Thanksgiving is a bad time for people who are traveling, esp on road! I remember last year also, I happened to be in States on Thanksgiving and I was traveling that time to my relatives place. It took me almost 5 hours to reach DC from City, but while returning back, the bus was late by an hour. Never mind as I was in city by 10 PM and happened to reach my apartment by 11:30, I guess.
This year, things were screwed up very bad. Really bad! Reaching DC was okay, as it took 5 hours instead of regular 4 or 4:30. Well, that's OK, seeing the volume of traffic on the NJ turnpike. It took almost 3 hours just to reach Delaware Memorial bridge, instead of regular 2! Till the time I was in NJ, traffic was horrible, bumper to bumper!
Now lets talk about the return journey. I must say that this has been my worst trip so far in my life! I left my relatives place at 2, boarded bus and then metro to reach DC by 2:50 PM. I was supposed to board the 4:15 bus, but then I thought that let's reach the bus stop early to catch 3:15 so that I can reach home early! Well, fate had some other plans for me! When I joined the line, merely 15 people were standing in front of me. After a while (around 3:30), I came to know that the 2:35 bus has not arrived yet! I was disturbed by hearing that coz I knew that if 2:45 has not reached yet, then my bus is gonna have more delay! Well, around 4:30 a bus came which was supposed to come at 2:45! The bus agent got the people who had reservation for 2:45 on the bus and said to rest of us that the next bus is coming soon! It was raining lightly and was cold. Around 5:30, the fucking agent screwed up and all of a sudden said that those who are on 4:15v reservation should come and stand in a separate line towards the end of existing line! Shit, I said. In moments, I was standing almost towards the end! I was cursing my luck as I knew that standing behind in the line only makes your chance of getting on the bus slimmer! Time was ticking by and frustration was building up inside me, but the bus was not in sight! Another bus came around 6, which was coming from City and was dropping passengers on our stop. The agent told us that this bus will be back in couple of minutes after dropping rest of the passengers at the next stop. Obviously, the bus never came back! After a lot of time passed, a bus finally arrived at 8 PM and boarded the bus! 5 hours is what I spent waiting on that bus stop in rain and cold weather along with other passengers! I was feeling hellish!
When I boarded the bus, I said never mind, I should be in City by midnight and then I will reach home by 1 or 1:30 AM. The screwing continues here as I reached City at 12:30. Ran all the way down from 34th to Port Authority for the bus to my place, only to find that the last Coach USA bus has already left and I will need to board the last bus of 1:40. Crap! I was running here and there to get a ticket as the old machines were replaced by new ones and were asking for new codes for the route and zone! I managed to get the required information and printed a ticket for myself! Now comes the other frustrating part. The third floor level was supposed to be closed at 1:00 AM and there was a notice near the short line bus inquiry window which said that my bus was supposed to leave from Gate 82 on the ground floor! I rushed to the ground floor, but was intercepted by another bus terminal official on the first floor, who told me that no NJ Transit buses will leave from Gate 82 and I should instead go to third floor. I listened to him but on this floor, no one was there to guide or give information and the notices got me confused and I again reached Gate 82! I noticed that there are only Greyhound buses leaving from that floor! I was a bit nervous about the correctness of information but then there was a guy standing besides me, who was also going to Mahwah! I thought that I am standing in the right line and so I waited. Bus was scheduled to leave at 1:40 AM. It came and left, obviously from some other gate at level 3! I kept standing, sometimes sitting at Gate 82 and then at around 3:00 AM in the morning, I finally realizes that the bus is not gonna come on this gate. At that time, I didn't knew that the bus has left from some other gate on level 3. The guy standing besides me, called his girlfriend and checked about the earliest bus to Mahwah in morning. She told him that the first bus in the morning leaves at 06:55 AM! I decided to go upstairs and wait there as at least there are chairs on that floor! I went on Level 3 and waited and kept myself wide awake for another 4 hours. Finally, the bus arrived at 07:15 AM (this one was also delayed due to some accident in Lincoln tunnel) and I reached home at 8:00 AM!
I can say that by far this has been the worst trip in my life! I left my relatives place at 1:45 PM on Sunday and reached my home at 8:00 AM on Monday! Almost 18 hours...in normal cases this should have been just 6.5 hours, including waiting time for the bus!
