Traveling like the locals

I promise that I'm not going to be discussing COVID-19 or what's happening over here during all of this craziness, although that could be a future post when there's more distance from the reality. No, instead, I'm going to talk about my experiences with the buses here. It's not going to be a particularly thrilling post, but it is a new experience that I've had and that many in The States may see as foreign as I did when I arrived here.

When I first came over in August on my "scouting" trip, hoping that my visa issues would be worked out before I left, I did A LOT of exploring as some of you know. I was very comfortable taking the train and walking didn't bother me either. The one thing that I was EXTREMELY hesitant to try was taking the bus. There are many reasons for this, some of which some of you may identify with.

First, the schedules didn't make sense. Living in an area of Texas where public transportation isn't readily or easily available, the knowledge of reading a train or bus schedule was not something I had. Train schedules are pretty easy to decipher, but the bus schedules are like Egyptian hieroglyphics to me, even still. Luckily, I have now figured out how to find a bus stop on Google maps and see the times for every bus that makes a stop there. MUCH easier to understand.

Paying for the bus was also intimidating to me. At the train station, you have kiosks you can use or a nice person to buy your ticket from. There aren't any kiosks or people waiting to sell you bus tickets at the bus stops, though. I was unsure of how to pay on the bus or if you had to have a pass. Luckily, when Caleb and I moved over, he was smart enough to find that the main bus company in this part of England has an app you can download and then buy tickets through that. Everything is contactless here, too, so you can use your UK bank card and tap to buy on the bus. Not as intimidating as I'd made it up to be in my head.

What did, and still does, scare me is figuring out when to get off. Unless you're on one of the fancy buses that has an automated announcer telling you the next stop, you have to know exactly where your stop is and ring the bell before you get there. You also can't ring it too early or else the driver won't stop, which has happened to me twice. I don't know what I'd do without Google maps; get lost, probably.

The last, and probably most important, reason why I was hesitant to try taking the bus was pure prejudice. In The States, I think the primary belief is that the bus is only for those of lower economic status. They (the buses) are thought of as dirty and scary with scary people on them. Here, they're a normal way of transportation. Yes, there are still a lot of people with cars, but with gas being so expensive (right now it's the equivalent of about $5.30/gallon for unleaded), there are plenty who don't. I'm happy to pay someone else to drive me where I need to go so that I don't have to worry about that kind of cost. Also, the buses are very clean. There are some questionable people on them sometimes, but the majority are everyday people just going to or from work or shopping.

I'm glad that I finally branched out and take the bus. I do love the train, but it's more expensive and crowded than the bus. But for long jaunts, like into London, the train is the way to go - shorter and more comfortable. Either way, I'm starting to feel a little more like a local.