XplanaZine

A bus trip to Indianapolis, Indiana from Oklahoma can take about fourteen hours. Fourteen hours on a charter bus with fifty other students always makes for an interesting trip. Most charter buses have VHS or DVD players so students can watch movies, but everyone knows the adult sponsors never let any of the “good” movies on the air. Nothing rated R, nothing with too much sexual content and nothing that would offend anyone — last year one of the sponsors banned Zoolander, and that’s only PG-13. So to watch good movies, we have to go the underground route; portable DVD players. Kate’s tip — get at least one or two people on your bus to bring one and then you can watch whatever you like and feel proud of yourself for sneaking it past the adults.IPod’s also help with the grand undertaking of trying to stay amused on a bus. The newer video Ipod’s are great for watching TV shows or movies, but that’s not their main use. The ultimate goal is to find someone with speakers and blare music in the back so that the regular charter bus is transformed into a screaming party bus. Dancing on the party bus is something like surfing — you ride the waves (bumps and turns) but there’s not any nice, cushiony water to break your inevitable falls. You can never predict when the bus is going to make a sudden move so maintaining balance is impossible. Once a few people start bleeding (nobody’s really getting hurt Mon and dad), the party is usually terminated. But it’s a great way to waste an hour or so with your friends.

For most of us, the main goal is simply to stay awake long enough so that you won’t fall victim to the mischievousness of others. There are low tech ways to do this which usually work the best since movies, and music have soporific effects. You can attempt acrobatic flips by holding onto the baggage area at the bag carrier areas on either side of the bus, or see how many people you can pile into one seat. One of the most memorable events was seeing how many people we would fit into the bus bathroom (19, the record is 26).

If you’re the first one asleep, you usually wake up either drawn on or duct taped to your seat. Kate’s tip? Quickly inhale large quantities of caffeine and surround yourself with other people that have also inhaled large quantities of caffeine. On a bus ride, there is no high tech substitute for fun like good conversation and massive caffeine-sugar highs.