catching a ride and taking the second bus instead, but after that, everything was smooth. It's funny because every OTHER greyhound experience after that was an entirely wild disaster. I genuinely think that my move only went smoothly because there was nothing I could do if it didn't. I willpowered the bus into behaving. All that to say, I really like you two's attitude of taking something so rough and stressful and turning it into an adventure. Looking through your tickets as they're reissued to see 'where you'll end up' sounds like a nicer thing than dreading where you'll get sent. This makes me feel a lot better about the couple of horrible trips I experienced, congrats on making it to Seattle ^^
This is pretty accurate to my experience with Greyhound, including the one time that they closed a station and moved it 5 miles up the road, that didn't stop them from selling me a ticket online to the ORIGINAL station..........good times.
Pro Tip: There are showers at pilot/Flying J, Loves, and TA. They're almost always super clean so if you're doing a cross country trip and need a shower those are great spots to do so.
@@MistaIncognito the time spent and delays weren’t though… so what does it being free have to do with anything? Would’ve been cheap anyways it’s greyhound.
@@antwonnyy As someone that travels the country for a living the hassle that greyhound is makes traveling other ways more appealing. Plus the track record of Greyhound isn't & hasn't been that great over the years. I applaud them for getting better, but they have a long way to go.
I don't have words to express how much I enjoyed this video...from beginning to end. I did not move from my laptop screen and was not aware of anything going on around me. What incredible energy, honesty, humor and just plain fun you put into this. I normally watch high-end airline videos on TH-cam but this was one of the most fun times ever for me on the platform. Thank you so much. I can tell from the other comments that I am in good company when it comes to how compelling and unique this video was.
I agree you guys were great. The sense of humor through the whole thing unreal. You being young helped a lot. I think most people my age would end up hospitalized trying to do it. Congrats on your endurance and the heroic success keeping it fun.
Thank You , my daughter did it back in the 90’s . She told me , never again would she get on a bus . Guess what , she never did . She always flies , now …
Holy shit, as someone who had to take a greyhound frequently between states as a kid, I could never imagine going that damn long in one, even with all the stops. You two are soldiers😂.
Greyhound fun fact: The company's first route began in Hibbing, Minnesota in 1914 and the company adopted the Greyhound name in 1929. Founded by Eric Wickman, a Swedish immigrant from Våmhus in Dalarna County located in the central region. He originally used a Hipmobile to transport iron ore miners (since he was laid off from working at a mine, he wanted to help his fellow miners), for two miles for 15 cents per ride. He made $2.25 on his first run, or around $69 in 2023 money....nice. Here's some lore about the Gateway Arch: It is the world's tallest arch and the tallest monument in the Western Hemisphere. The park the Arch was in was originally called Jefferson National Expansion Memorial until it was redesignated as a National Park in 2018, making it the smallest in the NPS system with the designation National Park. The Arch's unique elevator tram was designed by Richard Bowser. He knew a normal elevator system of course wouldn't do, so for the Arch he combined elevator and Ferris wheel elements to create a unique system where a tram of eight elevator pods that by rotating, allows the visitors inside to remain leveled the entire way.
The Arch is also the only National Park in the state of Missouri and also no buildings in the city of St. Louis are allowed to be taller than the Arch.
I had a training class in St Louis and my work colleague wanted to have every meal at the Hooters in the train station. (He was outvoted) The waitress’ restraint was admirable; they had access to steak knives and nobody stabbed him in the neck.
You are brave . I took a round trip Texas to Virginia by myself and that was the last greyhound ride for awhile. I’ve had people getting on from jail and trying to steal my belongings if I fell asleep, outlet’s not working ,people crying bc of storms and 18 wheelers flipped over. You gain survival skills for sure
Greyhound is great for trips under 6-8 hours with maybe one transfer. Anything longer than that and the Amtrak is preferable, especially cross country trips, and you can use the bus to connect to final destination if necessary. I've taken the Southwest Chief between Chicago and L.A. several times and it's a beautiful journey, much more comfortable, and only 40 hours or so.
I like Noel too, but yeah I was also disappointed he hasn't redid his Greyhound video yet! I know he was going to miss his flight back to London (which, yeah poor planning on his part 😂) But definitely those midwestern ice storms are no joke! So I completely understand why they cancelled those routes when they did!
I think that British guy Noel Philips who loves flying gave up his idea of ever riding Greyhound again after being stranded in Texas when all greyhound operations were grounded due to winter snow storm… he chickened out and flew to NY heading home.. i bet he won’t do it again…
My father was a Greyound Bus Driver for 30 years from the 60's clear through to the early 90's. I remember it being a respectable option for transportation. It makes me sad to see it this way.
It was either 2004 or 2005, when my son had to use Greyhound for a year a couple of times a month while in Job Corps in Eastern Washington coming back home here in Western Washington and he said it was fairly good back then. The stations in Seattle and Tacoma weren't too bad back then (he said the Yakima one was even smaller than the Tacoma station but still okay). He never had any issues going back and forth for that year. After that, he flew from Eastern Washington to Utah for the last 2 years of Job Corps so he was only back home twice a year (summer break and Christmas break).
Here's some info about the Idaho flag on Aleena's hat: The seal of the former Territory of Idaho was adopted in 1863 and redrawn several times before statehood in 1890. The seal was designed by Emma Edwards Green, the only woman to design a US state seal. The flag of the state of Idaho was adopted in March 1927. The seal depicts a miner and a woman representing equality, liberty and justice. The symbols on the seal represent some of Idaho's natural resources: mines, forests, farmland and wildlife. The star on the seal's ring signifies a new light in the galaxy of states. The miner represents the chief industry of the state at the time of statehood. Inside the shield, the pine tree in the foreground refers to Idaho's immense timber interests. The husbandman plowing on the left side of the shield, together with the sheaf of grain beneath the shield, are emblematic of Idaho's agricultural resources, while the two cornucopias, or horns of plenty, refer to the horticultural. There's an elk head above the shield, and Idaho has a game law which protects them. The state flower, the wild syringa or mock orange, grows tall at the woman's right, while the ripened wheat grows as high as her shoulder. The river depicted in the shield is the Snake or Shoshone River.
Nice to see not much has changed in 48 years. Wife and I took a break in 74 from college and decided to go to meet an Army buddy in Maine the trip was to Boston and was supposed to take about 20 hours from Chicago. Well, it ended up taking 57 hours. We stopped in Cleveland for a 7 hour lay over. 7 hours? When we asked, they candidly replied they couldn't find the driver for the next leg. We found a driver and left heading east for New York. We circled Cleveland for a long time until we started feeling something was wrong. The next is hard to believe, but it's true. The driver stopped the bus and asked if anyone on the bus was from Cleveland since he was new and didn't know how to get to the interstate. Well, of course no one was from Cleveland, so we suggested he flag down a cop and get directions. Which he did. When we got to the interstate he started to go down the up ramp and everyone screamed and he stopped. We had to back up the ramp onto the street. He got lost a couple more times but the fiasco in New York is to hard to explain. Maybe you shouldn't send a driver form California into NYC with a loaded bus by himself who has never been to New York? Well, we finally got to Boston only to find out our ride to Maine went home because there were no cell phones and Greyhound couldn't tell them where we were. I haven't been on a bus since. For the info of the younger crowd. Trailways was once as big as Greyhound and the terminal in Chicago was at 18th street and was larger than Greyhounds. You had an actual choice which one to take, both were the same money. I didn't know they were still around. they were gone from Chicago in the mid 70's.
@@muhilan8540 Was no Mega Bus in the 70's. Really only Greyhound and Trailways. There were small regional ones sometimes they went places the big 2 didn't go.
Yikes! I'm a newer driver for them now, and we have GPS, and the bus tracker app (that passengers can use too) and that's how I determine how much time we have at each stop. When I'm getting sent to a new place you bet I use satellite images to look at where the stop will be at (a gas station, parking lot, side of the road, terminal, etc.), where it looks like the bus should be parked, and the best entry/exit for the stop. 45ft of bus, with up to 50 people judging you is not the time to try and learn where you're going lol. The only two incidents that happened was at a transit (not greyhound specific) station, where I made it to the location, I just didn't park where Greyhounds were suppose to park, but no going down the exit ramp or anything like that, considered blessed in that regard 😅.
