FROM D.C. TO FORT LAUDERDALE: LITERALLY THE TRIP FROM HELL (FB TFH 1)

Oh, this trip is so damn frustrating and this is just the first leg of it.  I'm sitting in the waiting area for Greyhound Bus Lines with 3 hours to go until my bus leaves for Florida. When we finally board I have a 22 hour trip to look forward to. 

I started out from a Metro station in Virginia, carrying a 50 pound frame pack and a laptop carrier on my shoulder. Then I tried to buy a Metro ticket.  

A few years ago Metro stopped issuing farecards and required everyone to buy a "Smart card" to load fare money onto. I already had a "Smart card" but it would not work. So I had to buy a new one and load the fare onto it. But the instructions for doing so were not at all clear and I wound up being repeatedly offered tourist passes. Finally I located a station manager who got me what I thought was a card loaded with five bucks, enough to get me to Union Station in D.C. where the Greyhound terminal has been re-located.

Loaded down like a pack mule I squoze my way through the fare gates and onto the train. Once I was at Union Station I got off, only to find I had to put in another 40 cents to exit the station using a procedure similar to the megillah I went through when getting the card.

There were NO signs in Union Station directing people to Greyhound, just a couple arrows that said "Buses". Finally I found the "station".  Holy hell.

Back in the 1970s the Greyhound terminal was on New York Avenue NW. It had ticket windows, a waiting lounge, and a bar and grill on the upper level. And there were lockers where you could stash your bulky baggage and walk around for a bit as you waited for your bus.  This place is just a kiosk in the middle of a concrete plaza somewhere in back of the station. There is a semi-heated glass enclosed waiting area, but THERE ARE NO DAMNED LOCKERS AND YOU HAVE TO KEEP YOUR BAGGAGE AND CHECK IT AT BUS SIDE WHEN YOU LEAVE which means you have to lug it everywhere or risk having it stolen. I guess that's why it's called "Luggage".

Right now the waiting room is filling up with what looks to be the Deaf Lesbians Society. Funny but they are annoyingly loud.