I Survived New York ( Pt 1)

So I had the bright idea this year to hop on a bus and go to NYC. I had been contemplating this trip for many months as I wanted to do some more traveling and work on my photography. I found cheap bus tickets, an affordable hotel which I thought was going to be relatively close to the city and was all set. I manged to fit my life somewhat comfortably in a backpack, asked a friend to drop me off so I could meet my bus and was ready for my 4 day adventure. In NYC. By myself. My first inclination as to how the trip was going to go should have been the bus, along with it's Chinese bus driver and the colorful group of people on board. First off, if you're going to travel by bus (which if you would like to experience what hell would be like then go right ahead) make sure you pick a bus company that has actual signs on the bus. Second, if you're meeting anywhere other then an actual bus stop ABORT. And third, never, under ANY circumstances sit in the back. I don't care if you are actually riding a reputable bus, you do not want to experience a 12-14 hr ride in the back. I'll get to why later.

So I see from the directions I printed out that I was supposed to meet this bus in a parking lot near a Waffle House. I found this to be really shady but the tickets were cheap so I didn't really care at the time. I boarded the bus without anyone actually checking my ticket. It all became clear to me though, why he didn't when we stopped near midnight in another parking lot somewhere in the middle of NC, so a van of Chinese men could get on board and demand our tickets. This was after we had already stopped two other times at closed gas stations to pick more people up. I was convinced by the time we had handed over our tickets that these men were doing more then just transporting people to and from cities. But it was the overwhelming smell of piss that really just made that ride a living nightmare. I didn't think about it when I boarded. I just wanted to find a seat that I could be by myself where no screaming babies were in arms length. And that just happened to be in the back of the bus. Which was obviously, and quite unfortunately near the bathroom. As the hours passed the smell only grew more potent, which again is pretty obvious since people kept using it. I would have rather had my bladder explode then to step foot into that bathroom. I prayed a genuine prayer that I would not have to pee on the bus. I think I even stopped drinking fluids. Desperate times call for desperate measures. I was still able to sleep though which I was thankful for.

I believe it was 6 am when the fight broke out. Which I'll save for another blog post because I'm tired :).