Semi-sleeper bus

More for convenience of timing than for anything, I decided to take an overnight bus to and from Kyoto last Saturday.  This meant getting to Shinjuku station for an 11:50pm departure, arriving at Kyoto station at 6:50am the next morning, spending the day in Kansai, and then hopping on an 11:00pm bus to come back up.  The round trip bus tickets cost less than a one way bullet train ticket, so this seemed a reasonable way to save some yen.  

I remember from my student days that taking the overnight bus meant being cold, uncomfortable, and grumpy for the remainder of the day.  Yet something in me wanted to do it again.  I think it’s the same thing that makes people step off of cliff edges.  Anyhow – while I was prepared for the cold, and braced against the uncomfortable with three layers of clothing and one layer of noise cancelling headphone, I had completely forgotten about the rest stops.  

When I got to Shinjuku on Friday night, I was a little worried.  I had ten minutes before my bus left, and the area on the map, while precise, also seemed to be the departure point for twenty other overnight buses.  Eek. Luckily the company I was using had lots of staff in red jackets waving signs around.  As I boarded bus 36, I realized (yet again) that my Japanese has a ways to go.  When booking my tickets online, I thought that I’d booked a better bus, a bus with 4-(unit of measurement) wide seats, versus 3 (unit of measurement) wide seats.  Unfortunately, the unknown unit of measurement WAS “seat.”  So I’d booked myself on a bus with four seats to a row, instead of three.  (Just enough rope…) Oops. 

So after settling in next to some guy with a wanna-be afro, who thankfully wasn’t smelly or large, because there wasn’t an armrest between us, I sealed myself away with my sweater hood and headphones. 

Until, of course, a loud voice interrupted my nap with “HAI, IMA KARA KYUKEI JIKAN NI NARIMASUUUU,” accompanied by the hissing as the bus sat down and swallowed a blast of midnight air.  Apparently it’s unthinkable that on an overnight bus people would be sleeping, hence, stopping every two hours for a 20 minute break is standard operating procedure.  Somehow I forgot about that. 

At any rate, the trip back from Kyoto was a lot more pleasant, and actually – the layers and headphones were pretty reasonable in helping me to get some sleep.  I was either overjoyed to see the Tanakas, or I was actually better rested than the junior year Mt. Fuji trek from hell, because I wasn’t grumpy at all,　even at the museum!  Yes, that’s right.  Even at the ETHNOLOGY museum.  Mmhm.  

After loitering in the warmth of my homestay family’s house (ah, memories), I was sleep deprived and distracted enough that I almost went the wrong way transferring trains back to Kyoto station.  This meant that I was almost late to my bus!  It was the same deal with 20 random buses, except this time I was returning on a different company, and I couldn’t find it.  After asking another random bus company, I did find the table, hopped on my bus with a minute to spare, and noticed that I was the last one on.  This time, though, as the driver pointed me towards my companion-for-the-next-six-hours, he asked if we were friends. We were not.  After “hmm…please wait a minute,”  I was treated to a row all of my own, in the front! So nice.  After settling in there, kicking my feet to the side to take advantage of this luxurious surplus of space…I noticed that I’d missed a phone call.  Checking my messages revealed that the bus company had called me five minutes prior, because they were concerned that I hadn’t checked in, and was unable to find the bus.  Aww.  I’m pretty sure no transit service or company in the states would EVER call customers to check if they were running late.  We ended up leaving ten minutes later than anticipated, because some other guy was even later.  Pretty cool, huh?   

I was, however, worn out enough that on the way back, I only noticed two of the four rest breaks.  Slept straight through the rest of em.  ^___^ 

In sum then, I wouldn’t mind doing it again.  Maybe not on a one day trip; it’d be nice to get one solid night’s sleep between the fragmented bus rides, but they’ve got a certain charm going for them.