2010 04 01
As I have said many times up to this date, Monterey is a beautiful and relaxing place to visit. Although, after two eventful and memorable days it was time to say farewell.
My bus schedule had me departing from Salinas at 2:15pm. I had to make my way from Monterey back to Salinas. After a hardy breakfast I packed my bag and was ready to embark on my next adventure, Vancouver.
Out of five weeks of traveling, this was going to be my longest bus ride, 29 hours. Due to my previous experience traveling Greyhound I have now developed this paranoia of the bus possibly filling up.
This time everything went smoothly, I was a little weary cause it was a full bus, I did not want to be the one left behind again, especially with such a long trip ahead. For the next 14 hours I was always sitting beside someone.
Many wouldn’t like the idea of traveling on a full bus but that wasn’t what bothered me this time, what ended up being a little annoying was that the bus never stopped in a location where supper was purchasable. Each location was a five-minute stop, we finally arrived just outside of Oakland, California, where there would be a restaurant in the station but what you know, it was closed.
Finally, at about 11 am we stopped at a Flying J truck stop. I search all around the station trying to find something substantial to subside my hunger. After searching high and low I came across the deli sandwiches and there was a roast beef sandwich calling my name. (Later on once I arrived in Vancouver I realized I had an apple and a peach in my bag. Ha.)
Much like the first day of traveling (Thursday) we never had any time to stop for food, non-the-less go to the bathroom. I shouldn’t complain too much because at least I didn’t have any long layovers from Salinas, California to Vancouver but it would have been nice to stop at a McDonalds or something.
The bus remained full until Portland, Oregon where it started to thin out. For the first time during this excursion I was able to claim a front row seat on the bus going from Portland to Seattle. This portion of the trip was a nice change, the bus driver was good, I was sitting beside this nice lady and the scenery was quite spectacular.
(Just as a brief side - what was also nice about the Portland to Seattle trip was that I didn’t have to listen to family problems. For some reason my seat was next to or close to someone who just couldn’t sort life out. Some people just don’t’ think!)
Heading from Seattle to Vancouver the bus had a drastic reduction in passengers, a full bus to 1/3rd full. This leg of the journey wasn’t bad, two seats to myself and the boarding crossing was easy.
Sometimes I think the boarder is just ridiculous. Again coming back into Canada they asked me, what do I do for a living? And your job allowed you that amount of time off? Questions that are redundant after the fact. But you know you cannot crack wise jokes at the boarder and say something like, “No, I just left my job and said see you in four weeks!” without risking a long hassle. Oh well, go along with the flow.
All in all, the entire trip went well and I am back in Canada.
Thank you for reading.
Corey Lablans
www.coreylablans.com
Please feel free to comment.
As I have said many times up to this date, Monterey is a beautiful and relaxing place to visit. Although, after two eventful and memorable days it was time to say farewell.
My bus schedule had me departing from Salinas at 2:15pm. I had to make my way from Monterey back to Salinas. After a hardy breakfast I packed my bag and was ready to embark on my next adventure, Vancouver.
Out of five weeks of traveling, this was going to be my longest bus ride, 29 hours. Due to my previous experience traveling Greyhound I have now developed this paranoia of the bus possibly filling up.
This time everything went smoothly, I was a little weary cause it was a full bus, I did not want to be the one left behind again, especially with such a long trip ahead. For the next 14 hours I was always sitting beside someone.
Many wouldn’t like the idea of traveling on a full bus but that wasn’t what bothered me this time, what ended up being a little annoying was that the bus never stopped in a location where supper was purchasable. Each location was a five-minute stop, we finally arrived just outside of Oakland, California, where there would be a restaurant in the station but what you know, it was closed.
Finally, at about 11 am we stopped at a Flying J truck stop. I search all around the station trying to find something substantial to subside my hunger. After searching high and low I came across the deli sandwiches and there was a roast beef sandwich calling my name. (Later on once I arrived in Vancouver I realized I had an apple and a peach in my bag. Ha.)
Much like the first day of traveling (Thursday) we never had any time to stop for food, non-the-less go to the bathroom. I shouldn’t complain too much because at least I didn’t have any long layovers from Salinas, California to Vancouver but it would have been nice to stop at a McDonalds or something.
The bus remained full until Portland, Oregon where it started to thin out. For the first time during this excursion I was able to claim a front row seat on the bus going from Portland to Seattle. This portion of the trip was a nice change, the bus driver was good, I was sitting beside this nice lady and the scenery was quite spectacular.
(Just as a brief side - what was also nice about the Portland to Seattle trip was that I didn’t have to listen to family problems. For some reason my seat was next to or close to someone who just couldn’t sort life out. Some people just don’t’ think!)
Heading from Seattle to Vancouver the bus had a drastic reduction in passengers, a full bus to 1/3rd full. This leg of the journey wasn’t bad, two seats to myself and the boarding crossing was easy.
Sometimes I think the boarder is just ridiculous. Again coming back into Canada they asked me, what do I do for a living? And your job allowed you that amount of time off? Questions that are redundant after the fact. But you know you cannot crack wise jokes at the boarder and say something like, “No, I just left my job and said see you in four weeks!” without risking a long hassle. Oh well, go along with the flow.
All in all, the entire trip went well and I am back in Canada.
Thank you for reading.
Corey Lablans
www.coreylablans.com
Please feel free to comment.
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