Double Decker Bus to the City

There's threats of a Tube strike beginning Monday evening and lasting through Tuesday, so we're all scrambling for alternate methods of transportation. Well, J is anyway. I'm unemployed, so I don't really need to be anywhere, and all the places I may need to go is within walking distance using my short little legs. Yay, so there is something good about being unemployed!

Anyway, it's our one year wedding anniversary today, and we decided to treat ourselves to a fabulous hotel room so we could sleep in a non-inflatable bed in a room filled with real furniture as opposed to spending the day in our empty flat.  It's funny because the hotel is right by J's office, so we decided to do a test run of the bus route from our house to his office on our way to the hotel.

I checked out the best route to the office by checking out tfl's website, and the bus stop is right across the street from our flat. Woohoo for major convenience. We used our Oystercard, and the fare's only 1 quid twenty, which is cheaper than using the Tube. We got a scenic 35 minute ride to the City, and the ride was actually pretty nice once we got some seats. Some things I figured out:

• If the bus stop sign has a white background, the bus is supposed to stop automatically.
• If the bus stop sign has a red background, you need to flag the bus in order to get it to stop.
• If you don't have an Oystercard, buy your bus ticket at the ticket machine at the bus stop before getting on board.
• There's these little red buttons on the bus rails you can push to signal the bus driver to stop.
• There's a digital display that shows the next bus stop.
• I don't want to ride on the upper deck, since barfing on the bus after all that swaying is probably not the most attractive thing I could do.

Coming from LA, public transportation is a whole new can of worms I wasn't really looking forward to, but it's actually quite easy and convenient. I prefer the bus to the Tube, but that's because I'm slightly claustrophobic, and you never know what the person sandwiched next to you on the Tube is going to smell like. And it just can't be natural for people to be running around underground, can it?

In sum, if you're looking for speed and efficiency, I say the Tube's the way to go, but if you don't mind taking a little longer, I think the bus is preferable. For instance, the Tube ride would've only taken 12 minutes, while the bus ride was around 35 mins. But in our case, the bus stops on both ends are closer to our beginning and final destinations, so that cuts down on the walking time. And you can look out the bus windows instead of spending your time averting your gaze on the Tube to avoid inadvertent eye contact. Just some things to think about the next time you're trying to get somewhere.