Travel God Whims

So, in order to save a $112, I took the Bolt Bus home from DC today. Even though I was maybe 20th on line, I was first on the bus because I didn't have any luggage to put underneath and my ticket had an "A" on it. I got a window seat in the second row and was getting stoked that I'd have both seats to myself.

Then crazy homeless looking man comes on with all these bags of crap and starts putting them in the seat in front of me. The bus driver yelled at him because his bags were spilling on the passenger next to him. And then, he puts his coat on the back of the chair AND CAME AND SAT NEXT TO ME!

He smelled like old attic and B.O. He kept elbowing me because he was sorting through his mail (and tossing the garbage on the floor) and calling up the people to complain about the bills. He also kept talking to me:

Crazy Man ("CM"): "Hi, my name is Gary. Were you at the Neuroscience conference?"
A: "I'm on the phone."
CM: "Do you live in New York?"
A: "I'm still on the phone."
CM: "Are you a blogger? What do you blog about? I need a blogger for my start up."
A: "I'm on the phone."

He finally stopped talking to me but he was still elbowing me and still stank. Finally, we were at a rest stop and I ran off trying to frantically find someone to let me sit next to them. This nice lady behind him was so nice. She cleared off a space next to her and said that she felt bad for me and was going to offer me a seat earlier. She said he was acting like a crazy drunk man before he got on the bus. Then another guy said that he was ignoring the guy. So, basically, everyone thought he was crazy. The lady said that she had bad allergies and the smell of the guy was setting off her allergies. Another funny thing was the lady was at the Neuroscience conference.

I do rely on the kindness of strangers.