Planes, trains, and auto…no, buses.

The last few years I’ve been to Africa twice, Turkey, London, Chile and back and forth from New York to the west coast 4 or 5 times- not to mention several visits home to Wisconsin. If you’ve been on an airplane you’ve probably noticed service is declining, the customer, being you, is rarely catered to in the same way we were pre-9/11 and that no matter what the circumstances are when your flight is delayed or canceled- it is handled poorly, and you are never compensated for your troubles. While air travel has becoming a necessity in some circumstances, I want to write about alternatives to the time suck and abuse that for me at least has defined many of my experiences flying of late.

A lot of people have started talking about their carbon footprint and some have even started thinking about it. When Ford, GM and Chrysler met with congress last summer and twice ignored the advice of the hand that was about to throw them a much needed life raft it seemed, I don’t know, stupid. But maybe people have forgotten about bus travel since it has long since been outdated. I haven’t taken many buses in the states, just the Fung Wah and the Lucky Star which left every hour from Boston and dropped you often in Chinatown NYC, it was cheap and efficient. Here in Chile I’ve done my fair share of bus travel mostly to and from Santiago but this weekends bus trip to Mendoza is worth mentioning. First I have no idea what the tickets cost, maybe something like $50 a person round trip- not bad even if what they call a 6 hour bus ride is really a 9 hour trip with almost 3 hours spent going through customs at the border. However, this 9 hour bus ride didn’t drag on like any of the oversea flights I’ve been on, and here’s why. As soon as the bus leaves the station you are greeted by what can only be described as a bus attendant, he visits you at your seat and checks your name off a roster like a teacher taking attendance. As soon as he checks that all his registered passengers are accounted for he brings you a pillow, and actually sticks it behind your head- with a smile none the less, once the pillows are handed out he brings you a blanket, unfolds it, and lays it over you, again with a smile, your comfort is his pleasure. Once your nestled in your seats that recline so far back you wonder if your neighbor behind you can pick the dandruff out of your hair, but no, there is plenty of space between your seat and the next row so you can relax and put your legs up, because, oh there is a leg rest a la the living room recliner. Before you can get over how unfamiliar this seems after years of flying, there is your box lunch, sure it’s a sandwich, a juice box, and a cookie, but at least it isn’t some frozen medley of “food” reheated and full of sodium, and since it comes in a box and not on a tray, you can stick it in your front pocket and eat when you feel hungry. There are a couple tv’s and sure the movies are American blockbusters from 5 years ago dubbed in Spanish, but if you don’t want to watch, you don’t have to, and if you want to work on your Spanish language skills, it’s a perfect opportunity because the dubbing is not in a mangled Chilean accent and you don’t have to catch ever word, because frankly you already know what’s going to happen. Your bus attendant has a call button if you need to ask estimated arrival time, and he escorts you through customs like a pro, collecting any garbage you may have accumulated at regular intervals. Thrown in for free are the views; no matter what seat you find yourself in, the Andes encapsulate you and a 9 hour bus ride feels like it couldn’t have taken longer than 6.