I did that back in 1997....took a bus from Seattle with my 3 kids, 6mo, 3yrs, 5yrs, all the way to St. Paul Mn and then from StPaul to Boston.....what an adventure!
I have LOTS of sad experience with Greyhound when I was in the Navy in the early 60's. They treated us like crap. It is only marginally better than hitchhiking! It was before the Interstates and they stopped at every pig path. You two are brave!
This is one of the Great videos of TH-cam. It's part of the rare tier of videos that's going straight into favorites and I'm going to be periodically think about for years. Great vid, thanks for making this. I'm so entertained.
This video is just so excellent. You and your girlfriend have a wonderful chemistry. I really liked what you had to say at the end of the video. You made some very good points. And there were more laugh-out-loud funny moments in this video than I've seen in any video in a long time. It really shows you don't need a huge budget to make great content. Just passion, grit, and great information. It's clear you are very informed.
I rode a greyhound from Pittsburgh to NYC before, it was awful. It rained the whole entire time and it was loud and uncomfortable. And then while in NYC it also rained the whole entire time I was there. Unreal. I can't even imagine doing the whole country. Kudos to you guys!!!!!
More power to you. I had to take a greyhound between my hometown (in Colorado) and college (in Texas) as I did not have a car at the beginning of college. Every trip had something go wrong. The first one was the worst though. Got on the bus heading south. It was a windy day and a dust storm happened so bad that visibility became negligible. The road was closed due to that. Not in Greyhound's control, however, they decided they would reroute all of us back north to Denver to catch new buses to continue traveling South toward Texas. Don't ask how this makes any sense. I had to make a transfer in Amarillo, Texas and that bus showed up late. I made another transfer in Big Springs, Texas, and there they tried to tell me the bus was overbooked and I would have to wait for the next bus but I was having none of that after going no where in Colorado for nearly 24 hours besides riding a bus in a big loop. My 14 hour bus trip had turned into over 48 hours by the end of it. The final kick in the shins? My checked baggage did not get transferred in Amarillo Texas and so was not on the bus when I arrived at my final destination. Thankfully they didn't lose it and it came in on another bus a day later, but still... I was never so happy in my life than when I got my first car and never had to take the Greyhound between Colorado and Texas ever again.
Thank you for making this video and for the closing comments. As a grad student, I used Greyhound on almost a weekly basis - back when road rewards were a thing - between Austin and Dallas. Greyhound was - and possibly still is - the backbone of public transportation in the I-35 corridor. I am saddened by the state of it - especially the stop closures. I see many comments about how cars and planes make Greyhound redundant. It's wild how privileged they sound. You hit the nail on the head about the need to have state-funded intercity transit options. People rely on it.
You're absolutely right, thank you! The Texas Triangle is a prime case of how Greyhound has gotten a lot more expensive too - pre-pandemic I was contemplating a trip between different cities in the area. Dallas to Houston was $20...now it's $38! I can't believe they've nearly doubled their fares and no one's talked about it... Also, you must've racked up some epic road rewards points taking the 'Hound that often!!
@@MilesinTransit Ha ha, yes, it’s been over 4 years since I did that and moved to the Acela corridor. I did get their reward tickets very often. Their current prices are more than my round trip fares I used to pay back then.
I have been a fan of your channel for a while, and this is my new favorite video of yours. Everything about it was enjoyable. The editing, the commentary, the scenery, your attitude about everything, and the great chemistry between you and Aleena. It's already become your most-watched video and it's very deserved! It's also very awesome that the Boston Globe and the Washington Post decided to write about this. Everything about this video should tell me to never take Greyhound... but now I'm researching potential trips to take. I just want to be able to listen to "Greyhound" by Harry Chapin while riding on a Greyhound bus. I congratulate you on putting together a video that presents a lot of reasons why Greyhound is poorly run and treats their customers poorly but makes its viewers desire to go through the same experience you did. I'm sure it's probably a lot more fun with a companion that gets it. Keep up the great work!
I’m so impressed and happy that you only had 1 scary person the whole trip. I’ve always liked if the driver is upset at someone they are willing to just park and wait for either the person to leave on their own or have police show up. Sure it’s another variable that makes the bus very additionally late but gosh when I’ve had people flip out it’s at the very start of the trip and I don’t want to see how they are acting 3 hours in.
My longest Greyhound trip was from LA to Seattle, 23 years ago. It was long, but I enjoyed it at the time. I got to see beautiful views, especially as we got into the Pacific Northwest. Fellow passengers were general nice and didn't encounter any threatening individuals. But my Greyhound-riding days are long over.
Greyhound pulled out of Canada a few years back. We’re now stuck with a patchwork of local bus routes with questionable websites and no central fare system. Like Wyoming, many of out western cities see no train service at all. Hopefully, in a couple of years the gaps will close as operators expand service and fill up gaps. I’m still convinced you guys are crazy, I’d never pull a stunt like that here! I’d rather slum it for 6 days in a Via rail coach!
I followed this trip live on Twitter 2.5 months ago and excited to finally see the video! What an amazing adventure. It wasn't clear during the tweeting, but I figured Aleena had to be your girlfriend Miles because what other woman would endure this masochism with you?! LOL
I've just taken my first bus trip between states (from Boston to NYC) and man I can't imagine spending 100 hours from coast to coast. I mean by the end of my 4.5 hr trip my legs felt like liquid. It at the very least gave me a greater appreciation of folks who do have to take these trips regularly
Crazy how much watching this video changed my mood. I was feeling down and you two actually lifted my spirits with a mixture of the scenes you uploaded and your banter. I thank you two for the uplift
Here's a video suggestion: Try to ride on all of New Jersey's light rails in one day. River Line, Newark, and Hudson-Bergen. Not just for fun but also to give the Newark and Hudson-Bergen Light Rails some love because they are definitely underrated systems
Excellent video, I agree with your conclusion but let's be mindful that plenty of airlines have gone out of business while receiving subsidies. I rode Greyhound as a kid and it doesn't look like a lot has changed. Thanks for passing through Wyoming so I don't have to! Appreciate the both of you.
The way they spoke to you when you were trying to explain that your stuff was on the bus was as if they weren't registering a single word you were saying. Treated like cattle indeed!
Ah yes, the Port Authority Bus Terminal...with how much of a maze that place is, the Lumiose City music from Pokémon XY always plays in my head whenever I go through it. Folks, if the one you love is more than willing to go cross-country with you on a torture chamber like Greyhound...they're a keeper. Also, I've never seen someone that excited to go to Des Moines before. The Iowa tourism office should hire her! That is, if they could beat Boise to it.
"There's a hill in the way." Dang, I live on that hill! Also, seagulls nest in the Rocky Mountains. When I moved to Colorado as a kid (from New England), I was shocked to still be seeing gulls!
Every aspect of your Indy layover reminded me of my desperate attempt to get to a grad school interview a few years ago. Except that my Trailways connection had to go back to the station because the announcement was so quiet that half the passengers didn't hear it. I don't know whether that's nostalgia or failure to repress a memory, so good job! (Also that view in Oregon was so familiar, craziest curve I've ever seen on an interstate, but that was on a road trip with my parents driving...)
I don't know if I could stand traveling on Greyhound for 4 straight days but I did enjoy coming along for the ride. Downtown Indy & O-ha looked awesome!
As young adults (late teens early 20s) made a couple trips via Greyhound to visit our family in Missouri, we were both on East Coast. Fond memories of bonding, but even in the 90s many of the stations were run down, and apparently zero upgrades have been made since at most of them.
I took greyhound once from St Louis to Orlando and back and the hypervigilance you have to have is exhausting. Making sure you actually have a spot on the bus because they oversold, making sure you're going to the right place, keeping your stuff safe in sketchy stations, etc. I will never do it again.
back in the late 1980s, a group of my friends did a "road trip" to visit another friend out west via Greyhound. (I was overseas or I would've likely been with them.) Decades later I still occasionally hear how none of them wants to ever ride a bus again...! LOL
@@MilesinTransit Dude, that was awesome -- and that girl -- unless you edited all the bits out where she's threatening to kill you in your sleep -- she's a keeper.
