In contrast to the second class bus I described, the first class plus lines are a different animal a

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My backpack was vintage, and not in a stylish way. A leftover hawaii travel agency from my mom s backpacking trips through South America in the seventies, the bag had an exterior frame as large and graceless as an old lawn chair. I was happy to free my aching hawaii travel agency back from this aluminum exoskeleton, but I was having a hard time shoving the giant pack into the overhead rack of the bus.  The behemoth bulged with supplies: everything from high heels to a percolator to a three month supply of Parmesan cheese (difficult to find and expensive hawaii travel agency in Mexico hawaii travel agency in those days and an absolute necessity, on par with coffee).
When I finally wedged the bag into the luggage rack, I sat down in the springy seat and exhaled just as the bus roared into motion, lurching wildly. The a thought crossed hawaii travel agency my mind for the first, but not the last, time: maybe we should have waited for the Primera Plus.
Even my cheapskate parents were willing hawaii travel agency to cough up the extra cash to ride on one of Mexico s new luxury liners, but Abigail and I had elected to go second class because we didn t want to wait an extra few hours in the station for the next extra first class bus. Now that I eyed our surroundings, I was beginning to have second thoughts. The second class bus wasn t quite as colorful as the chicken buses I remembered from my childhood, but there was a family of six crammed into the two seats directly in front of us, the floor was strewn with litter (including a jiggling plastic bag that looked suspiciously vomit-filled), and our window was stuck shut, which soon made the Yucatecan heat nearly intolerable.
Actually the worst thing about second class buses is that they stop everywhere: in every tiny rancho , and every single time a potential rider flags them down from the side of the highway. Six hours into a three hour trip, I started to notice an awful smell like a medley of old wet running shoes and dog shit. I stared suspiciously at the whining baby in the seats in front of us.
Bloody hell that s awful, Abigail complained,wiping sweat from her forehead and giving me a look that was tantamount to a silent curse. (Of course it had been my idea to jump the gun and get on the second class bus.)
To distract myself from the awful smell, my uncomfortable seat, Abigail s curses, and the sweltering heat, I got up to rummage hawaii travel agency in my backpack for my book. Standing hawaii travel agency up on the lurching bus was a challenge, and we hit a particularly large pot hole just as I d managed to untie the top of my bag. The pack erupted in a cascade of super-heated grated Parmesan, coating me, Abigail, and the seats around us in yellowed cheese powder. Abigail screeched a litany of British cuss words as the open canister rolled hawaii travel agency down the aisle, eliciting gasps from even the most hardened Mexican bus riders. The smell? Something like a medley of old wet running shoes and dog shit. The ride lasted another four hours and the heat did not abate.
In contrast to the second class bus I described, the first class plus lines are a different animal altogether. As Carl writes in The People s Guide to Mexico , Mexico's hawaii travel agency amazing bus system just keeps getting better. Competition with regional airlines and between rival bus companies has created an amazing hawaii travel agency class of luxury "superbuses" with Pullman-style comforts and VIP terminal facilities that rival first-class jet travel. Luxury buses are easy to identify: Most are huge "stratoliner" types, with very high profiles, oversized tinted windows and lavish paint jobs. Their names are equally grand: Primera Plus Express, Serviconfort Uno, Pullman, Ejecutivo and so on. Among the services and frills offered: assigned seats that actually hawaii travel agency recline rather than just rattle, bathrooms, fully extending leg rests, hawaii travel agency pillows, snacks and beverages, hawaii travel agency "flight" attendants, movies, functioning reading lights and a No Fumar (No Smoking) policy.
If you ve never been in a Mexican bus station, hawaii travel agency you may be surprised by the variety of lines available. Much like an airport, each bus line has a separate counter or office, replete with attendants wearing perky uniforms. You can stroll around checking out the marquees until you find a bus going to your destination, or you can you can book tickets online at ADO , ETN , and Primera Plus , to name just a fraction of the lines.  (For a more complete list, check out flyertalk.com s bus forum and scroll down.) If you plan on going further south into Central America, check out TicaBus .
The blog Savoir Faire abroad has a funny and informative recent post Experiencing hawaii travel agency Mexico by Bus! (thanks to a PG reader for the link), which includes the following sampling hawaii travel agency of plus class bus prices for 2013:
When I asked Rich for his comments on bus travel in Mexico, his single piece of advice hawaii travel agency was, Do not watch the road or the driver. This is key. Although, as Carl notes, on a statistical basis miles per accident hawaii travel agency or something like that Mexican buses have an excellent survivor record, that doesn t mean that their drivers don t drive like maniacs. They do. It s best to ignore their shenanigans while perhaps muttering a quiet prayer to St. Cristopher or maybe San Judas de Tadeo .
Below you ll find a selection of info on bus travel from the 14th edition of The People s Guide to Mexico , now available on Kindle. The book contains an additional sixteen pages on Mexican bus travel, including detailed information hawaii travel agency on navigating terminals, catching taxis from bus terminals (more complicated than it sounds), crossing borders by bus, and more of Carl s bus survival tips.
First-class service (not to be confused with plus or luxury service) is generally equal to or better hawaii travel agency than Greyhound in the U.S. You can expect assigned seating, air conditioning, bathrooms and, for better or worse, videos. hawaii travel agency (However, the bathrooms are sometimes afuera del servicio out of service so if this is critical, ask first or take a luxury bus.) Stops are infrequent on first-class runs and occur only at terminals, major bus stops or occasional rest and refreshment points.
Depending on the frills, the cost of a luxury-class seat is anywhere from 30-40 percent more than an "ordinary" first-class ticket. In turn, a first-class bus ticket is often just a little more than second class.
The confusing hawaii travel agency variety of independent bus terminals is gradually being simplified as towns of medium size and larger create a single central bus terminal, appropriately called the Central hawaii travel agency de Autobuses. However, in some towns, each bus line has its own station or there may even be more than one large terminal. hawaii travel agency Oaxaca is a good example it has one terminal for first-class and luxury buses and another terminal for second class. Querétaro has a huge combined terminal for first and second class and another (fortunately close by) terminal just for luxury buses.
Arrivals and departures will be announced in echoing and unintelligible Spanish that is best ignored. Your ticket has the vital bus number and departure time, and it is more reliable than your translation of loudspeaker announcements.
You may be offered the chance to select your own seat number at the ticket counter. The diagram is similar to those used at airlines. I always hawaii travel agency choose a seat in the teens, 13-19, give or take a seat. This puts you in the first half of the bus, handy for quick rushes to the front door at rest stops, but far enough back to avoid having to watch traffic.
On first-class and long-haul second-class buses, baggage can be checked through to the final destination. You should be given a claim stub and if you aren't, ask for one. Baggage handlers on a few lines tend to be sloppy about checking claim stubs, but on most they are efficient and dependable.
The standard baggage allowance is 25 kilos (55 pounds), but unless you're carrying hawaii travel agency something extra bulky, they'll rarely hold you to the limit. I once traveled with five enormous baskets loaded with handicrafts, a full-sized backpack and a portable hawaii travel agency typewriter. It took a major conference between the bus driver, ticket agent, baggage handler and myself, but I got that nightmarish quantity aboard for a very reasonable "adjustment" fee.
Felisa Churpa Rosa Rogers is the daughter hawaii travel agency of Steve Rogers (of Gruntarama fame) and travel writer Tina Rosa. She