Well San Francisco here I am.
Now the problem is getting from San Fran to Santa Rosa about an hours drive north of San Francisco.
Here started a number of blunders. I got conned and for a while there I got stuck.
It started, Meg told me a bus that would get me up to Santa Rosa.. I waited for the bus and it did come. However when it got time to get on the bus the guy would not allow me to take luggage on the bus.. unfortunatley as I was to find out later I managed to pick the one guy that was very strick in this matter.
So the bus was out of the question. I went back to Greyhound to see what my options where. I could leave the luggage at greyhound(not something i was keen on doing) then take the bus, take a cab(very costly) or see what other options there were. Well I didn't leave my luggage at the greyhound.. I did head out of the transbay terminal(where the greyhound located) and of course there was your usual pan handlers. One of them said they could help me out. He took me down a few streets round a corner or two to the "bart" (bay area rail transit) system well after I gave him a few dollars for his trouble..actually $20 he queried me for another $20 and since I felt he had got me out of a real spot of bother I obliged. Turns out bart doesn't go to santa rosa... a lot of help he was and I was down $40 us for my trouble.
So here I was on the streets of san fran with luggage in hand, and had gone round and down so many streets now I didn't have a clue where I was..
I was walking around a bit in a bit of a daze thinking.. "WHAT THE HELL AM I GOING TO DO" I have a hotel booked in santa rosa.. I had a woman waiting and I'm stuck here with no idea what to do... and it wasn't long after that I saw a cab go by..I took down the number gave them a call and queried the cost.. hmm $196 US they estimated to Santa Rosa... Reluctantly I thought its costly but damn this is going to put my mind at rest.
The drivers accent sounded like he was from Jamaica or Bahamas.
Well I told him for starters I wanted to go to South Santa Rosa - Well I got remember that in the US they do have street names that start with.. south.. north.. east etc, because (and as I later found out, and $20 later, the guy took me to Santa Rosa Avenue in San Francisco) And I was like no I wanted to go to Santa Rosa the city. Mean while he was on the phone getting directions.
Finally got going the right direction and saw the golden gate with my eyes for the first time, at night.. orange lights lighting it up, reflecting off the water it was still an interesting site.. but I had to much stuff on my mind. Part of it was the ever increasing figure on the dash about how much this trip is going to cost me.. part of it was Megan at the other end.
Although I must say meeting her for the first time I was a whole lot LESS nervous than the rest of the time in US, in fact it was probably a comfort that I was meeting someone that I knew that could provide me some support since here I was finding my way in a country I didn't know.
Well at least now I'm where I need to be....
The Battle is over..
FOR NOW!!!
1 comments:
After a 4 day horrible experience, lost luggage, stolen wallet, and a week of frustrating dealings with Greyhound, I'm putting out a Call to Action against Greyhound. Please read below for more information:
It's time Greyhound was held accountable, so I'm putting this action together to get everyone who has ever had trouble with Greyhound's bus system to call and complain about their operating procedures, lack of customer service, amount of lost baggage, and anything else you can think of that you, or anyone you may know, want to address with Greyhound Lines, Inc.
Action Dates: June 23 through 27, 2008
Action Time: 8:00 am to 5:00 pm Central Standard Time (so adjust the times for your time zone.)
I believe if you can post this information in your Blog, on Message Boards, on Forums, or email it to your friends. If everyone then calls, sends letters, creates picket lines outside your local Greyhound station, faxes Greyhound and Laidlaw on June 23 through the 27th, perhaps they will understand just how unhappy everyone is with their bus service. Also, please consider finding and taking another bus service. If you know of a bus service, please list it so others can learn about them. I've listed one below, after all the other information.
Unpublished location of Greyhound's Corporate Offices:
Greyhound Lines, Inc.
Criag Lentzsch, CEO
15110 Dallas Pkwy
Dallas, TX 75248-4635
U.S.A.
Do NOT call the listed phone numbers for Greyhound (214-849-8218 is given but only reaches a voice system and it's almost impossible to reach a live person on the 800-231-2222 official Greyhound number.), instead reach a live person by calling any of these unpublished numbers:
Operator with Executive Office: 214-849-8219
Bryan: 214-849-8217
Ursala: 214-849-8215
Safety Dept: 214-849-8214
Claudette: 214-849-8213
Jennell: 214-849-8211
These are the numbers that I was able to reach people, however, you can try to reach other live people by dialing 214-849-82XX (put any number in for the XX)
The Parent Company (the company that owns Greyhound) for Greyhound is:
Laidlaw Inc.
55 Shulman Boulevard, Suite 400
Naperville, IL 60563
U.S.A.
Phone: 630-848-3000
Fax: 630-579-6438
Other Bus Services:
Trailways services some areas, so please see this website to see if they service the areas you are traveling: http://www.trailways.com/schedules.asp
Another great website to find bus services: http://www.apta.com/links/transit_by_mode/bus.cfm
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