A while back my mother and I had gotten 2 round trip tickets from NY to Gainesville Florida to visist my grandparents for christmas. It was by far the worst travel experience I have ever endured and i've been through some bad ones.
First the bus leaves an hour late. Not uncommon given the time period but from then on it was a nightmare. We get all the way to Newark before anyone realizes that the two children in the back (8 & 10 yr old girls) were without their mother who was left in NY. So we have to make a U-turn and head back to the port authority to get her. Due to the error we must now skip our first rest stop and continue on.
By the time we had reached the next scheduled rest stop we had made up the lost time so most people were ok. Then we hit fayetteville and the true nightmare began. They had overbooked significantly (a common practice with GH) and we were forced to wait. Then we come to find that they do not have any drivers and so more waiting. After a 5 hour delay we finally get back on the road.
So far the trip was about 18 hours in on a 24 hour bus ride. I had also spent much of this trip with an elderly man laying down in the seat behind me screaming every time I moved an inch and he was on the wrong bus. After a few more hours we hit jacksonville and we are delayed again. This time almost by 8 hours as they had no buses or drivers.
Finally we get on a bus and after making the first 2 local stops in Florida we stop for gas and one of the passengers asks the driver if he can go inside and call his ride real quick and let them know he is finally on the way. The bus driver got real nasty and told the guy to sit hell down as we don't have time for this crap and he has a schedule to keep.
Needless to say these words drew the Ire of the entire bus as we were literaly 15 hours behind schedule already. The driver imediately stormed of the bus and called the cops who pulled the young man off the bus (ironically while we were waiting for the cops, his girlfriend went inside and made the call which took her 2 minutes). When the cops came on board to get his stuff, the entire bus including myself, started screaming at the cops to leave him alone. After telling the cops our entire ordeal and the BS the driver was relaying to them they told the driver that they would not take the man off and that he better keep his mouth shut and drive as the passengers were likely to kick all their butts if they tried to take him off (and we just might have).
Finally at 11pm we arrived at our destination. The only problem was we were scheduled to arrive at 8am. I will not even relay the nightmare that was the return trip as I may get so angry I'll smash my monitor.
Never, Ever Ride Greyhound.
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