Epic Journey Log Entry #1--- MegaBus

Epic Journey Log Entry #1
MegaBus


It was 2:15am and my dad had graciously picked me up at my Toledo casa to drive me to the MegaBus stop at Southwyck Mall; which, incidentally enough, is no longer a mall but rather a vacant lot that resembles many places in America, currently. While waiting I felt a great amount of apprehension about the epic-ness of my upcoming journey – while I love traveling I get easily nervous about all the little details (What if the bus is late? What if the bus breaks down and I miss my flight? Did I pack everything I need? Etc).

But the bus arrived on time and I was able to get settled into a stretch of 2 seats where I fell asleep pretty quickly, thanks to an awesome eye cover that I am now so happy that I picked up.

Before I knew it the bus stopped and I awoke with blurry eyes and an incessant urge to go back to bed. Dimly, I remembered my friend Raquel mentioning that the MegaBus made one stop on the way to Chicago, to a place in Indiana. Since I sleep fairly lightly, I assumed we were in Indiana….although the buildings seemed rather tall but I was viewing the dark city with sleep-deprived eyes and no one seemed to be moving so I snuggled back into the seat. I felt movement around me but simply assumed that everyone was heading for a much-needed bathroom break.

Of course, I’m a bloody idiot.

Finally after a few minutes I raised my head and saw the bus driver standing at the front of the bus looking at me. “You heading to Chicago?” “Um, yeah.” “Well, you’re here. Better get your suitcase outside.”

Shoooooot

I’ve been to Chi-town on four other occasions and I know you don’t just let your luggage sit outside unattended so best believe I ran out that door like it was 5am on Black Friday.

After I got outside I checked my watch and saw that we were a good 30 minutes early – it was only 5:45AM Central time – and the Chi was pitch black and I was downtown with no idea where I was heading.

Eeeep.

I’ve traveled by myself and last time I was in Chi I was there for a week, but even though I was familiar with the city the fact that it was night time and there are wicked weird-ass people strollin’ through the streets, was enough to make me light-weight nervous.

After asking a nice construction lady for directions to the blue line (goes to O’Hare) I started heading down the street. Pretty soon I was crossing over the Chicago River (which was sweeeeet) and then I was on the look-out for a coffee shop. I mean, Chi is a big city and you’d think the downtown would have tons of coffee shops, yeah?

Wrong.

Don’t get me wrong, there were tons farther down (I later realized) but nada where I was…and I was definitely feeling creeped out. FINALLY on Wacker Dr I saw a Panera and went there. Of course, with my luck it didn’t open until 6:30AM on a Sat so I had to stand outside, luckily protected from the rain…

…YEAH, did I mention it was raining? Cuz yeah, it definitely was. Of course, I was trying to think positively and took the liberty of assuming that Chi was so glad to see me that she was crying tears of joy. ;)

Thankfully, soon I was indoors and warm, and before I knew it I was walking to the Blue Line on Clinton and off to O’Hare!

And so began my Epic Journey across America via the jetBlue ‘All You Can Jet Pass’!