its the little differences: the 2780 mile bus ride

If you´ve ever seen the awesome movie "this boys life", you will have encountered the American coach service Greyhound. The service where you can turn up at a Greyhound station and go pretty much anywhere in North America, for a pretty low price.

I should warn you this is not a service for the faint hearted. They will think nothing waking you up and of emptying the coach at 2am, and making you stand in the freazing cold for ten minutes whilst they change drivers. Or employing some of the rudest drivers you will ever encounter.

We had a driver who refused to speak to anyone because his shift was over, "don´t even approach me!". My favorite moment was when a woman driver (part school mistress, part Whoopie Goldberg in Ghost) smelt cigarette smoke, stopped the bus and stormed to the back: " if I smell that again, I´m leaving the whole back row at the side of the road". "You can`t leave me here maam" retorted a female passenger, " well who has been smoking?" came back the driver. Without hesitation the vocal passenger turned to the guy next to her and said "him". At which point the whole bus burst out laughing.

This is very much a service that thinks life would be so much easier if those pesky passengers didnt get in our way.

if you listen to one thing on your Ipod on Greyhound...

So, why travel with them? Well firstly, in my two and a half day ride from Las Vegas to Miami, I saw a load of places that I´ve heard of, but was unlikely ever to visit (Chatanooga!), and you get see a part of America that most people only ever fly over. Finally, there is the entertainment factor of watching how this enterprise is run, a bit like the Monty Python cast members who had to keep on staying at the terrible hotel that inspired Fawlty Towers.