Time for more stupid stories from my adventures! Today’s
tale was born in the glorious eastern states of the USA.
So once, I was in NYC for almost two weeks, and since it was
not my first time there (hence I didn’t need to run around like a mad woman the
whole time and cram in as many first time sees of all the attractions as I
could) I decided what a terrific time it was to go up to Boston and visit my
friend Emma, who at the time, lived there.
She was all yeah! Come up! We’ll eat cannoli! So I started
looking at Amtrak fares and prices, as that was the only way I had ever
travelled between New York and Boston before, and plus, we’ve all heard the
Greyhound horror stories, so I wasn’t too keen to try that out. But then Emma
was like ‘Get on the Megabus!’.
Megabus? What? I had visions of some huge bigger than a
London double decker type thing traversing the entire east coast. But alas, my
friend was onto something. Cheap tickets galore were available on the Megabus
between NYC and many other New England cities. So $10 and one day later I was
on my way, unable to pass up such a good deal. I could handle 6 hours on a bus
right? Especially for that price! I had done 3 weeks in Europe, twice, on a bus
with Contiki – I could definitely do NYC to Boston for 6 hours.
What I hadn’t counted on was why the fare was so cheap. For
a start, this bus didn’t leave from any old terminal. It was no Penn Station or
Grand Central. Nope, it was a random street corner right at the bottom of Manhattan
island. I caught the subway to the nearest station to the bus meeting point and
when I emerged from the underground station at 4am (because cheap buses only
leave at the crack of dawn of course) I found myself in what looked like a very
sketchy neighbourhood. I also didn’t know if I should go left or right when I
came out of the station. Luckily, I somehow picked the right direction and a
few blocks of walking later I found the bus pick up point. It was a street
corner by a construction site with several metal barrels set up on the
sidewalk, each with a flag sticking out the top that had a destination on it. I
made a beeline for the one that said Boston.
Surprisingly the sidewalk was teeming with people, all after
a cheap way to get out of NYC. Megabus works in that some fares are as cheap as
$1, so I could understand why there were so many people there, eager to avoid
trains, cars and planes as their mode of transport.
The bus ride was uneventful, and a lot better than what I
imagined Greyhound would’ve been. The only scary moment was the gripping fear I
had whilst using the toilet at a rest stop that the bus might leave without me
and I’d be stuck in some rural Connecticut town by myself. Luckily, that didn’t
happen (I still sprinted back onto the bus though, just in case) and I was
actually treated to some stunning views of the states of New York, Connecticut
and Massachusetts as we made our journey.
The bus ride ended in one of the less desirable bus stations
of Boston, but I was just happy to see Emma. We spent the day eating our body
weight in the famous cannoli Boston is known for and walking around Boston
Common and the North End. Sadly just one day later I was back at that dodgy
station, boarding a bus bound for New York again, and this time was lucky
enough to have an Asian woman in her thirties fall asleep on my shoulder
repeatedly the entire 6 hours back to Manhattan. When we finally got there it
was almost midnight, and I caught the subway back uptown to the hostel I was
staying at on 103rd St, reminding myself never to tell my Mum I
caught the New York City subway at midnight by myself.
For ten dollars each way though, this was totally worth it.
Good friends are worth a crazy trip.
Your Megabus expert,
Jorgs
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