Tag-Archive for ◊ Megabus ◊

30 Aug 2009 Megabus was a mega disappointment
 |  Category: The Present  | Tags: , ,  | 2 Comments

The title says it all. I’ve been meaning to update y’all on my little adventure but I think I’m still recovering.

First I have to say that I was impressed that the bus came on time and got us to Chicago in record time. We arrived 15 minutes before the scheduled arrival. Nice!

But that was what kept me from flipping out on the ride. I kept telling myself, “At least this is faster than the train.”

As soon as I saw the big blue bus come around the corner to our stop, I thought there was a mistake. I could have sworn I saw double decker buses that looked luxurious when I had looked into Megabus before, but this bus was a little raggedy and as soon as it stopped people jumped off to puff as fast as they could on their cancer sticks. So of course I had to walk through their stinky smog to board the bus.

I just let it slide. I figured since it was coming all the way from Memphis, these people were probably just tired from a long trip.

Wait a long trip? You know what that means? Yep, the entire bus had a funky and foul smell to it, not to mention that everyone had their items strewn all over the bus. They were quickly trying to pick up their bags and clothes and food and move them to one seat.

That’s right I paid for my seat and my daughter’s so you better move outta the way! I’m not sharing with anyone.

It just felt icky because the people had been sitting there for hours. My husband sat across from us and I made him take Sarah to the bathroom. I was not about to go back there. And for some reason if I don’t see something then I pretend it’s not there and I can feel better about it, otherwise I freak out and get all OCD about germs and how Sarah is going to get sick.

Well, of course shortly after she wanted to use the bathroom again but she wanted me to take her. I sucked it up and went back there to discover it was just one of those holes with everyone’s crap floating in it. I was gagging and trying not to breathe. It was SO DISGUSTING! To make it even NASTIER there was NO WATER!!!!!

I’m putting all those exclamation points because I started to have a panic attack. How many people used the bathroom then touched the handle to get out? NO ONE WASHED THEIR HANDS!

I was also panicking because we forgot to bring water with us so I couldn’t even use that. I tried to wipe our hands with some paper towels I had in my bag and keep an eye on Sarah, to make sure she didn’t put her hands in her mouth.

Just thinking about it now I feel like I’m going to freak out again.

My lesson learned is to ALWAYS have some kind of hand sanitizer or wet wipes, and that if I take the Megabus without a small child it would be OK since we wouldn’t use the bathroom. Otherwise the train is a much better alternative. However, at this rate I’d rather walk.

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25 Aug 2009 Going on the Megabus

We’re finally going to go home yippee!

I just booked our tickets on the Megabus for tomorrow and It’s going to be a new adventure.

If we don’t drive we usually take Amtrak, but lately the train situation has become unbearable.

Because the passenger trains in Illinois share the same track as the freight trains, we are often stuck sitting on the tracks while we wait for the freight to go by. A trip that normally take 2.5 hours turns into a 4 hour ordeal. And what’s worse is the kind of folks who are on the train with you make you want to pull your hair out. And in my case I’d have to rip my scarf off first and then pull my hair out.

Last time we took Amtrak someone was watching a DVD without headphones so we all had to hear the violent shoot-em up movie the entire ride. Then there were the 2 kids that were so obnoxious my own daughter couldn’t fall asleep. One was a little girl who was probably about a year old and she was crying so hard she started to almost go into convulsions. I was so stressed out. I mean what do you do? Ask the parent if you can help or ignore it or call child services?

The other kid was a little boy about the same age as the screaming girl and he was standing on his seat about to tumble over the side while his mom sat there texting and then later I noticed she decided to go to sleep. This kid was whimpering the entire ride and trying to get his mom to notice him.  It was so depressing to see.

I vowed I would never ride Amtrak again.

So, here we are now, about to embark on a new form of transportation that has only received glowing reviews from friends. It’s cheaper than Amtrak and it gets to where it’s going without delays. I hope it lives up to its hype of  “air conditioned, clean, free wi-fi, free snacks and a bathroom on board.”

My only fear is that if it’s this good, it will soon enough be taken over by the train folks!

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