June 20th is Missed Bus Day

I had a meeting in the city yesterday evening. In order to get into the city I have to take two buses; the first from my aunt's to Atlantic City and the second from Atlantic City to New York. Yesterday started with a bang--I missed my first bus. Missing that bus meant I couldn't make it into the city until 6:35; two hours after I had originally planned. I caught the next bus and made my connection. All went well.

Had my meeting which caused me to lose track of time, and thus I missed my bus out of the city. I needed to be on that bus so I could make it back to my aunt's last night. Oh did I mention I was dog sitting at the same time? I had to get back to my aunt's last night because the poor puppies were outside all day (high of 91). I resolved to take a cab back to the house out of Atlantic City. It was the only way I could get back to my aunt's.

When I realized I had missed my first bus, I had half an hour to get to the next bus. There was enough time to grab the subway and walk fast to the bus. Got to the subway, and the station was closed. I wanted to cry. I was down to fifteen minutes at this point. Thankfully there was a nice younger guy that went to get on the subway the same time I did. We chatted briefly about the closed station as we tried to find another route. We found we were both going the same direction so we grabbed a cab.

We were going to split the fare, but it was only a few bucks ($3.75 to be exact) so he picked up the cost. I was dropped outside Port Authority with five minutes to sprint to the bus. I caught the cross walk as it turned to "walk" and I ran (the cab wasn't even stopped yet lol). I screamed at a tourist to move when they walked in front of me. I took three flights of stairs at a dead, full out run, then sprinted to my gate from one end of the terminal to the other. I made my bus with two minutes to spare.

I got in line behind a group of students from Bulgaria who were trying to get their tickets figured out and luggage sorted. The guy behind me was being really pushy, and kept telling me to just get on. I acted like I couldn't hear him. After he pushed me, the bus driver and myself looked at the guy and before I could say anything, the bus driver told him to calm down or go wait for the next one (not as nicely though). Everyone got on and we headed out of the city at 8:47.

There was no problem getting out of the city and the bus driver made great time; arriving at Toms River twenty minutes early. So all the smokers, including the bus driver, took a smoke break. Ten minutes later we were on our way. We made it to Atlantic City as the bus I needed to my aunt's pulled out. Which was fine, I had decided to take a cab back anyway. Thirty dollars and 3 hours later, I let the dogs in and played with them for a half hour before doing anything else.

Today I am relaxing and making phone calls to find a place in the city to stay for the month. I can't do this commute all the time. Damn buses.