There’s a huge misconception that people traveling by bus are scary, creepy or straight up unenjoyable. Sure, there are some weird people here and there (weird is totally fine by the way) but most of the passengers are just regular folks trying to get from point A to point B.
We believe that everyone has a unique story to tell, all you need to do is ask.
When the Busbud crew traveled from Montreal to Ottawa on July 9th, we were the last ones to board and the only seats available were near the back of the bus. As we were live-tweeting our journey (Greyhound has some pretty good Wi-Fi), I noticed the gentleman in front of me was reading a book. So naturally, I asked him what was he reading (OF COURSE).
Clearly, Lewis wasn’t entertained with his readings so we started… chatting? It was quite surreal, we started explaining to Lewis what we were doing, what Busbud was and whatnot. As questions started to bounce from all sides, the guy sitting next to me asked, “What is going on? Are you guys speed dating? What’s with the all the questions?”
And that’s where our short Q&A with Lewis begins.
Busbud: Where are you heading to?
Lewis: Vancouver.
Busbud: Wow, that’s a long way out.
Lewis: Yeah, I’ve been traveling for a month now. I started out in St. John’s and I’m currently doing a Canadian coast-to-coast trip all the way to Vancouver.
Busbud: Why Canada?
Lewis: Because those are the plans!
Busbud: Awesome.
Busbud: Where are you from?
Lewis: Manchester.
Busbud: Ha, I guess we have to ask this now. Are you a United or City fan?
Lewis: Neither! I don’t watch football so I don’t care about either of those teams. That’s why I decided to travel to Canada due to all of the teasing I get back home [laughs].
Busbud: Exactly, no one watches soccer in Canada. This seems like the perfect place for you!
Lewis: [Laughs]
Busbud: Do you consider yourself a seasoned traveler?
Lewis: I’ve been traveling the world for six years now.
Busbud: Oh wow.
Busbud: In your six years traveling, what’s the craziest story you have to share?
Lewis: Haha, I’m not sure. There’s been quite a few!
Busbud: If you had one story to share, which one would it be?
Lewis: [Pensive] I’ve got a pretty good one from my time in New Zealand. It involves a gun, blood and alcohol. It’s pretty funny.
Busbud: [ready to take notes].
Lewis: I was in the New Zealand outback and I was hitchhiking with some guy.
Busbud: This is starting off great.
Lewis: We were going duck hunting. As any self-respecting hunter, we were obviously drinking. Anyways, we were enjoying ourselves and next thing I know this guy got reckless and ends up blowing off a part of his hand.
Busbud: Wait. What?
Lewis: Yeah, I ended up stitching his hand back together [laughs].
Busbud: What happened next? How was the ride back?
Lewis: Oh… we didn’t go anywhere. We actually carried on hunting and drinking for the next three days.
Busbud: Yep. That’s one crazy traveling story [applause].
Busbud: Any bus related story you can share?
Lewis: Yeah, I once traveled from Sydney to Melbourne by bus. It was a long ride, something like 12 hours or so. During the entire ride, there was this kid with Tourette’s that was constantly whistling. Like, he wouldn’t stop. He just whistled for 12 hours.
Busbud: How did you know he had Tourette’s?
Lewis: The bus driver shouted at him to stop and the kid replied, ”I have Tourette’s!” and just kept on whistling.
Busbud: [Laughs] Awesome! Well not for everyone on the bus… but still.
Busbud: Do you have a blog or online presence where we can follow your travel adventures?
Lewis: Yeah! You can check me out on www.hobolewis.wordpress.com
Busbud: All right, cool. Thanks for doing this!
Lewis: No problem. [goes back to reading his book].
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