Thursday, August 26, 2010

Time Change - Winnipeg

Hank, the very friendly and helpful ticket agent in Winnipeg.


Time moves forward and backwards, or so it seems, when you travel.  What was 7 AM is now 8 AM, in less than a second an hour passed, all because of a time zone, the next moment I arrived in Winnipeg.  Curiosity and questions arose as I noticed the bus making its way away from the downtown area and towards the airport.  "Greyhound Only" signs pointed the way through the drive around the airport until we arrived at the 1 year old station, recently moved from downtown.  The concept of the station at the airport is a good one, but now this has further separated Greyhound from train services and the city’s public transit, but perhaps there is a city bus that comes out to the airport.  The greatest concern was how to get to the downtown area where the hostel is located.  Thankfully, Greyhound provides a shuttle service to the downtown area for their passengers.  Issue and questions resolved, mostly due to the friendly and very helpful ticket agent, Hank, who also went out of his way to assist me in obtaining route information to Snow Lake.  He even provided me with a useful map of the Manitoba Province.  It is people like him that make traveling on Greyhound an enjoyable experience.  The security guards and other staff here were also very friendly and helpful.

Greyhound station at Winnipeg Airport

Security is stronger here, almost like airport security, except we don't have to undress.  Bags searched, body swiped over with a wand, and into the screened area to await the bus to Flin Flan, with another transfer or two to Snow Lake.  I'm sure there will be some sort of sleeping arrangement awaiting me.  I wish I had my tent and sleeping bag, as it seems there are some great places to camp up where I'm now going.

Although Greyhound is improving their stations, even the station locations, the new designs do not seem to be designed for their passenger's comfort.  There are no electronic recharging stations, limited seating, and no Wi-Fi access.

Facebook's security protocols have reached an extreme level of frustration.  Because of the constant changes to Facebook it takes longer and longer to sign-in upon reaching a new location.  I wasn't able to access Facebook because I couldn't identify some of the photos.  What person can keep up with all of the photos of his friends, especially when the new changes to Facebook actually make it more difficult to keep up with your friends.  I sent Facebook an email about this issue, but I haven't received a response.  Why is it that when some websites or corporations make changes, they always end up making things worse?  Time to board the bus, and a new line is forming for the next round of security checks.

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