Sunday 25th January 2004, Day 134/273 - Portland, Oregon to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

As today was my last trip on continental America i decided to 'go Greyhound' for the last time. Might as well finish up the way I started.

On the way up to the bus terminal I saw a racoon. That's all I can say about that really. Portland was very nice, but just a little lacking in things to do for tourists. It would be a nice place to live.

I caught the 7.40 bus to Seattle and the seats seem positively cramped compared to planes and trains. I could sense it was going to be uncomfortable when the lady in front put here seat back and it touched my nose.

It was like a reunion of all my favourite characters from my Greyhound experience. There were mexicans chatting away and looking very sinister. There were babies crying. There was the wittering woman with no teeth. There was boasting about police records and arrests and gun shot wounds. There was the guy trying to flog stolen goods. There was the guy with his radio on to loud and plenty of other anti social behaviour. We even had a bit of comedy from the bus driver. "Today our cruising altitude will be about 9 inches." Oh how we laughed. A new character for me this time was the young couple travelling around America on an Ameripass. Now I haven't met too many of us travellers en route and these were definitely the first to be doing it with an 18 month old baby and a bongo drum. Mind they did look like they lived in a wig wam. No wonder the kid was crying. He should be playing nintendo or in the road or something.

We arrived in Seattle at 11.00 and I caught the 12.30 to Vancouver. The whole trip cost $47. We were held up at the border but no real dramas. We did leave someone at the crossing because there was something wrong with his visa. That always seems to happen. We eventually arrived in Vancouver at 16.30. There can't be any place with a backdrop like this in the world.

I felt good to be out of America and commercial hell. I feel almost as elated as someone who has just finished a 4.5 month prison sentence. Most of all I'm glad to be done with Greyhound.

I walked to the hostel. For once my legendary sense of direction almost failed me, but they don't make it as easy to find your way round in Canada as they do in America. Here's an idea. Why don't you grid all the roads and name them after numbers?  I eventually worked out where I was going.

The HI Vancouver Central @ 1025 Granville Street is the best I've encountered so far and at $18can a night is a bargain. It's got sturdy bunks beds that don't creek or sag, with bars on so you can't fall out. You even get a duvet. Oh how I miss the simple things. There are individual bathrooms that are clean and have decent tiling.

I needed to do something in the evening and had a choice between the ice hockey and the cinema. The cinema won as it was the cheaper option. I watched Cold Mountain. Jude Law (bit of a dodgy accent) and Nicole Kidman were great, but when Renee Zellweger came on she just lit the whole film up. I predicted the ending pretty early on, but got it wrong so I thought it was a great film.

Bloo's guide to getting around America.

You've basically got 4 options in Greyhound, Amtrak, Flying or car hire.

I'll talk about greyhound first as after travelling over 9,000 miles on them I feel like an expert.

I got the impression when I was at home that the Greyhound would be the romantic way to travel around America. Well forget the chewing gum adverts because it's nothing like that. Over here they are a standing joke among Americans. When you say to an American that you've been travelling Greyhound there next question is "are you alright?" or "and you're not dead?"

The terminals leave a lot to be desired. You're usually limited to vending machine food when you do get a terminal with a café it normally a dodgy 'Travellers Grill'. You can while away the hours on an archaic version of pac man or space invaders. The terminals are usually situated in the centre of the city, but are more often than not in a bad neighbourhood.

The buses are filled with people who can't afford to fly so you'll meet very few fellow travellers on the buses.

There are express routes, but most of the routes will take you indirectly to where you want to go, stopping regularly. You'll get a rest stop every 3-4 hours at a service station and if you're lucky there might be an Arby's there to get something half decent to eat. When you get to the major terminals you will normally have a layover of about an hour, so they can service the bus or in case you need to change buses. The driver will stop at every rail road en route, whether the tracks are still used (they seldom are) and even if you can see for miles and know there is no train coming (there never was).

So if you do decide to buy an Ameripass and go Greyhound around America here's some things to remember.

1. If the route is operated by a different company check at the ticket counter to make sure you don't need to get a valid ticket. On Greyhound buses you just line up and flash your pass and walk on the bus.
2. Get a baggage claim ticket from the ticket counter for every item of baggage that you are storing underneath the bus.
3. The seats get uncomfortable on long journeys especially overnight so you might want to take a pillow.
4. You will need to take something to make notes with.
5. Take something to do. You'll be very lucky if they show a film.

The greyhound is a very cheap and reliable way of getting around. It has by far the most coverage of any of the public transport. The only time I was ever late was when I had to cross a border. Having originally thought it was a good way to travel around America I eventually got my mind free and noticed the other passengers. I now question that. Its an experience I wouldn't have missed. For me there was something about the coaches that got my mind flowing. I would definitely do it again if I needed to clear my mind.

Amtrak isn't a bad way to travel. It is slightly more expensive than the greyhound, but painfully slow. The coverage isn't that good either. For example you can't get to Las Vegas, San Francisco or Phoenix direct on the train although they do lay on buses. When the cities are serviced the schedule is very infrequent. You get a slightly higher class of clientelle.

Flying is the easiest way to get around and is not expensive, but the costs do mount up. There are several low budget airlines. The terminals are out of town (obviously) so getting there can be an issue. A local bus will normally go from downtown for about $1.50 or you can get shuttles for in the region of $10-$20.

If you are with a group then hiring a car is probably the best method. You can go anywhere you want for $40 to $75 a day. The down side is you don't get to meet real Americans. Did I say down side? You know what I mean.

Walking, when walking in America try to stay to main roads and walk with a purpose.

I'm glad I did the tour this way round. It took me a while to get used to living in hostels and i think if I had started in Asia I would have floundered. This is not something that I ever expected to do.