The Start of the Greyhound Adventure, Austin to Seattle.

Arriving at the Austin Greyhound bus station shortly after enjoying the savory delights of some sushi with my friend Stephanie, I discovered at the ticket counter that the bus to Dallas was just about to depart out of gate #2. Talk about timing, it was perfect. Quickly handing over my large backpack to the driver, boarding the bus, finding an available seat, and then we were off. As it turns out, I was the only gringo aboard a bus of 13 people, so we all could enjoy some extra room as the narrow, usually uncomfortable seats were now open so most people sat between the seats or even across them. Having learned Spanish in Guatemala comes in handy these days.

Not having slept the night before I quickly fell asleep, only to be awakened by the conductor's announcement of "Waco!" Catnapping the rest of the way to Dallas provided a relaxing 4 hour trip, arrival time at 10:30 PM.

The Dallas Greyhound bus station always seems to be in chaos, as the signage is limited or non-existant, there isn't enough room for the passengers to move around or even sit, and it was always troubling trying to locate the gate number announced for the next bus to load. It took a bit of time to locate an area to recharge my cell phone, and then was a bit uncomfortable having to leave my phone charging amongst a sea of other electronic devices being charged on a small shelf. Thus, I found a place nearby on the floor to sit and keep an eye on my phone. It would be nice to have several of these type of recharging stations scattered around the station instead of in one location, which caused a huge traffic jam as people scrambled to get their devices just before boarding.

I latter obtained a seat next to a Nun from Mexico who was working in Oklahoma City. She was kind to watch one of my bags for me as I went to change clothes. I had attempted to take all of my bags with me into the rest room, but the area had a wet floor from being cleaned. After changing clothes I returned, thanked the Nun, and took my medications. I waited the next four hours for the next bus, so from Dallas to Amarillo, change buses, then on to Denver, stop and change in Standfield, Oregon, and off again to Seattle, Washington with an arrival on July 30th around 12:40 PM. (Note: today is July 27th, 2010)

My thoughts suddenly jumped to a topic I had discussed some time ago with Greyhound Corporate, that they should inform passengers of the $250 baggage limit and offer the passengers the option of purchasing baggage insurance when they obtain their tickets. Thus far, none of the ticket agents in Dallas, Austin, or Shreveport had even mentioned the limits or offered baggage insurance information. Thus, I went to the ticket counter, saw the sign saying they would return at 1:15 AM, so I wait.

While I was waiting I began to dwell upon what things were the most important to me and what things would be covered under the extra baggage insurance (even extra baggage insurance only covers up to $1,000), so the alterations to how things were packed between the Keen shoulder bag, the small backpack, and the large backpack. The laptop (value $1,800) is now wrapped in its traveling sleeve and is in the small backpack, which is lockable, along with a change of clothes, my raincoat, and my Camelbak water bottle. The Keen Shoulder Bag now contains the digital camera, my notebook, passport, Greyhound Discovery Pass, some wetnaps, some pens, my Shambhala book, the phone and charger, and a few other things. Because Greyhound no longer allows you to check your baggage at the ticket counter, you have to carry your bags with you until you board the bus. So I am already tired from carrying three bags every where I go in the bus terminal, but hopefully my overall muscle strength will improve by having to tote these bags; however, it would save a lot of chaos in the terminals if Greyhound would allow passengers to check their bags like the airlines do and have the baggage handlers put them aboard the buses. Greyhound did so some very many years ago and should consider this service to their passengers if they desire to provide better customer service.

I'm going to see if they have Wi-Fi service here and spend my hours waiting using my laptop. After looking around there are no places to plug in a laptop other than those small and very crowded recharging stations, and after several inquiries, they do not offer Wi-Fi service here at the Dallas bus station. Having power outlets near comfortable seating and Wi-Fi service would greatly add to the Greyhound experience as people like myself could use their waiting time to accomplish other things, conduct business, check emails, etc.

I mentioned earlier about having to tote my bags around with me, well, there are some baggage lockers for $3 and $4, but not very many of them and the one I did use barely housed my large backpack. More lockers, even larger ones, would be nice and with the options of choosing how long I would like to store my bags in the lockers (they only give you one option, 3 hours, which really isn't a bad deal, but I can only access my bags once without having to pay more.)