cinematic - 2021-05-24

I had to go to campus to print out some documents for work. I decided to take a different bus than usual because, according to the bus schedule, it would get me there faster. That was a mistake. The first red flag was that all the announcements for stops and such were in Spanish, so I couldn't understand any of them.

The second red flag was that, with the bus moving at full speed, the driver just got up and walked to the back of the bus, leaving the driver's seat empty. I was sitting at the front of the bus, so I had a good view of the unattended driver's seat. The bus seemed to be doing okay—it still kept going and stayed on the road even when it curved—but I was skeptical. Was this safe?

The third red flag was that we had been going for 15-20 minutes and still not reached campus. In fact, we didn't seem to be heading to the college at all. We were cruising down the highway. What was going on? I decided to re-consult my bus schedule and discovered that this was not a city bus. Instead, it was a bus bringing tourists to sightseeing locations within a few hours' radius of the city. How had I managed to misread the bus schedule so badly earlier? And how was I going to get home? The schedule said nothing about a return bus.

I spotted my friend on the bus and decided to ask her what the deal was. She told me (while gulping down a glass of wine) that she was taking the bus because she had a day job at one of the tourist sites. She was planning to head home by train; apparently there was a train line running parallel to the highway. That was good news. I could get off at the first tourist site, around an hour away from the city, and catch the train home.

Log Entry by Achaius

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