My first Bus journey in US

Finally I decided to blog my first entry.

This is my first visit to US. I am quite excited to know why people are so excited to visit US ? What makes US so different from India or any other place? . Till this time , I have lot many experiences to be shared but I will start from the latest one.

I had just visited my cousin brother’s home in Kalamazoo, MI. This journey was special as I was traveling alone for the first time in US (though I have traveled in buses connecting the university to my home a number of times, but none of the journey had been more than an hour) .

The story started with the confusion about which route to take to reach the place. As usual, I consulted all my contacts even my lead in research office. Finally, I concluded that the bus is the cheapest way to travel. Now, the question came about which bus to take. There are many bus services in Minneapolis (like any other place in US) and unlike India where you have only Government Bus Service (I am not considering private ones as they are of short route and also uncomfortable). Also, train is much costlier than bus. I finalized Greyhound bus as it only stops at Kalamazoo. I decided to go by switching the bus at Chicago as the round trip cost $100 while direct bus cost $200(don’t know why? May be due to direct service of the bus. Quite opposite to bus services in India, where you can get 2/3 rupees benefit in direct journey by bus).

Now came the biggest confusion, at what time should I take the bus from Chicago? I could either opt for one which would leave for Kalamazoo in 1 hour 15 minutes or the one which had to leave in 3 hours. Literally, I took half day to decide and as I was at Rahul Meena’s home in Sant Paul with Ashish sir, I was shooting my ‘logical ’ questions on my these two undergraduate college seniors . They were just fed up of my questions. FYI, among all my seniors here in the university I am known for asking questions. Sometimes, they do wonder why I am not asking questions and ask me ‘Are you ok? All queries answered?’ ?. Finally, I booked the ticket for the bus which was supposed to leave in 1 hour 15 minutes of my arrival in Chicago for an adventure. Let’s see what happen if I miss my bus. Though, I had consulted my brother before finalizing, still there was some sort of uncertainty in my mind.

Finally, the day had arrived. Though, it was mentioned in the ticket to report at the bus stop 1 hour before the departure time, I left my apartment just 1 hr before. At the station, there was a queue of passengers waiting for getting their luggage checked. I realized this thing later. There was a girl/woman at the counter who is handling the queue. I was surprised by the cold treatment of hers. No ‘hi’ No ‘hello’ even No Smile. Am I back in India? In nearby campus area of the university, every one greets each other even on an eye contact. But, nothing as such here. There might be some university effect on the people. After saying to her that I didn’t want to check in the luggage, she told me that the bus was to leave from Gate 10. She was so fast in speaking that I had to ask her two- three times.

The queue was some more similar to what we have at Delhi metro stations. The military serving persons are given the preference in terms of boarding and choosing the seat. The surprising thing is that there is only driver in the whole bus. No conductor or helper like we used to have in India. He is responsible for the announcements, tickets checking, luggage and other stuff. Before stepping into the bus, I was praying to God that I should reach Chicago on time. It was good that the bus started on time.


The best thing I found was that there a Restroom was attached at the back of the bus. Now, I had the same comfort as in the train in India. Seats also seem quite comfortable. After bus started there was a welcome message from the drive through mike along with whole schedule of the journey andbreak timings .The first break was at McDonalds. I was surprised to see that the bus was exactly on time. While, I was travelling from my home town, Chandausi, to Noida, bus used to stop at a ‘Dhaba’ . But, here McDonald is dhaba. I had myself made Pasta and bread but I had forgotten to bring some soda. To get one, I entered McD. At the billing counter, the girl asked ‘is this all?’ so fast that I had to ask her 4 times. After realizing, what she was speaking I couldn’t stop smiling. Shame on me :D.

The whole arrangement inside the bus was same as that of plane. You can have your individual light. In some buses, you can even have free Wi-Fi and power. When bus started, the driver again announced that the whole route was clear and we would reach Chicago on time. This gave me a lot of comfort ?.

The bus reached Chicago on time(7 am). When I entered the bus station in Chicago, the situation was somehow comparable to stations in India. Some people were sleeping on the floor while some were sitting. All the power sockets occupied and people were talking on phone while charging the phone. The Restrooms were OK not good. A foul smell was prevailing inside them . I had my bread sandwich with juice. After that I went to the ticket counter to have my tickets and there too I found the same cold behavior of the receptionist. I have started expecting much.


The next bus started on time to Kalamazoo. The bus driver was a little bit more particular about disciplines: phones on vibrating mode, no loud music through head phone and so so… There were around 15 passengers. I tried to keep my eyes open as this was the only day time in the whole journey. I loved to watch outside while travelling and this journey was a special one. When we were entering Michigan state, there was a slogan something like ‘Michigan : the state of Wine’. It was snowing heavily as we were moving around Lake of Michigan. The view outside was awesome. Houses covered with snow, lakes covered with snow. Even, I spotted some dears. I loved it. I decided to have a short nap. When I woke up, I was surprised to see that the nap had lasted for more than an hour :O. How come? I also had Indian time in my cell phone. Then I realized that I was in a new time zone and my phone automatically synchronized with the new time zone. The nap was only of 5 mins. Surprising even after snowfall, we were late just by 10 min for Kalamazoo.
I called my brother and he was at station to pick me up.

In the return journey, the bus was on time. Again, I was praying that the bus should reach Chicago on time. But, there was a Jam which lasted for 45 min. What I could see was that some truck had derailed from the track. But, traffic was resumed quickly. Suddenly, there was an announcement from the driver to keep silence as he was losing his concentration and he also pointed a lady in particular. This is never been a case in India where passengers talk so loudly. I think as when we travel on freeway at high speed, driver needs some more concentration (highway are freeway here). After some time there was again same announcement from driver, he was again complaining the same thing to the same lady.

My bus came late to Chicago by 20 min. When I reached, it is 9:10 pm. Same situation at the bus station but people were not sleeping. When I was standing in the queue , a person came to me and said ‘CD, DVD, Night movies… CD, DVD, Night movies…’. I was surprised to hear this in US. This remind me the scene of Nehru Palace in New Delhi, India, where there are people shouting ‘CD,DVD, Games, Software …CD,DVD, Games, Software …’. This brought a smile on my face. Nothing new in the return journey except it was snowing heavily near Minneapolis which resulted in delay of bus to Minneapolis by three hours

The whole bus travel was an experience to share. Overall, you can compare the bus services in US with chair car in trains in India in respect of comport, timings and all facilities .