Bus Travel, Border Crossing, Nogales,Mexico, Just Show Up

Bus Travel, Border Crossing, Nogales, Mexico
Just Show Up Page Five

For some, a seat in the back close to the lavatory is ideal.

For others the deodorant smell from the lavatory and the
hum of the back wheels (four on each side) make the
back seats undesirable. Some travelers prefer the middle
of the bus where the tire noise is less and the bus body
absorbs the hum of the wheels and the bumps in the road.

I prefer seat number four: front seat, right side. Sure it’s a
long walk to the lavatory but during the day I can look out
the huge bus windshield and see far ahead. At night I can
sleep with no one in the seat ahead of me.

Drawback: some front seats do not have a leg rest. At
other times and on the less than professionally run bus
lines, the assistant driver takes the seat numbers three
and four regardless of what your ticket says.

The second choice for me on a night run is in the middle
of the bus, window, I like the leg rest when sleeping.

Tips:
On a southbound bus during the afternoon, the sun will
bake the right side of the bus; looking out the window will
be difficult.

Drink lots of water to prevent dehydration. Much of Mexico
is at or above 5,000 feet. Mexico City is at 7,400 feet.
Keep aspirin and Imodium in your pack. Motion sickness
pills if motion sickness might be a problem for you.

Buy water and snacks at the station stops, get out and
stretch your legs whenever possible. Keep the sweater or
jacket handy, stations in the mountains can be cold and
the buses can be cold.

Boarding
Security will do a pat down for metal objects when you
board. They might video each passenger, you might
encounter drug-sniffing dogs at border crossings or
stations near the border. The security is nowhere near as
thorough as in an airport and varies at each station. See
David Rice, Backpacking Venezuela by Bus, for hairy
description of a drug search
www.softseattravel.com/Backpacking-Venezuela-Rio-
Caribe.html

While traveling, have your visa and passport on your
person, the authorities might check your passport when
you buy will there be a roadside check of visas and
passports, usually along the Guatemala border possibly at
the US border or within the US near the border. See
Palenque Transportation, lodging, Mayan Ruin Site,
Chiapas, Mexico, if you will travel to Palenque.

see www.softseattravel.com/Mexico-Transportation-Taxi-
collectivos.html

www.larpman.com/transportpages/buspages/bususa.html

for other cross border buses

Next: Tips on buying tickets
Posted by SoftSeatTraveler at 10:28 PM
Border Crossing: Nogales

Just show Up
If you are accustomed to air travel you have been
conditioned to arrive two hours before your flight and to
go through all sorts of preliminaries before boarding.

Bus travel in Mexico will be quite different for you.
There are no preliminaries. You can hardly book ahead
online and you don’t need to. You just show up, buy a
ticket and ten minutes before the bus is scheduled to
leave, you board.

The buses never fill and the choices for seats are many
except on certain runs. Busy routes like Oaxaca to
Mexico City, or Guadalajara to Mexico City will have
buses running on the hour or half hour in the evening.
Choice seats, however, will book early.

Bus Travel Through Mexico could start at the Border
Crossing in Nogales Mexico Just show up for your
ticket and board the bus ten minutes later. Bus service
is plentiful except during Christmas and Easter