WE ARE CROSSING THE ENTIRETY OF CANADA EXCLUSIVELY BY BUS!!! We just left Victoria, BC; if all goes according to plan, we'll be arriving in St. John's, NL on Wednesday night after six days, seven bus companies, and nine Canadian provinces - all but PEI!
Buses: 1 This trip starts on easy mode - we're beginning with the BC Ferries Connector, a brief four-hour jaunt to Vancouver. It's possible to do this on local buses with a separate ferry ticket but it felt more kosher to book the (expensive) single coach+ferry ticket.
There are basically no amenities on board - no outlets, no WiFi, no bathroom - but how can we complain when the interior is this retro? (Plus it's a short ride)
(not pictured) I was not expecting the first side-of-the-road animal sighting to be alpacas!
Entering the ferry terminal!!!
WE HAVE DRIVEN ONTO A FERRY ON A BUS!!!!!!
FERRY
This is such a beautiful trip!
Uh-oh, this isn't Canada!
And now we're back on the bus - next stop Vancouver!
Made it 3 minutes early! We've got a lovely three hours to spend a bit of time in the city before our next bus.
We had a lovely time taking the ferry to Granville Island for lunch! I will be back in Vancouver soon so this isn't the last you'll see of me here...
Buses: 2 Rider Express will get us the furthest distance of any company: they're taking us all the way to Winnipeg! This first leg is an overnight run to Calgary (which, yes, means most of the Rockies will be in the dark 😔).
The boarding process was very Greyhound - apparently there's no fixed stop, they just "park outside the bus station wherever they can find a spot."
Also the driver just put our bags on the bus without tagging them or scanning our tickets - turns out there's another guy who does that. He CALLED ME ON MY CELL PHONE and I ran back out of the bus to get scanned! He also had me show my ID which I've never had to do on a bus!
It's really nice on here! The leather seats are lovely and the wifi seems to just be infinite (there's no login or anything). Not a bad place to spend 14 hours!
Because Vancouver is the only major North American city with no downtown freeways, we're on local streets to get out of here!
Welcome to Abbotsford International Airport (YXX), which I have today learned is A) a place that exists and has actual flights, and B) is inexplicably the Rider Express stop for Abbotsford. We're running about 30 minutes late because of Vancouver commute traffic...could be worse!
This is beautiful!
We took an unexpected 10-minute break here in Chilliwack...but the driver just said the next stop is Merritt, so I guess we're skipping the break in Hope? We're already getting to the point when the schedule can't really be trusted...
This has been spectacular.
Kamloops! They did a driver switch in Merritt and our new one is quite time-sensitive - instead of the scheduled half-hour (he referenced the schedule!!) we're only getting 15 minutes, which is much appreciated. We'll be leaving about half an hour late!
With the bus at the busiest it's been the whole trip, we're going to start winding down for the night! Talk to you all bright and early from Calgary!
Good morning from Golden, BC...we're currently running two hours late and counting because of a crash somewhere earlier in the mountains...and now we have an unresponsive passenger and we're waiting for an ambulance to arrive.
Obviously neither of these things are Rider Express's fault! But at this point we've already eaten our connection in Calgary to Edmonton, which will break our once-a-day connection to Regina, which will break our once-a-WEEK connection to Winnipeg! So...what will happen??
Based on what happened before in Vancouver, this strikes me as a company that has auxiliary station staff who might be able to help us (unlike Greyhound). Plus there's an upshot of getting some amazing Rocky views in the daylight - the sun is already starting to rise at 4:55 AM!
Uhh, we're leaving! That passenger is still on our bus but he seems to be awake now, so I guess that's good.
The driver said we should be able to make some time up - looking at the driving directions, it's possible to drive STRAIGHT to Calgary and make the connection, but it's close and we have to make a few other stops. I could see them maybe holding the Edmonton bus for us?
This is looking pretty good, knock on wood! (Our connecting bus leaves at 8)
Driver just announced the Edmonton bus is waiting for us!!
Buses: 3 The briefest of connections here in Calgary. The Rider Express staff have all been extremely friendly and accommodating in the face of rough circumstances! Thanks to them for holding the bus and making sure everyone made their connections - a lot of people transferred!