I took the greyhound from Nebraska to Florida in the 90’s , It took over 32 hours to get there , 3-4 transfers , I had to sit in front because I got so sick from the bouncy bus and the anxiety from some of the stops. Rarely on time , bus drivers not showing up and over crowding, mixed with the “interesting “ people you meet, it was an experience I don’t ever want to do again.
I'm currently on a cross country trip taking Greyhounds, and it's cool to see this experience. When my bus stopped in Indianapolis the driver told us to leave our stuff on the bus. I kept everything of mine directly on me, cause I got stuck at Indianapolis in the middle of the night with no driver, as well.
The last minutes were so nostalgic for me, i spent a lot of time in my college years and immediately following riding the greyhound from walla walla out to Seattle or Portland or Ellensburg to see my friends in those cities. Those trips were hellish in much the same ways your trip was in the Midwest but they nevertheless hold a spot in my heart. Also yall are so cute, couple goals
I said it on twitter and I’ll say it here, that was a freakin TRIP! Y’all are brave, and thank you for doing it and documenting the trials and tribulations of navigating the greyhound experience so well. Amazing video Miles and Aleena!
Pro Tip: When applying for a passport, ALWAYS get both a card and a book. It has saved me on multiple occasions just having that ID card with me in my wallet.
I know I’m late responding but kudos to u two on that ride. I rode greyhound from dc to nyc once in 1992 and vowed to never do it again. Your patients and positive outlook is to be commended…
Great video. I am probably one of your few viewers who has taken Greyhound across the US, from LA to New York in 1980. But you know darned well that most Greyhound riders are low-income people traveling relatively short distances - like between two cities or towns - and that its service is crucial for millions of people in filling that role.
2:45 Not only is that bus going to Montreal, it's also apparently going back in time to before 1993 when the abbreviation for Québec was "PQ" instead of "QC"
@@kendufresne I used to ride NYC-Ottawa via Montreal once a year, and the tickets (as well as the destination signs on the buses) also said "Montreal, PQ". This was up to a year before the pandemic.
I really enjoyed your documentary of your cross country Greyhound adventure! It was very comical and full of interesting "fun facts"! I hate to tell Aleena but I have no desire to book a trip with Greyhound! Thanks for sharing!
Spring of 1980: traveled by Greyhound Shreveport Louisiana - Dallas Texas - Denver Colorado - Salt Lake City Utah - Portland Oregon - Seattle Washington and return. Travel time 3 days and 3 nights. Cost was reasonable. Met interesting people along the way. Experience I will not forget.
I been on many a coach, including greyhound, all over the country. From deserts and mountains to swamps and the inner cities. And really, it's not bad at all. It's a reasonably affordable way to get around this massive country. That being said, the only true way to chase that horizon is road tripping in your own vehicle. As you said, "a different vibe." It really is. There is nothing like basking in the morning glow of the new desert, snow caps glistening in the distance, sitting on the hood having a cold beer from the cooler. That's the good stuff. Nothing but time and a warm breeze. Definitely do it if you can take some weeks off from life.
Wow. And to think that I almost didn't click on this video because I thought it might be clickbait. Honestly I have no idea why I clicked on the video but I'm glad I did. Even the biggest budgets in Hollywood can't reproduce the chemistry, editing skills, humor, and overall storytelling that this video had. You know it's a great video when you don't want it to end lol. The production of this video was so perfect that you'd think someone got paid to have things go wrong at the right times. The voiceover from Elena was top notch, timely, and she's got that natural quirky vibe that tiktok girls would KILL for. Naturally hilarious comments from both parties, and the "dumb" jokes like "home stretch baby" had me literally falling out of my chair. Pay your editor more. If you're your editor, pay yourself more. I can't overstate enough how much of a generational experience this was, and now that I'm subscribed to you, I'm going to go into every single video with unrealistically high expectations, only to be disappointed time and time again. Great job taking zero shortcuts. Many youtubers would've used the trip just for a cash-grab yt video, and they would've stayed in hotels and stuff off-camera, but you sir, no, you decided to suffer properly like the rest of us, and for that, you've earned a gold star ⭐ Meta: The social commentary was also great. Working class people, despite being the backbone of society, (remember essential workers?) are routinely given shit for supper and it's never an issue until it affects the middle class. A complete overhaul would do well for greyhound. Public Transportation isn't supposed to turn a profit. It's for the public. Would you expect a library to churn a profit? As for the video itself, bravo and hooray. You did well.
Gosh, thank you so so much!!! This remains my favorite video I've ever made and I think as you go into the backlogs it'll probably be all downhill from there, but it really meant a lot reading how much you liked this!
Greyhound is the only form of transportation I've taken that passengers will actively band together to protect each other from the company, because you'll start as a loose group heading in the same direction, but end up like sailors in a lifeboat trying to pull everyone onto the right bus and fighting off sharks. Greyhound is the great American equalizer, because you're all gonna be treated like braindead cattle regardless of race, creed, or origin.
Haha, truly - this is super accurate.
That's the realest comment I've ever read
So true
Lol what do you expect from 600 plus mile long trips?? Especially from a dispatch perspective
Truest statement ever about Greyhound.
Miles "I want to be able to travel across the country for free"
and the monkey's paw curled
S-tier comment
Raw ass line
If you join Amtrak's online club and receive notifications, Amtrak has wonderful promotions providing great fares... Ditto with the airlines... Of course that implies traveling during the slow times, not the very busy peak times during the year...
And he couldn't get it back out of the cookie jar ?
As a former Greyhound driver, (like, waaaay before you guys were born) it was kind of nice to see in your video how some things have changed and some things remain the same. I worked there when Greyhound Lines was part of the Greyhound Corporation, which was also the parent company of Armour-Dial, famous for hot dogs and soap. Greyhound was struggling to survive unsubsidized in a newly deregulated interstate bus system competing with heavily subsidized Amtrak and also, recently deregulated low cost airlines offering cheap flights. Greyhound Corp sold off the bus company and rebranded to Dial Corporation. Most of the old classic bus stations were sold off as valuable real estate.
When I drove for Greyhound, our longest scheduled route was between Seattle and Miami via San Diego and then I-8 rejoining I-10 to Phoenix and points east. And of course, the reciprocal westbound schedule. Extra sections (additional buses) were added based on demand. The “first section” bus always made the entire run even as drivers changed every eight to ten hours. Extra sections were added as needed or not needed. Some extra sections were made “express” between two points that skipped all of the small town stops. It was a system that was modeled after early railroading, as was the drivers’ union contract with the Almalgamated Transit Union. (Fun fact: Jackie Gleason, aka Ralph Kramden, was made an honorary member of the ATU for his portrayal of a New York City bus driver)
I liked driving for Greyhound but as an extra board driver, I was strictly part time. That’s no way to make a living. I too had my share of threatened violence on the bus so it became an easy decision to change careers. I have been an airline mechanic for the past 33 years. Absolutely best career move! Note to Greyhound drivers: If they’re killing you with this shit, if you feel like you’re spinning your wheels, if you don’t have “learn to fly money,” find a community college with an aviation maintenance technician program. Two years and passing an FAA A&P license written and practical test, you too can get off the road and start working for a major airline! United Airlines is currently offering a $10,000 cash signing bonus to new technicians! Give it some thought. That goes for the rest of you kids watching these videos wondering what you’re going to be doing with your life.
Amazing stories, thank you so much! Miami to Seattle on one schedule is INSANE...I would totally try to ride that whole thing if it still existed. Now the longest is NYC to LA, which I did at the beginning of 2020.
I would imagine that with a commercial bus license, the shift to a commercial trucking license, or even city bus operator (especially if your city has a regional transit agency/division, like the MTA express buses, or GO Transit in Canada), so for those that want a career change but can't afford college or don't have the time for it, that might be an option.
Very true. Forget college. Go to technical school. Be an electrician or a plumber.
My question to you is, with all cuts in the airline industry, is this spilling off into the maintenance dept?
