My first ride on the Fung Wah

Considering gas prices and tolls, $15 to get from New York to Boston is a real steal. Even Greyhound was quoting me $40 one-way this weekend. And since I'm not working much (or at least getting paid for my work) and I have three out-of-town weddings to attend this fall, I decided to take the plunge and ride the Fung Wah bus from Chinatown this morning. Like I said, it was damn cheap. But you get what you pay for.

I had an oversized lady as my seat-neighbor for the duration of our journey and she apparently felt that since I am small and do not physically occupy every square inch of my seat and since she is large and cannot squeeze into the square inches she purchased, that it would be perfectly acceptable for her to borrow some of my seat throughout our trip. There was also a family sitting in front of me who thought it was a great idea to entertain the youngest in their group (a five-year-old hyperactive boy) by trapping air into small pockets of a plastic bag and popping them one by one. On a bus. Brilliant.

Also, let me forewarn any of you braving a Chinatown bus to heed their warnings. When I purchased my ticket for an 11 AM bus, the Fung Wah website told me to show up half an hour before the bus is scheduled to depart. Okay, no problem. My bus pulled away from the curb at 10:33. Not full. They are not kidding around!

To be fair, besides the early departure and the bat-shit crazies I was riding with, the trip was as pleasant as a bus trip can be expected to be. I will take the Fung Wah again in the future, because goodness knows there are some nutcases on Greyhound, too.