Mega Bust

Allow this post to be an anti-plug for Mega Bus. I should have known something would go wrong. Mega Bus can turn into Mega Bust far too easily. My bus, which was supposed to leave at 10:50 from the corner of Nationwide Blvd and High St was 3 hours and 50 minutes late. That’s right, it left at 2:40 in the morning. After freezing in the cold for a while, at 11:07 pm, I got someone to look up the customer service number. Unfortunately, the customer service ends at 11 pm. Fantastic.

Someone else got an emergency number and was told that the bus was delayed. Knowing it was delayed wasn’t enough. I wanted details. So I called and asked some questions.

Where was the bus? “I don’t know.” What’s wrong with the bus? “It’s having issues.” What kind of issues? “We’re sending another mechanic because the first one couldn’t fix it.” What is the time estimate? “We don’t know. It might get canceled. But don’t worry, we’ll give you a full reimbursement.”  What?! A reimbursement doesn’t get me to Chicago. Are you telling me there’s no back-up plan for when this sort of thing happens? What about sending another bus? “We can’t seem to find one that would be there in a timely manner.” Timely manner was out the window 2 hours ago. “I can take you name and number and call you with updates.” Yes, that would be nice.

I thus became the person with the info to which everyone asked questions and expressed their displeasure.  When I tried to call back after another hour of waiting, no one ever answered. Someone else told me their mom had called and waited on hold for over 45 minutes. 

As the hours passed, some people gave up and booked plane tickets for the following morning.  There were about 40 survivors who waited it out. When the bus finally came, it was like everyone was a pre-teen and catching sight of the Justin Bieber tour bus. Everyone screamed and ran for the bus. It was so nice to finally feel warmth. Someone had been nice enough to give me a coat and people were wearing socks on their hands to keep warm. We’d waited in a small hall that led to a sky-walk that was not heated for the majority of the wait.

The bus got to Chicago only about 3 hours late, miraculously. Barrett’s bus had gotten in a few minutes early around 6 am. Finally reunited!!! We got breakfast at Yolk, a favorite from last time we were in Chicago, and enjoyed our last America meal for a while. I'll leave you with a picture of the copious amounts of food we ordered. I was somewhat embarrassed that mine came out on two plates, but in all fairness, Barrett ate most of the second plate and neither of us could finish our meals.

My eggs, bacon, sausage, and nutella and fruit crepes.