@@smitastic7030 cuts in the airline industry? I thought I heard there was a massive shortage .... pilots, fa's right through the line to gate agents > Blancoliro been saying this for over a yr now
It’s amazing that in the long history of passenger bus service that the experience is still so awful. In my youth (17-25 yrs old) I used to ride Greyhound and Amtrak a lot. I’ve seen things ON the bus that I’ve never seen anywhere else. I’ve seen the driver toss people off in the middle of nowhere. I’ve seen people having very vociferous adult relations. I’ve been on a bus that was raided by the DEA and people arrested. On my very last bus trip in 1991 this kid (14 yr old girl) sat next to me. Her mom in Philly was sending her to live with her dad in Miami and put on the bus with no food or money. I was getting of in Orlando which was a 28 hr ride and she was goin to Miami,a 34 hr ride. I ended up buying the kid all her meals along the way and left her a $5 bill so she could get another meal along the way to Miami. The one thing that’s always prevalent on greyhound and Amtrak is that travel funk that permeates your clothes and hair. You always have to hit the shower as soon as you reach your destination.
No food or money for that 14 year old girl, that is terrible. Glad you bought her something to eat and left her with some funds for more food.
Vociferous Adult Relations is the name of my new band.
sending a kid from philly to miami in 1991 with no food or money OR cell phone, yeah pay phones would be the equivalent I guess but jeez, i truly truly hope she made it
I hope she made it (and she most likely did) and I'm sure she never forgot your kindness.
I used to take Greyhound from Montana to Oregon, which doesn't sound so bad but it can be over 30 hours at time. I watched a drive once kick a guy off in the absolute middle of nowhere in eastern washington at like 3am. We were 20+ miles from any town. It was absolutely wild.
The guy was drunk and bought a cheaper ticket but overstayed his ticket.
I feel your pain. In 1966 I took a Greyhound from San Francisco to NYC. I was 16 and Greyhound promised my uncle & father I would be safe and watched over (yes back then minors which I was had to be babysat). Well in Sacramento the bus broke down and I changed buses. That' where Greyhound lost me. In Reno I had to take a bathroom break but the bathrooms were on the other side of the casino. Had to have security follow me through the casino. Changed buses again in Omaha and on to Chicago. At that point I called my dad and he was panicking. He had been calling Greyhound for hours and they had no idea who I was or where I was. Finally got to NY and I think I slept 3 days to catch on sleep. Oh yea-had to take the bus because the airlines were on strike.
The sheer poetic perfection of them selling the station the night before you would have arrived is hilarious.
I recommend you ride amtrak
@@derekdestep40Amtrak! Amtrak is guilty of crimes against humanity!
@@Clydesirota Not nearly as guilty as Greyhound or Megabus...
And Flixbus and RedCoach... But the Dog Greyhound is the worst... If you wish to travel long distances in America ride on Amtrak trains in coach, especially if you use the Amtrak 30-day RailPass promotion... If Amtrak doesn't serve that destination, Greyhound may not either... In those cases rent a car for the short hop to your destination in the same manner as flying...
This is what I subscribed for, seeing nerds witnessing the horrors of the American interstate transit system. Cheers to you, Miles
Thank you!
Lol America was never built for public transit. Buses and trains are for communists. Us free people here have our own cars. We travel at our own pace, at our own time in our own space.
The bus system isn't great. The interstate is pretty incredible.
I’m still very surprised why there’s no high speed railroad 🚆 in the US
@@apt62 because cars and planes exist. Nobody wants a train except those in cities. There's zero point in having them outside the northeast Florida and maybe Texas. The USA is too spread out, but what do I know
Decades ago a friend got out of the military and took the bus from California to Texas. He told me the bus stopped at every little town. It took so long he met a woman, started a relationship and ended it all before making it home.
It’s called a one night stand 😂😂😂😂
@@bonniejosavland3227 3 day 4 state stand
@@ducknorris233 oh okay.😜
Married and divorced on one Greyhound trip lol😂
@@MrRp25 it was a lot of stops
What's messed up is this is a *private* transit monopoly that treats its customers like convicts.
A public transit system doesn't do that.
Amtrak certainly does.
@lutherabel2618 Amtrak doesn't get any where near enough funding.
A _properly_ funded public transit system doesnt
@@lutherabel2618Amtrak outside of the NEC is utterly useless
Fucking spoilt Europeans don't have to live in the real world
@@qjtvaddictThey basically turned it into tourism, but there is a route that I use though when travelling to and from college thats actually worth it from a practical perspective
Hello. It seems you were passengers on the bus I was driving, the last part of your trip between Stanfield, Oregon and Seattle, Washington. I certainly recognized my voice over the PA system, and if it was July 27, 2022 as I think it was, it was also my last day working for Greyhound. The night before myself and a coworker (coming in from another bus) were supposed to check into a hotel in Spokane, Washington where we had a standing reservation before myself returning to Seattle (via Stanfield, Oregon) the next day, the day you were on my bus. However when we got to the hotel, Greyhound had canceled the contract meaning we didn't have a hotel room. I spent 2 1/2 hours trying to secure a room for each of us. About two hours into this I called Greyhound corporate in Dallas, Texas and told them if we weren't given a hotel room, I was going to return to my bus and drive it back to Seattle and park it there and go home. I was told that if I did that, they would call the Washington State Patrol, report my bus stolen and press charges against me. Assholes. Anyway a few minutes later they finally gave both of us each a hotel room. The following day, the day you were on my bus that is, I drove my schedule back to Seattle. After that I returned the bus to the Renton yard 13 miles away, parked the bus, got in my car and drove home never returning to Greyhound again. I have since heard from a former coworker that Greyhound has since cancelled more schedules in the Pacific Northwest because they can't find enough drivers to drive those schedules. So yeah, it was a bittersweet day for me, your bus driver as well. It's sad to see the once great Greyhound bus company dissolve little by little and be bought up by it's new competitor FlixBus. I'm sorry to say that if Greyhound hadn't finally got me a hotel room in Spokane the night before like they were supposed to have, I probably would have driven my bus directly back to Seattle that night even after being threatened by Greyhound corporate. Still I knew that there were passengers like yourself that had reservations the following day who were innocent pawns in Greyhound shenanigans, and I had a change of heart and decided to drive my schedule back the following day so those people with ticketed reservations wouldn't be stranded on short notice. And yes, the Seattle Greyhound bus station was closed when I got in, only opening at certain hours to save Greyhound money. I suspected that would happen before I got there, but I didn't want to announce it to the passengers until I pulled into the station to find it closed in the off chance that it might be open. It's a bad place to drop passengers off, homeless and high crime in the area and no place to find shelter if the weather is bad. If a passenger has to wait for a connecting bus there, it's very unsafe. Anyway for what it's worth, it was a pleasure to get you safely to your destination on the twilight of your journey and mine. Thanks for the video, it was a pleasant surprise. God bless†
What an amazing story, and I'm so sorry Greyhound treated you like that. I hope wherever you've ended up since then, it's been at a better job than THAT, which sounds just absolutely atrocious (how can they not give their drivers a HOTEL ROOM??). We made the trip on July 12th so it wasn't QUITE that last day, but I remember thinking that (as far as I can remember) you were the only driver that said thank you at the end, and that meant a lot. It was fitting that it was at the very end of our journey - and as you said, it was nearing the end of yours too. Thanks so much for commenting, and for getting us the final stretch of the way to Seattle!
@@MilesinTransit You’re very welcome!
a dog of a trip, but a hounding success
no bones about it
Can’t wait to watch another 20+ minute Amtrak ad
😂
You need TH-cam premium. No ads
@@Carvel0 *whoosh*
Lmao that's all I was thinking
When FirstGroup sold Greyhound to Flixbus for $78 million it did not include the real-estate. ie: bus terminals and garages. That was sold to Twenty Lake Holdings of Stamford CT for $140 million. Such is the reason that Greyhound is kicked to the curb in so many cities.
This is so strange to me as such bus terminals in Australia are government owned and are for all bus companies servicing that area. They are not owned by any bus company itself.
Some cities do have transportation facilities that Greyhound can move into and that's good for bus passengers because company owned stations for Greyhound going forward will be few and far between.
Ah, this probably explains why the old-but-with-a-large-indoor-space Austin terminal on the north end of town is now sitting vacant.
I live in Stamford and haven’t seen grayhound since covid and what sucks if trying to go somewhere your forced down to NYC and at bad times.
Everything WorstGroup touches is run into the ground.
So far they've ruined:
First Great Western/GWR
First Capital Connect (aka Worst Crapital Disconnect)
South Western Railway
First TPE/Transpenine Express
Avanti West Coast
First Scotrail
First North Western
And now they've ruined greyhound too
The only thing they sort of didn't ruin was First Great Eastern but that fell too
Marry the girl! She's gorgeous, brave, intelligent and has spirit. Your editing skills are second to none. I'm an old timer, I enjoyed the whole trip but, I found the pace a little too quick most of the time. Respect for being having the balls to do this in the first place.
