VA2013: getting to and from there

Going to Virginia, I used three forms of transportation in getting to and from there: car, bus, and train.

I live in Nashville, and for a while, we had Megabus services from Nashville to Knoxville, but a few months ago, the routes from Nashville-Knoxville and Nashville-Memphis were no longer available. So, I ended up driving from Nashville to Knoxville. This drive isn't too bad, it's a roughly three-hour drive.

For the majority of my transportation, I used Megabus. I used Megabus on my trip to New York City in February 2012, and, again, I was lured in by their cheap prices. If Greyhound and Amtrak weren't expensive, I probably would have opted to ride with them. (Well, if only Amtrak came to Nashville.)

Knoxville-DC bus

I don't want to make this a post where I say negative things about Megabus, but... you get what you pay for, I suppose.

Like last year, I had problems with Megabus. Last year, the half the problem was out of our control - we got delayed by eight hours due to a freak accident miles ahead of us - and half the problem was my fault. (I was five minutes late to my departing bus in NYC because I failed to check train tunnel construction.) This year, both my buses (going to Virginia) were delayed. The bus leaving Knoxville was delayed...well, I'm not sure why it was delayed, it just showed up ten-fifteen minutes late. I figured, that's fine, my layover in DC is over an hour long, as long as we're not further delayed, I'll be fine.

Well, us leaving twenty minutes late turned into us arriving over an hour late, so I missed my connection to Virginia. (Only the driver delayed our trip; our breaks were extended and he kept stopping.) Additionally, our bus lacked AC. Well, it worked better on the upper level than it did the lower level. The driver failed to mention it until five hours into the ride. That was a fun nine-hour bus ride.

Anyways... I knew there was another bus going to my final destination in another two hours, but what if I couldn't make it onto that bus? I was put on a standby list, and I wouldn't be guaranteed a seat until everyone else made it onto the bus. Thankfully, there were a few spots left, and I was able to get a seat on the bus! I was also able to get the $5 ticket change fee waived, due to the fact that my first bus driver, to put it bluntly, sucked. So, instead of arriving in Virginia at 11pm, I didn't arrive until after 1am. (Our bus in DC also left late, but the people who were storing the luggage weren't doing it properly, so they were spending time trying to figure out how to store the luggage better.)

While in Virginia, my friend, Rachel, drove us around. I don't have pictures of her car or mine.

On Thursday, instead of taking the Megabus from Virginia to DC - I think the times conflicted with my departing time in DC - I took the Amtrak!

Amtrak!

I honestly love to travel by train. Any city I visit where I'm able to take a train everywhere, that's exactly what I'll do. I think my parents took me on the Amtrak when I was a baby, but I don't remember that. On a family vacation back in late 2009, we all rode the Amtrak from Baltimore-DC, and then DC-NYC.

My train was set to depart bright and early, at 6am. I woke up at 4:30am, after maybe four-ish hours of sleep. (I never seem to sleep well the night before traveling, that's always guaranteed.) I ended up getting to the station around 5:20am, and thankfully I wasn't alone at the station. I was able to watch a bit of the local news as I browsed through Twitter, Facebook...the usual social media. 

To say I was pleased we left right at 6am, on the dot, would be an understatement. (I was so happy that Amtrak themselves responded to one of my tweets, also displaying their pleasure at my train departing right on time.) The ride was a little over two hours long, and we ended up arriving in DC ten or so minutes early.

After having a quick breakfast with my friend Bradley, I headed back up to the Megabus area to get on my final bus of the trip!

DC-Knoxville bus

We left on time from DC, and ended up being 15 minutes early to Knoxville! Our bus driver sped a bit, and was on his bluetooth for a lot of the time, but other than that... no traffic, no problems. My experience going from Virginia was much better than my travels up there! I can't complain too much, though. Yes, I was delayed, but I safely made it to and from my destination.

Over the next week, I'll be showing you all what I did while in Virginia. I had a lot of fun, and despite the rain, Rachel and I crammed a lot of activities in.