After a couple of hours standing in the stairwell of a bus, staring
out a foggy window at the blue predawn Pampas streaming by, I start to
compile the lessons I've learned about long-haul bus travel. I'm standing up because this bus filled up somewhere in the middle of
Argentina, and my ticket is for a seat No. 9 on a bus that has no seat
No. 9. I'm on this bus because I missed the Mendoza-to-Buenos Aires
bus I bought a ticket for. All this because I was planning in the
wrong time zone. So, lesson No. 1: Pay attention to when you depart, and be aware of
the local time. I arrived at the Mendoza bus station about 10 minutes
after my original bus left, which I thought was 50 minutes early.
Research the time zones you may cross in your travels beforehand. I
had just crossed time zones from Chile to Argentina the day before I
missed the bus. I even checked the time I had on my phone with the
hotel concierge; he incorrectly confirmed it. (I'm looking at you,
blond guy at Alcor Hotel in Mendoza.) Lesson No. 2: Pay attention to when your bus arrives at your
destination, especially if you are headed somewhere new. You don't
want to get into a strange city in the middle of the night. It is less
safe, harder to navigate, and services like the metro may be
unavailable. Lesson No. 3: Have your documents in order. Crossing national borders
by bus can happen one of two ways: You'll either take the same bus, or
you'll have to change. If it's the former, the bus stops and lets all
the passengers off to go though customs and get stamped; the bus is
checked, and then you get back on. In the latter case, you're dropped
off by one bus, go through customs and board another bus on the other
side of the border. The catch here is that there actually needs to be another bus on the
other side. I once took a bus from Tel Aviv, Israel, to Cairo, Egypt,
and after we passed through Egyptian customs, there was no bus. The
company rep negotiated with local drivers and eventually secured
transportation to Cairo, hours later. So, lesson No. 1: Pay attention to when you depart, and be aware of
the local time. I arrived at the Mendoza bus station about 10 minutes
after my original bus left, which I thought was 50 minutes early.
Research the time zones you may cross in your travels beforehand. I
had just crossed time zones from Chile to Argentina the day before I
missed the bus. I even checked the time I had on my phone with the
hotel concierge; he incorrectly confirmed it. (I'm looking at you,
blond guy at Alcor Hotel in Mendoza.) Lesson No. 2: Pay attention to when your bus arrives at your
destination, especially if you are headed somewhere new. You don't
want to get into a strange city in the middle of the night. It is less
safe, harder to navigate, and services like the metro may be
unavailable. Lesson No. 3: Have your documents in order. Crossing national borders
by bus can happen one of two ways: You'll either take the same bus, or
you'll have to change. If it's the former, the bus stops and lets all
the passengers off to go though customs and get stamped; the bus is
checked, and then you get back on. In the latter case, you're dropped
off by one bus, go through customs and board another bus on the other
side of the border. The catch here is that there actually needs to be another bus on the
other side. I once took a bus from Tel Aviv, Israel, to Cairo, Egypt,
and after we passed through Egyptian customs, there was no bus. The
company rep negotiated with local drivers and eventually secured
transportation to Cairo, hours later.
out a foggy window at the blue predawn Pampas streaming by, I start to
compile the lessons I've learned about long-haul bus travel. I'm standing up because this bus filled up somewhere in the middle of
Argentina, and my ticket is for a seat No. 9 on a bus that has no seat
No. 9. I'm on this bus because I missed the Mendoza-to-Buenos Aires
bus I bought a ticket for. All this because I was planning in the
wrong time zone. So, lesson No. 1: Pay attention to when you depart, and be aware of
the local time. I arrived at the Mendoza bus station about 10 minutes
after my original bus left, which I thought was 50 minutes early.
Research the time zones you may cross in your travels beforehand. I
had just crossed time zones from Chile to Argentina the day before I
missed the bus. I even checked the time I had on my phone with the
hotel concierge; he incorrectly confirmed it. (I'm looking at you,
blond guy at Alcor Hotel in Mendoza.) Lesson No. 2: Pay attention to when your bus arrives at your
destination, especially if you are headed somewhere new. You don't
want to get into a strange city in the middle of the night. It is less
safe, harder to navigate, and services like the metro may be
unavailable. Lesson No. 3: Have your documents in order. Crossing national borders
by bus can happen one of two ways: You'll either take the same bus, or
you'll have to change. If it's the former, the bus stops and lets all
the passengers off to go though customs and get stamped; the bus is
checked, and then you get back on. In the latter case, you're dropped
off by one bus, go through customs and board another bus on the other
side of the border. The catch here is that there actually needs to be another bus on the
other side. I once took a bus from Tel Aviv, Israel, to Cairo, Egypt,
and after we passed through Egyptian customs, there was no bus. The
company rep negotiated with local drivers and eventually secured
transportation to Cairo, hours later. So, lesson No. 1: Pay attention to when you depart, and be aware of
the local time. I arrived at the Mendoza bus station about 10 minutes
after my original bus left, which I thought was 50 minutes early.
Research the time zones you may cross in your travels beforehand. I
had just crossed time zones from Chile to Argentina the day before I
missed the bus. I even checked the time I had on my phone with the
hotel concierge; he incorrectly confirmed it. (I'm looking at you,
blond guy at Alcor Hotel in Mendoza.) Lesson No. 2: Pay attention to when your bus arrives at your
destination, especially if you are headed somewhere new. You don't
want to get into a strange city in the middle of the night. It is less
safe, harder to navigate, and services like the metro may be
unavailable. Lesson No. 3: Have your documents in order. Crossing national borders
by bus can happen one of two ways: You'll either take the same bus, or
you'll have to change. If it's the former, the bus stops and lets all
the passengers off to go though customs and get stamped; the bus is
checked, and then you get back on. In the latter case, you're dropped
off by one bus, go through customs and board another bus on the other
side of the border. The catch here is that there actually needs to be another bus on the
other side. I once took a bus from Tel Aviv, Israel, to Cairo, Egypt,
and after we passed through Egyptian customs, there was no bus. The
company rep negotiated with local drivers and eventually secured
transportation to Cairo, hours later.
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