It took me 25 hours to get from Orlando to Indianapolis back in 2016. It was an experience that I would not wish on any one. Thanks for documenting your experience that was 4x as rough!
I agree it’s rough but if you’re mentally prepared and have done it many times it’s not bad. For me, I put myself in “3rd world country” survival mode. Basically I think of myself as a soldier in a military operation to help tolerate the trip. Even though I’ve never been in the military but that’s what I imagine
Over four straight days on a Greyhound bus?! I give you both respect for your fortitude.
I don't know if I could go that long without showering and mostly wearing the same clothes every day with very little sleep. At least not comfortable sleep. This is the type of trip that only people in their 20s or 30s could handle.
@@joemckim1183back when I was young I took Greyhound from the Midwest to California to visit a friend. Would never do it again. Got there and my buddy said we're going to a party. I replied nope take me to your shower. Met lots of interesting people. A Mormon evangelist, and a cool guy from Kentucky that shared his canned ham and loaf of bread with me, a professional gambler down on his luck and several other folks you'd not normally talk and visit with.
@@joemckim1183 right, I was thinking, it's good to be young
13:35 pax threatens to kill driver over a 15 minute delay. This is a certified greyhound classic.
I did this trip from Baltimore to San Francisco back in 1999. I met the strangest people on that trip, and we shared alcohol and painkillers to get us through it. I think it's a trip they should put people on in order to teach them patience. I learned a lot about myself and other people on that trip lol
Damn, and I thought Atlanta to Boston on Megabus was rough.
I done the Montreal to vancouver line before they shut it down entirely. That was the point I barely speak any good English. I met some real good construction worker and they changed how I see blue collar class. Now I am in pursuit my Canadian plumbing license.
I smoked a joint with whatever random person was down with it from Maine to Vegas right around that same time. Even peed on a mail truck tire in Chicago. Fun times
What I loved was your realizing on day 4, you had become the strange homeless looking people you sometimes see. ......LMAO..... Very well done kids!!!.... I subscribed.
Thanks!
If you haven't already seen it, you should check out Noel Phillips' recent video of his Greyhound trip from NY to LA, via St. Louis. He and fellow passengers faced many of the same issues you did with the service, but mainly in the first half, getting to St. Louis. He tried crossing the country FROM LA, but because buses were late, he missed a connection in Texas and had to fly to his next destination.
It was a great video!
I’ve watched Noels video a bunch of times along with his other travel videos
I just watched it.
I can smell the stale, been on a bus for 24 hour air. I can feel the exhaustion of dozing on and off for multiple day, trying to sleep in the chair. I hear the constant rattling, that you just can't get out of your head after being on a bus for so long. But damn it, your video was so good, it captured the essence of experience so well, that I think I'll just have to get a cross-country greyhound trip in one of these days.
Haha, I'm glad we could be an inspiration! Thank you so much!
As a greyhound driver, this was a real interesting video to watch. Intercity transit can be very effective within the states, but we are so car bounded that it's hard to make that switch, and that's a topic that can be discussed entirely on it's own lol. Trying to be politically correct here, I will say that greyhound should invest more into customer service. Seeing it from your guys' perspective, you've been on the road for days, and the last thing you should have to deal with is a representative of Greyhound talking down to you while you pay our checks. There should also be better communication.....and I'll just leave it at that. Buses that look presentable. Often times, I would get a bus that is road safe but as body damage, seats that have seen better days, no wifi, no charging ports, weak ac, etc. On the other hand though, I have had buses, with beautiful wood finishes, nice comfy seats, fresh scents, little to no body damage, and it looks like a bus I'd be happy to step on and off of as a passenger. I'm not saying go out and buy brand spanking new buses, but at least keep the old fleet looking presentable. From personal experience, I often get told I was a wonderful driver from how I treat passengers to my driving of the bus, and from the words of passengers- get told how previous drivers were yelling at them, running curbs over, hard braking, hard cornering, etc etc. Note that I'm not some customer service guru, I just talk to people the way I would want to be talked to and do what I can to help when asked questions. As far as my driving of a bus goes, I have had wonderful instructors that emphasized that I'm driving a bus with people as cargo, so you want to drive to where you're not throwing your folks side to side and forward and back and all that.
Thank you so much for the insight, and thank you for driving the 'hound - I have so much respect for you guys! I agree on all your points, especially the customer service angle...it's tough when you have to deal with angry people all day who are delayed by things outside of your control, but on the other hand, it kinda sucks that getting yelled at by a station employee is kind of a given on any Greyhound trip.
My father used to take the Greyhound from Los Angeles to Upstate New York back in the late 60s. It is a testament to how absurdly expensive pre-deregulation airlines were that anyone in his or her right mind would do that.
True cause no sane person should have to take such a long trip
Never separate yourself from your passport.When I was 18 my mom and I took a cross country bus trip from LA to NYC. It was Continental Trailways. There was a hostess on board who gave you drinks & snacks all day. We were also given lunch & dinner usually sandwiches, for breakfast you were given a menu and they radioed to the next town and it was served hot. It took 4 days, day & night. Met a lot of ppl. Loved it. The more east you went the greener it got. You did a good job on this! I subscribed!
Thanks so much! And that sounds like an incredible trip...definitely a different experience than modern Greyhound!
Wow, I'm an old guy and I never knew about the hostess and the pre order stuff. This type of thing can elevate a a modern bus company above the rest. Even if it's just a few A to B lines in the east where it is busy to start with...
@@miketwomey4923 This was in 1969, so I am old too! LOL! A fun way to travel for sure. I have since been to all 50 states.
This is an excellent way to test your relationship!!! Since you two survived that, you'll probably still be together in the nursing home when you are 90!!!
Great observation
This was legitimately one of my favorite videos I've seen on this platform. The editing, the amazing energy from the two of you, the conclusion - Amazing job.
And taking Greyhound for 4 days straight? Well... I am so sorry for your loss
Thank you so much, Cedric!
@@MilesinTransit Sounds like Bus, jet planes and trains are all suffering from the same problem....lack of organization !!
It's vastly more pleasant than trying to deal with the airlines and airports!
As a legally blind guy… and recovering politician. Your end of film commentary is spot on on so many levels that I’m running out of characters. Everyone who watches this needs to spread the word. This is very important.
Thank you so much!
@@MilesinTransit I challenge you to come up to Alaska via transit (it’s possible)
so - about 2 years ago, I took a greyhound bus alone about 30 hours with 5 transfers to move out from my family and move in with my partner. I had no experience with long-term travel, no ability to take a plane and couldn't afford a train. It was basically 5 months of saving up for that bus ticket (I want to say it was around 180$ but I can't quite remember tbh.) and researching just HOW i was going to pull it off, without informing my family what I was doing. I had to carry all my luggage (I paid for the second tier of ticket so I had 2 checked in bags and 1 on board bag.) as a very small person alone in foreign cities, mostly in the middle of the night. And I was incredibly LUCKY that I somehow made it on time. The first bus was late, and I ended up catching a ride and taking the second bus instead, but after that, everything was smooth. It's funny because every OTHER greyhound experience after that was an entirely wild disaster. I genuinely think that my move only went smoothly because there was nothing I could do if it didn't. I willpowered the bus into behaving.
All that to say, I really like you two's attitude of taking something so rough and stressful and turning it into an adventure. Looking through your tickets as they're reissued to see 'where you'll end up' sounds like a nicer thing than dreading where you'll get sent. This makes me feel a lot better about the couple of horrible trips I experienced, congrats on making it to Seattle ^^
You can find a spirit flight for cheaper than that
@@kstarr3555You don't know the route.
@@cmmartti don’t need to
This is pretty accurate to my experience with Greyhound, including the one time that they closed a station and moved it 5 miles up the road, that didn't stop them from selling me a ticket online to the ORIGINAL station..........good times.
Pro Tip: There are showers at pilot/Flying J, Loves, and TA. They're almost always super clean so if you're doing a cross country trip and need a shower those are great spots to do so.
