Got my Greyhound ticket last night. It felt very odd to buy a bus ticket to go to NYC. It's been about 15 years since last time I rode a non-MTA bus anywhere and I'm sure I'll be dutifully reminded as to why after this next trip. Airfares are now nearly twice what they usually are, gas prices are so high that it's actually cheaper to take a bus, and if I ever talk about taking Amtrak anywhere in this country again I want the person who performed the frontal labotomy on me found and slowly, torturously murdered.

Ah, but the bus trip is just the beginning of the trip. There's Central Park, Washington Square Park, Union Square, Midtown, the Village, Coney Island ($0.25 skeeball, the Cyclone, other rides, the aquarium and the beach, AND one of the last real freak shows around!), Chumley's, Fat Black Pussy Cat, miscellaneous tourist traps, the Cloisters, Jerry's Pizzaria, *real* food (Puerto Rican / Chinese / Italian / what-have-you), friends I've known for years and friends I've yet to meet, unlimited bus and subway travel for $24/week or $76/month, etc., etc. Why the hell did I move to Raleigh a second time (or the first time for that matter)?

-R