Necessities for a Long Bus Ride

I don't fly a lot. I never really go anywhere far enough where a flight is absolutely necessary. I've never minded long road trips. I'm okay with sitting on a bus or train for over eight hours. It really doesn't bug me all that much and it's usually much cheaper than trying to book a flight from across the state. So, I'm going on a bus to New York today. I'm no stranger to the Greyhound buses, as they were my only transporation home from college my freshman year, so it's going to be a nice little #tbt when I hope on one in a few hours.

The key to long bus rides is to be fully prepared with both sustenance and entertainment. Certainly, you could totally conk out during the ride too, but since I can't sleep unless it's bedtime, I'm forced by my inability to nap to improvise and make sure there's always something for me to do.

Headphones

These are arguably the most important part of the trip. I genuinely think my head would explode if I had an eight-hour bus ride by myself with no headphones on hand. I usually make sure I have two pairs, just in case one pair breaks. I'm that paranoid about being without music for extended periods of time, especially on a potentially crowded bus. I have Beats, but I prefer my earbuds because they take up less space and are much less expensive if they get lost or broken.

Music or podcasts

Usually I would just create an offline playlist or two consisting of some of my favorite albums and another of my favorite single songs at that moment. I can't trust that I won't get insanely bored of the actual music I have on my phone, considering most of the songs are pre-2013 when I first got Spotify and decided that it was time to stop spending all of my money. I also downloaded quite a few episodes of Leandra Medine's Monocycle podcast and a few of My Favorite Murder, as recommended to me by a friend after I finished watching Buzzfeed Unsolved and wondered what I was going to do with my time now.

Books and magazines

This is an obvious necessity for entertainment purposes. Can't go anywhere without some solid reading material! I'm bringing along the newest issues of InStyle and Glamour as well as You'll Grow Out Of It by Jessi Klein. Sometimes I travel with more but let's be real, do I really need to be hogging up space in my tote with six million books? I can be alone with my thoughts for a couple of hours if I finish my book in a few hours like I normally do. I won't self-destruct.

Friends that are awake

It's a well-known fact that I won't text people back if I'm not using messages on my computer. That sounds like it's a joke, but I've honestly gotten so accustomed to not using my iPhone keyboard and am at my computer so often that I just hate using the iPhone for its true purpose. But, since I normally don't break my laptop out for these bus rides (unless there's no one next to me to peek at my screen), I have to rely on my good old iPhone and friends that aren't busy to entertain me when I feel like I'm going a little stir crazy.

Snacks + water

Food and water are where the bus trip gets tricky. I mean, you have to eat at some point because it would probably not be the best idea to not eat at least a snack for an eight-hour period. I tend to eat a lot beforehand as well as hydrate so I can count on not having to go to the bathroom whilst on the bus. My iron bladder has done me well for the years of bus rides and I just have to hope it does not let me down today. I always have water on me for when I do eat my snacks and also for when my mouth feels like it's the Sahara Desert and will completely dry out if I don't have a drop of water on my tongue. 

I tend to bring along things that aren't messy or loud, like protein bars or gummy bears. You know, really healthy stuff. I think I might try to bring something of more sustenance, but who knows what my future holds. I have my water and champagne and rosé gummy bears and I am READY TO GO!

Comfortable outfit

The most important part of long-term travel. This is the one occasion in which I don't care what I'm wearing in New York. I will shamelessly roll up to the bus stop wearing some sort of comfortable, athletic-y ensemble to ensure that I do not want to set my entire self on fire during the bus ride. I could never sit on a bus for over eight hours wearing denim anything, let alone a pair of denim shorts. No way. No fooking way, as Harry Styles would say.