I was in Cumberland md 8/2023 and the showers were 16$
As someone who has been stuck in the Pittsburgh greyhound station more times than I’d like to admit, god bless your soul for doing this
If I ever set foot in the Pittsburgh bus station again. My next stop will be the looney ward.
Miles and his gf are couple goals. Traveling together on Greyhound
If they can survive that, they can survive anything.
@@kimberlywilson7929 Until Flixbus makes everything worse.
They only did it because the trip was free....
@@MistaIncognito the time spent and delays weren’t though… so what does it being free have to do with anything? Would’ve been cheap anyways it’s greyhound.
@@antwonnyy As someone that travels the country for a living the hassle that greyhound is makes traveling other ways more appealing. Plus the track record of Greyhound isn't & hasn't been that great over the years. I applaud them for getting better, but they have a long way to go.
"But besides that, Connecticut came and went without a hitch" I loved Ned's portrait flying past along the guardrail
It was so nice of him to come and wave to the bus
@@MilesinTransit 😂
I don't have words to express how much I enjoyed this video...from beginning to end. I did not move from my laptop screen and was not aware of anything going on around me. What incredible energy, honesty, humor and just plain fun you put into this. I normally watch high-end airline videos on TH-cam but this was one of the most fun times ever for me on the platform. Thank you so much. I can tell from the other comments that I am in good company when it comes to how compelling and unique this video was.
I really appreciate the kind words! Thank you so much!
I agree you guys were great. The sense of humor through the whole thing unreal. You being young helped a lot. I think most people my age would end up hospitalized trying to do it. Congrats on your endurance and the heroic success keeping it fun.
You and your gf are adorable
EDIT: God I love random heroes like Tyler and Hailey, just nice people doing nice things for other nice people.
The total MVP's of the trip, along with our benefactors in Boise!
Thank You , my daughter did it back in the 90’s . She told me , never again would she get on a bus . Guess what , she never did . She always flies , now …
it's so nice to see families going on road trips together
Holy shit, as someone who had to take a greyhound frequently between states as a kid, I could never imagine going that damn long in one, even with all the stops. You two are soldiers😂.
Thank you!
my parents shipped me back and forth starting at like 10, going through st louis and kc often, and it was a nightmare lmao
@@CheNoriega right haha, I was lucky and only had to do like Idaho to seattle wa or cali.
Greyhound fun fact: The company's first route began in Hibbing, Minnesota in 1914 and the company adopted the Greyhound name in 1929. Founded by Eric Wickman, a Swedish immigrant from Våmhus in Dalarna County located in the central region. He originally used a Hipmobile to transport iron ore miners (since he was laid off from working at a mine, he wanted to help his fellow miners), for two miles for 15 cents per ride. He made $2.25 on his first run, or around $69 in 2023 money....nice.
Here's some lore about the Gateway Arch: It is the world's tallest arch and the tallest monument in the Western Hemisphere. The park the Arch was in was originally called Jefferson National Expansion Memorial until it was redesignated as a National Park in 2018, making it the smallest in the NPS system with the designation National Park. The Arch's unique elevator tram was designed by Richard Bowser. He knew a normal elevator system of course wouldn't do, so for the Arch he combined elevator and Ferris wheel elements to create a unique system where a tram of eight elevator pods that by rotating, allows the visitors inside to remain leveled the entire way.
The Arch is also the only National Park in the state of Missouri and also no buildings in the city of St. Louis are allowed to be taller than the Arch.
I had a training class in St Louis and my work colleague wanted to have every meal at the Hooters in the train station. (He was outvoted)
The waitress’ restraint was admirable; they had access to steak knives and nobody stabbed him in the neck.
What would we do without your venerable wisdom Supreme Leader
You are brave . I took a round trip Texas to Virginia by myself and that was the last greyhound ride for awhile. I’ve had people getting on from jail and trying to steal my belongings if I fell asleep, outlet’s not working ,people crying bc of storms and 18 wheelers flipped over. You gain survival skills for sure
Greyhound is great for trips under 6-8 hours with maybe one transfer. Anything longer than that and the Amtrak is preferable, especially cross country trips, and you can use the bus to connect to final destination if necessary. I've taken the Southwest Chief between Chicago and L.A. several times and it's a beautiful journey, much more comfortable, and only 40 hours or so.
I give you guys props for making it to the end. Unlike Noel Phillips who gave up when Greyhound stranded him in Amarillo.
I think he had to in order to make his flight back home, right? The big error was scheduling something so soon to the scheduled Greyhound arrival!
@@MilesinTransit was an ice storm predicted
I like Noel too, but yeah I was also disappointed he hasn't redid his Greyhound video yet! I know he was going to miss his flight back to London (which, yeah poor planning on his part 😂) But definitely those midwestern ice storms are no joke! So I completely understand why they cancelled those routes when they did!
I think that British guy Noel Philips who loves flying gave up his idea of ever riding Greyhound again after being stranded in Texas when all greyhound operations were grounded due to winter snow storm… he chickened out and flew to NY heading home.. i bet he won’t do it again…
He has redone it
You two are right, people do deserve better. Trains. Everywhere; long-distance, overnight, high-speed, intercity, suburban, commuter routes.
My father was a Greyound Bus Driver for 30 years from the 60's clear through to the early 90's. I remember it being a respectable option for transportation. It makes me sad to see it this way.
It was either 2004 or 2005, when my son had to use Greyhound for a year a couple of times a month while in Job Corps in Eastern Washington coming back home here in Western Washington and he said it was fairly good back then. The stations in Seattle and Tacoma weren't too bad back then (he said the Yakima one was even smaller than the Tacoma station but still okay). He never had any issues going back and forth for that year. After that, he flew from Eastern Washington to Utah for the last 2 years of Job Corps so he was only back home twice a year (summer break and Christmas break).
Here's some info about the Idaho flag on Aleena's hat: The seal of the former Territory of Idaho was adopted in 1863 and redrawn several times before statehood in 1890. The seal was designed by Emma Edwards Green, the only woman to design a US state seal. The flag of the state of Idaho was adopted in March 1927. The seal depicts a miner and a woman representing equality, liberty and justice. The symbols on the seal represent some of Idaho's natural resources: mines, forests, farmland and wildlife. The star on the seal's ring signifies a new light in the galaxy of states. The miner represents the chief industry of the state at the time of statehood.
Inside the shield, the pine tree in the foreground refers to Idaho's immense timber interests. The husbandman plowing on the left side of the shield, together with the sheaf of grain beneath the shield, are emblematic of Idaho's agricultural resources, while the two cornucopias, or horns of plenty, refer to the horticultural. There's an elk head above the shield, and Idaho has a game law which protects them. The state flower, the wild syringa or mock orange, grows tall at the woman's right, while the ripened wheat grows as high as her shoulder. The river depicted in the shield is the Snake or Shoshone River.
Nice to see not much has changed in 48 years. Wife and I took a break in 74 from college and decided to go to meet an Army buddy in Maine the trip was to Boston and was supposed to take about 20 hours from Chicago. Well, it ended up taking 57 hours. We stopped in Cleveland for a 7 hour lay over. 7 hours? When we asked, they candidly replied they couldn't find the driver for the next leg. We found a driver and left heading east for New York. We circled Cleveland for a long time until we started feeling something was wrong. The next is hard to believe, but it's true. The driver stopped the bus and asked if anyone on the bus was from Cleveland since he was new and didn't know how to get to the interstate. Well, of course no one was from Cleveland, so we suggested he flag down a cop and get directions. Which he did. When we got to the interstate he started to go down the up ramp and everyone screamed and he stopped. We had to back up the ramp onto the street. He got lost a couple more times but the fiasco in New York is to hard to explain. Maybe you shouldn't send a driver form California into NYC with a loaded bus by himself who has never been to New York? Well, we finally got to Boston only to find out our ride to Maine went home because there were no cell phones and Greyhound couldn't tell them where we were. I haven't been on a bus since. For the info of the younger crowd. Trailways was once as big as Greyhound and the terminal in Chicago was at 18th street and was larger than Greyhounds. You had an actual choice which one to take, both were the same money. I didn't know they were still around. they were gone from Chicago in the mid 70's.
megabus is still pretty big so you do have a little choice
@@muhilan8540 Was no Mega Bus in the 70's. Really only Greyhound and Trailways. There were small regional ones sometimes they went places the big 2 didn't go.
