So, having spent a couple of amazing, wonderful days in NZ recovering from my last horribly stressful couple of weeks in the US, I decided it was time to hit the road again. I decided to make for Nelson, NZ, since there are wineries that I want to check out in the area.
The cheapest way up there was by a service called "nakedbus.com" (stripped down bus fare...ha ha). On their webpage, they have a picture of what buses they use, and it is a picture of a big, new touring bus. I think, "this is great."
Kristin drops me off at the bus stop at 7 am, and there is this dinky little van sitting there... and of course I respond to Kristin's question as to whether or not that is the bus I am taking with passionate "NO."
Ah, karma...
It was the "bus" I had booked a ticket with. Crammed full and rattling, it sets off... I am wedged between a smelly Brazilian, who insists on talking on his phone through-out the trip and a man who reveals to me that he has not slept or eaten for 36 hours because of the demons... I am not even joking. Grr.
20 minutes in, and I realize that my butt will go to sleep unless I shift every 20 or so minutes. This is easier said than done when sitting with 2 other grown men on a seat that probably would not fit 3 children. Especially when you would prefer not to touch either of the individuals seated with you.
45 minutes in, and my hips start to cramp...
1.5 hours in, and I am starting to get car-sick. The rattle of the road and the stuffiness inside the van finally gets to me on a windy stretch of road. Of course this is when the smelly Brazilian decides to hold on to anything he can, while practically screaming into his cell phone repeatedly... lifting his arms in the process.
1.51 hours in, and I seriously debate opening the sliding door, and shoving the Brazilian out. The smell from his armpits is making me want to puke...
2 hours in, and I decide that this bus trip has done the impossible! It has unseated all the bad memories I have of travel (in China and elsewhere), and is now firmly in place as the worse day of travel. Yes, this beats out the train with the broken toilets...but just barely!
2.5 hours in, and I decide I must get a car....
The trip was a total of 7.5 hours.
(On a side note, lambs are about the cutest things ever... They live up to their reputations! Even after you have seen lamb after lamb for 7 hours... PS- This and the unbelievably delicious Mocha I got on our "tea break" were the best part of today.)
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