My mother went to the Greyhound Bus Station in Anoka, MN to buy me (her 15 year old daughter) two 1 way tickets. The first ticket was from Minneapolis, MN leaving at 1:00 P.M. And arriving in Odem, TX at 9:40 P.M. The next night, which had one transfer. The second ticket was from Corpus Christi, TX to Minneapolis, MN with 3 transfers.
I have never rode on a bus for that length of time before and I was very excited after hearing the news, that my mom had bought me these tickets. I actually had no idea what was ahead in this VERY long journey.
We arrived at the Minneapolis Greyhound Bus Station and I got in line to board my bus.By the time the bus actually left the station, it was about a half hour late. No big deal really, at least I was on my way. We got to Des Moines, IA, about 45 minutes late. Our 45 minute stop was turned into a 15 minute stop so the bus driver could catch up on his time. We started off again and arrived in Dallas, TX about 1 hour and 45 minutes late. I had my only transfer there and I was not to worried, I thought it was going to be the same as it was in Minneapolis.
I got off the bus and asked the bus driver where I go to pick up my luggage. He told me that they would take care of it and not to worry. I insisted that I needed my luggage and asked him if he was sure about this. He reassured me that my luggage would be transferred to my next bus and to hurry and get in the station because our bus was behind schedule.
I went inside the station and looked around for my line. I did not see anyone who could help me decide which line to get in, so I decided for myself. I got into the line that I believed was mine. I looked around and seen that everyone else had their luggage with them, and there I was, a confused 15 year old girl with one carry on bag. My mom called and asked me if I had my luggage with me and if I was in the right line. I told her what the bus driver said and she told me that he was wrong and to get out of line and ask someone for help. I told her that I didn't want to get out of line because there was so many people behind me and I didn't want to be the one sitting on the floor of the bus like the people who had to do so on my way to Dallas.
Eventually I got out of line and went up to the service desk. Of course, all the employees were standing in the back office talking and it was so loud in the station, they couldn't hear me asking for help. Finally, a lady came out of the office and asked me what I needed. I showed her my tickets and she said, Get in line, you are going to miss your bus. Get off that cell phone and pay attention. (My mom was on the cell phone with me and she could hear everything that this rude lady was saying) I asked her what line am I supposed to go in and she took my tickets and said, Where is Odem? I don't even know where that place is. I said, It is down by Corpus Christi. She printed out new tickets and said, Hurry get in your line now. I asked her about my bags and she said, NO YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO GET YOUR BAGS OFF THE BUS!!! Hurry up and follow me.
At this point I was crying because I was about 3 hours late, I had no bags, no bus, no where to go, and a rude employee telling me what to do. You have to remember that I was a 15 year old girl traveling by myself, lost in an unfamiliar place, and to top it all off, I was being yelled at by this lady. I followed her as she went outside and got my bags from the lost and found area. She told me to be quiet and to quit my crying.
We came back inside and she put new tags on my luggage. She brought me back outside and put me right on the bus. The bus driver complained a little bit about me getting on before scheduled time. HELLO, we were about 3 hours behind schedule.
So finally we left Dallas and arrived in Houston. We caught up on time and we were about an hour late. I had a 45 minute delay and was ready for a little rest. I asked the bus driver if it was okay if I left my carry on bags on the bus since I would be getting back on in 45 minutes. He said that would be okay. They took all of our luggage off the bus and I asked them why they were doing that and the man told me not to worry about it and to go back inside.
We were all standing inside waiting for them to reload the bus, when the bus left without us! I ran out there and told him that my carry on bags were on there and he told me that the bus would be back in about 15 minutes. He had to go get gas. Okay, so the bus got back and we all got on the bus. The bus wouldn't turn on so we all got off the bus again. A new bus came and we got on that one.
Finally, we left the station and about 30 minutes out, the bus driver said that the speedometer wasn't working so we had to go back to get on a new bus. We went all the way back to Houston and got on another bus. We were off again and we reached Wharton, TX when we stopped at a red light. The light turned green but we weren't moving, the bus broke down. So we were stuck on the side of the rode. Here I was, a little girl, stranded on a bus at 9:00 P.M., in the dark, all by myself. That's not very safe at all.
We sat there for a good 2 hours before the bus driver announced, Go eat if you want, we aren't going anywhere for a long time. He didn't speak very good English, at least, not to me. I was not about to get off that bus for any reason unless we got a new bus, so I sat there the whole time. My cell phone was just about dead, which shouldn't have been a problem because at this time I should have already been to my destination. So I was sitting there, with no one to talk to, all by myself. My sister's husband eventually called the bus driver and was talking to him. The bus driver announced that there would be a new bus coming to pick us up in about an hour.
Finally the new bus came, we got our luggage on the bus and we were on our way again. I reached my destination about 4 hours late. I was not ready to go on my long journey back, considering that I had 3 transfers and my transfer on the way there was bad enough. My mom and I believed that it was to unsafe for me to ride the Greyhound back so they had to purchase me a plane ticket. I will never ride Greyhound again.
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