Yikes! I'm a newer driver for them now, and we have GPS, and the bus tracker app (that passengers can use too) and that's how I determine how much time we have at each stop. When I'm getting sent to a new place you bet I use satellite images to look at where the stop will be at (a gas station, parking lot, side of the road, terminal, etc.), where it looks like the bus should be parked, and the best entry/exit for the stop. 45ft of bus, with up to 50 people judging you is not the time to try and learn where you're going lol. The only two incidents that happened was at a transit (not greyhound specific) station, where I made it to the location, I just didn't park where Greyhounds were suppose to park, but no going down the exit ramp or anything like that, considered blessed in that regard 😅.
I did that back in 1997....took a bus from Seattle with my 3 kids, 6mo, 3yrs, 5yrs, all the way to St. Paul Mn and then from StPaul to Boston.....what an adventure!
Oh wow, that's an amazing trip!
I have LOTS of sad experience with Greyhound when I was in the Navy in the early 60's. They treated us like crap. It is only marginally better than hitchhiking! It was before the Interstates and they stopped at every pig path. You two are brave!
I rode the Greyhound from Salt Lake City to Paris, Kentucky in 1971. 2-1/2 days and it is still something I look back on a high spot of my youth!
You two are amazing! It's great to see young people with such energy!
Thank you!!
This is one of the Great videos of TH-cam. It's part of the rare tier of videos that's going straight into favorites and I'm going to be periodically think about for years. Great vid, thanks for making this. I'm so entertained.
Thank you so much! I really appreciate that.
This video is just so excellent. You and your girlfriend have a wonderful chemistry. I really liked what you had to say at the end of the video. You made some very good points. And there were more laugh-out-loud funny moments in this video than I've seen in any video in a long time. It really shows you don't need a huge budget to make great content. Just passion, grit, and great information. It's clear you are very informed.
I really appreciate that, thank you so much for watching!
I really hope I find someone who looks at me the way she looks at you. Happy for you two. :)
I rode a greyhound from Pittsburgh to NYC before, it was awful. It rained the whole entire time and it was loud and uncomfortable. And then while in NYC it also rained the whole entire time I was there. Unreal. I can't even imagine doing the whole country. Kudos to you guys!!!!!
Thank you so much!!
More power to you. I had to take a greyhound between my hometown (in Colorado) and college (in Texas) as I did not have a car at the beginning of college. Every trip had something go wrong. The first one was the worst though. Got on the bus heading south. It was a windy day and a dust storm happened so bad that visibility became negligible. The road was closed due to that. Not in Greyhound's control, however, they decided they would reroute all of us back north to Denver to catch new buses to continue traveling South toward Texas. Don't ask how this makes any sense. I had to make a transfer in Amarillo, Texas and that bus showed up late. I made another transfer in Big Springs, Texas, and there they tried to tell me the bus was overbooked and I would have to wait for the next bus but I was having none of that after going no where in Colorado for nearly 24 hours besides riding a bus in a big loop. My 14 hour bus trip had turned into over 48 hours by the end of it. The final kick in the shins? My checked baggage did not get transferred in Amarillo Texas and so was not on the bus when I arrived at my final destination. Thankfully they didn't lose it and it came in on another bus a day later, but still... I was never so happy in my life than when I got my first car and never had to take the Greyhound between Colorado and Texas ever again.
Serious "America by Simon & Garfunkel" vibes, congrats on the journey!
Thank you!
Thank you for making this video and for the closing comments. As a grad student, I used Greyhound on almost a weekly basis - back when road rewards were a thing - between Austin and Dallas. Greyhound was - and possibly still is - the backbone of public transportation in the I-35 corridor. I am saddened by the state of it - especially the stop closures. I see many comments about how cars and planes make Greyhound redundant. It's wild how privileged they sound. You hit the nail on the head about the need to have state-funded intercity transit options. People rely on it.
You're absolutely right, thank you! The Texas Triangle is a prime case of how Greyhound has gotten a lot more expensive too - pre-pandemic I was contemplating a trip between different cities in the area. Dallas to Houston was $20...now it's $38! I can't believe they've nearly doubled their fares and no one's talked about it...
Also, you must've racked up some epic road rewards points taking the 'Hound that often!!
@@MilesinTransit Ha ha, yes, it’s been over 4 years since I did that and moved to the Acela corridor. I did get their reward tickets very often. Their current prices are more than my round trip fares I used to pay back then.
@@MilesinTransit Yeah it’s crazy how expensive they’ve gotten.
I have been a fan of your channel for a while, and this is my new favorite video of yours. Everything about it was enjoyable. The editing, the commentary, the scenery, your attitude about everything, and the great chemistry between you and Aleena. It's already become your most-watched video and it's very deserved! It's also very awesome that the Boston Globe and the Washington Post decided to write about this.
Everything about this video should tell me to never take Greyhound... but now I'm researching potential trips to take. I just want to be able to listen to "Greyhound" by Harry Chapin while riding on a Greyhound bus. I congratulate you on putting together a video that presents a lot of reasons why Greyhound is poorly run and treats their customers poorly but makes its viewers desire to go through the same experience you did. I'm sure it's probably a lot more fun with a companion that gets it.
Keep up the great work!
Thank you so much, I really appreciate it!
This was surprisingly entertaining. You guys have a great sense of humor. They completely closed Greyhound down here in Canada. I don't miss it.
I’m so impressed and happy that you only had 1 scary person the whole trip. I’ve always liked if the driver is upset at someone they are willing to just park and wait for either the person to leave on their own or have police show up. Sure it’s another variable that makes the bus very additionally late but gosh when I’ve had people flip out it’s at the very start of the trip and I don’t want to see how they are acting 3 hours in.
My longest Greyhound trip was from LA to Seattle, 23 years ago. It was long, but I enjoyed it at the time. I got to see beautiful views, especially as we got into the Pacific Northwest. Fellow passengers were general nice and didn't encounter any threatening individuals. But my Greyhound-riding days are long over.
My longest was new Orleans to Seattle pretty much same distance Boston to Seattle
Greyhound pulled out of Canada a few years back. We’re now stuck with a patchwork of local bus routes with questionable websites and no central fare system. Like Wyoming, many of out western cities see no train service at all. Hopefully, in a couple of years the gaps will close as operators expand service and fill up gaps. I’m still convinced you guys are crazy, I’d never pull a stunt like that here! I’d rather slum it for 6 days in a Via rail coach!
I followed this trip live on Twitter 2.5 months ago and excited to finally see the video! What an amazing adventure.
It wasn't clear during the tweeting, but I figured Aleena had to be your girlfriend Miles because what other woman would endure this masochism with you?! LOL
I've just taken my first bus trip between states (from Boston to NYC) and man I can't imagine spending 100 hours from coast to coast. I mean by the end of my 4.5 hr trip my legs felt like liquid. It at the very least gave me a greater appreciation of folks who do have to take these trips regularly
Crazy how much watching this video changed my mood. I was feeling down and you two actually lifted my spirits with a mixture of the scenes you uploaded and your banter. I thank you two for the uplift
I'm so glad! Thank you so much for watching!
Here's a video suggestion: Try to ride on all of New Jersey's light rails in one day. River Line, Newark, and Hudson-Bergen. Not just for fun but also to give the Newark and Hudson-Bergen Light Rails some love because they are definitely underrated systems
That's a fun idea, I like that!
@@MilesinTransit I second this!! You should also try Port Authority Trans Hudson (PATH).
It's like that one time when Alexis de Tocqueville took a Greyhound to learn democracy and freedom
he knew he company would go broke when the passengers could vote to make the fares cheaper haha
Excellent video, I agree with your conclusion but let's be mindful that plenty of airlines have gone out of business while receiving subsidies. I rode Greyhound as a kid and it doesn't look like a lot has changed. Thanks for passing through Wyoming so I don't have to! Appreciate the both of you.
Thank you!
You managed to capture a great Greyhound moment in the background of 21:30 as a small herd of disembarked passengers migrated up the mulch.
Friend of mine took Greyhound from DC to LA in the early 90's. He described the trip as "Who's who in mental illness".
You look so excited in the thumbnail! Can’t wait for another @milesintransit video!
This was such a beautiful journey. I love the commentary and editing too.
Thank you so much!
God bless US buses. You two are awesome. Thanks for a great video. Greetings from Reading in the UK.
Thank you so much!
She kept such a positive attitude through the torture......🤔🤣.....This was fun to watch!
The way they spoke to you when you were trying to explain that your stuff was on the bus was as if they weren't registering a single word you were saying. Treated like cattle indeed!
Ah yes, the Port Authority Bus Terminal...with how much of a maze that place is, the Lumiose City music from Pokémon XY always plays in my head whenever I go through it. Folks, if the one you love is more than willing to go cross-country with you on a torture chamber like Greyhound...they're a keeper. Also, I've never seen someone that excited to go to Des Moines before. The Iowa tourism office should hire her! That is, if they could beat Boise to it.
Pokemon Fan Identified
I’ll always be a lil confused about just how everywhere I see your comments
I’ll always be a lil confused about just how everywhere I see your comments
"There's a hill in the way." Dang, I live on that hill! Also, seagulls nest in the Rocky Mountains. When I moved to Colorado as a kid (from New England), I was shocked to still be seeing gulls!
It's a very nice hill, admittedly! And wow, the more you know...now THAT'S a fun fact.
I once did NYC to Mexico City. It was about 73 hours. It was a mixture of youth and relative poverty.
Every aspect of your Indy layover reminded me of my desperate attempt to get to a grad school interview a few years ago. Except that my Trailways connection had to go back to the station because the announcement was so quiet that half the passengers didn't hear it. I don't know whether that's nostalgia or failure to repress a memory, so good job!
(Also that view in Oregon was so familiar, craziest curve I've ever seen on an interstate, but that was on a road trip with my parents driving...)
You could not pay me enough to sit on a Greyhound bus that long.
Perfect adventure for young people. From a 68 year old that lived his life the same way.
I thought the same. Oh, to be 25 again and traveling the world.
I don't know if I could stand traveling on Greyhound for 4 straight days but I did enjoy coming along for the ride. Downtown Indy & O-ha looked awesome!
Wow, what an adventure! I would not have the willpower to push through that but I admire you guys for doing it lol.
Thank you!
Somebody has too😊
As young adults (late teens early 20s) made a couple trips via Greyhound to visit our family in Missouri, we were both on East Coast. Fond memories of bonding, but even in the 90s many of the stations were run down, and apparently zero upgrades have been made since at most of them.
I took greyhound once from St Louis to Orlando and back and the hypervigilance you have to have is exhausting. Making sure you actually have a spot on the bus because they oversold, making sure you're going to the right place, keeping your stuff safe in sketchy stations, etc. I will never do it again.
back in the late 1980s, a group of my friends did a "road trip" to visit another friend out west via Greyhound. (I was overseas or I would've likely been with them.) Decades later I still occasionally hear how none of them wants to ever ride a bus again...! LOL
Spoiler alert, he edited the video so we know he's not ded. Yes, I said it. The hero survives.
Aw shoot, you got me
I dunno... the last bit was narrated by Alina (sp?) claiming that Miles was "sick". Nothing stopping her from editing and posting the video too...
@@MilesinTransit Dude, that was awesome -- and that girl -- unless you edited all the bits out where she's threatening to kill you in your sleep -- she's a keeper.
I took the greyhound from Nebraska to Florida in the 90’s , It took over 32 hours to get there , 3-4 transfers , I had to sit in front because I got so sick from the bouncy bus and the anxiety from some of the stops. Rarely on time , bus drivers not showing up and over crowding, mixed with the “interesting “ people you meet, it was an experience I don’t ever want to do again.
I'm currently on a cross country trip taking Greyhounds, and it's cool to see this experience.
When my bus stopped in Indianapolis the driver told us to leave our stuff on the bus. I kept everything of mine directly on me, cause I got stuck at Indianapolis in the middle of the night with no driver, as well.
Wow, good timing!!
The last minutes were so nostalgic for me, i spent a lot of time in my college years and immediately following riding the greyhound from walla walla out to Seattle or Portland or Ellensburg to see my friends in those cities. Those trips were hellish in much the same ways your trip was in the Midwest but they nevertheless hold a spot in my heart.
Also yall are so cute, couple goals
Thank you so much!
I said it on twitter and I’ll say it here, that was a freakin TRIP! Y’all are brave, and thank you for doing it and documenting the trials and tribulations of navigating the greyhound experience so well. Amazing video Miles and Aleena!
Thanks so much!
@@MilesinTransit ned needs to make greyhound free he and he alone can make it happen
Pro Tip: When applying for a passport, ALWAYS get both a card and a book. It has saved me on multiple occasions just having that ID card with me in my wallet.
Note: Wear crossbows bags to keep documents with you at all times. NEVER leave IDs unattended
I know I’m late responding but kudos to u two on that ride. I rode greyhound from dc to nyc once in 1992 and vowed to never do it again. Your patients and positive outlook is to be commended…
Great video. I am probably one of your few viewers who has taken Greyhound across the US, from LA to New York in 1980. But you know darned well that most Greyhound riders are low-income people traveling relatively short distances - like between two cities or towns - and that its service is crucial for millions of people in filling that role.
2:45 Not only is that bus going to Montreal, it's also apparently going back in time to before 1993 when the abbreviation for Québec was "PQ" instead of "QC"
OH WOW, YEAH! That didn't even cross my mind!
When I sold tickets for Greyhound about 12 years ago, the tickets also stated PQ instead of QC.
@@kendufresne I used to ride NYC-Ottawa via Montreal once a year, and the tickets (as well as the destination signs on the buses) also said "Montreal, PQ". This was up to a year before the pandemic.
I really enjoyed your documentary of your cross country Greyhound adventure! It was very comical and full of interesting "fun facts"! I hate to tell Aleena but I have no desire to book a trip with Greyhound! Thanks for sharing!
Haha, that's very fair - thank you for watching!
Thank you! I totally get not wanting to ever step foot on one, especially after seeing this
Spring of 1980: traveled by Greyhound Shreveport Louisiana - Dallas Texas - Denver Colorado - Salt Lake City Utah - Portland Oregon - Seattle Washington and return. Travel time 3 days and 3 nights. Cost was reasonable. Met interesting people along the way. Experience I will not forget.
I been on many a coach, including greyhound, all over the country. From deserts and mountains to swamps and the inner cities. And really, it's not bad at all. It's a reasonably affordable way to get around this massive country.
That being said, the only true way to chase that horizon is road tripping in your own vehicle. As you said, "a different vibe." It really is.
There is nothing like basking in the morning glow of the new desert, snow caps glistening in the distance, sitting on the hood having a cold beer from the cooler. That's the good stuff. Nothing but time and a warm breeze.
Definitely do it if you can take some weeks off from life.
Wow. And to think that I almost didn't click on this video because I thought it might be clickbait. Honestly I have no idea why I clicked on the video but I'm glad I did.
Even the biggest budgets in Hollywood can't reproduce the chemistry, editing skills, humor, and overall storytelling that this video had. You know it's a great video when you don't want it to end lol. The production of this video was so perfect that you'd think someone got paid to have things go wrong at the right times. The voiceover from Elena was top notch, timely, and she's got that natural quirky vibe that tiktok girls would KILL for. Naturally hilarious comments from both parties, and the "dumb" jokes like "home stretch baby" had me literally falling out of my chair. Pay your editor more. If you're your editor, pay yourself more.
I can't overstate enough how much of a generational experience this was, and now that I'm subscribed to you, I'm going to go into every single video with unrealistically high expectations, only to be disappointed time and time again.
Great job taking zero shortcuts. Many youtubers would've used the trip just for a cash-grab yt video, and they would've stayed in hotels and stuff off-camera, but you sir, no, you decided to suffer properly like the rest of us, and for that, you've earned a gold star ⭐
Meta: The social commentary was also great. Working class people, despite being the backbone of society, (remember essential workers?) are routinely given shit for supper and it's never an issue until it affects the middle class. A complete overhaul would do well for greyhound. Public Transportation isn't supposed to turn a profit. It's for the public. Would you expect a library to churn a profit?
As for the video itself, bravo and hooray. You did well.
Gosh, thank you so so much!!! This remains my favorite video I've ever made and I think as you go into the backlogs it'll probably be all downhill from there, but it really meant a lot reading how much you liked this!