Does anyone else find long bus rides soothing?

[whereismymind]

Hey, just a weird question for you guys. Does anyone else enjoy long bus rides just to calm yourselves? My "home" is a toxic trap, I am depressed and all I wanna do sometimes is just to take a bus anywhere, just sit there, look out the window, enjoy the views and listen to music. Only then I feel free for a while, I don't care where I'm going, I don't care when I will be there, I don't have to care about anything, it soothes me in this weird way. I wish I could do that through the whole Christmas time, just to get out, it is the worst time of year for me. Everyone is so happy and looking forward to it, for me it's hell on earth, to pretend everything is fine while "celebrating" with my neurotic mother and alcoholic father who hate each other. What a bliss.

 

[Julgran]

Indeed! There are few things that can make me fall asleep as fast as a bus ride between work and home.

I would guess that the soothing feeling comes from the fact that you have isolated yourself from the world and its worries by riding the bus. While on the bus, no one knows that you are there, and you may not have any reason to ponder over any problems that you may have, while riding the bus, because you have no way of approaching them right then and there anyway, so as I see it, it is a good way of letting go of everything for a while and enjoy the view.

 

[dkelseyd]

Yes! Being 'nowhere' can be heavenly. I never want bus rides to end.

 

[AtMostOkay]

Yes, very much. The disconnected commute from one obligation to another has become vital to my very survival. I imagine never, ever stopping the ride, continuing until, finally on foot, I fall.

 

[FuneralCry]

Nothing relaxes me really, or ever makes me feel better. The only bus I want to go on, is the one that leads to eternal nothingness. I am pleased for you that you have something that is a relief from the suffering. I wish you the best.

 

[WrongPlaceWrongTime]

Empty buses are a luxury. If one is too crowded I'd rather walk

 

[fatefulstillness]

Yes! Long bus rides have saved me many times when things got ugly. I especially love it if I travel alone and I get to watch the sunset, window open. I feel like I can exist in a different way for a little while, sometimes it's the closest I get to resting.

 

[NearlyIrrelevantCake]

I enjoy the bus, always have. My family never had a car and I've been a cripple since high school, so it's the bus or hope that what I need is super close by [within 2 blocks] so I can walk there/back.

 

[filthyrottendirty]

yes

 

[whereismymind]

Thanks guys for the replies, it's nice to know I'm not alone in this. In a way we are all connected :) Wishing you the best!

 

[Callie Arcale]

Yes. And train rides. I communted for long periods of time during my 20s.

Winters were the best. And rainy days. To just sit and look out the window as new landscapes unfolded right before my eyes. Effortless. Peaceful. Perfect. How is that I felt I had arrived, although I was moving?

Thich Nhat Hahn has a nice quote that I just thought of: There is no way home. Home is the way.

 

[CrossroadsCurious]

Yes to OP, totally was there back during my darkest depression days. Just going anywhere was better then going home to my wife.

 

[Lost Magic]

Yes, there have been bus trips that have been very relaxing to sit through. I will be looking forward to my one way trip soon. Hope the bus comes soon.

 

[Snake of Eden]

Yes very much. I used to take long bus trips few years ago when i feel overwhelmed with depression and lonliness

 

[D&D]

There is something eerily soothing in the passing of landscapes outside the windows, moving from down to dusk and back ... drifting.

But it is trains for me ... I love trains. The old fashioned, slow ones. If I could, I would board the old trans-Siberian ... one way only.

 

[blackvelvet]

It's the most peaceful thing, nowhere but everywhere

 

[8AEM]

I feel the same. Vehicle rides are the best form of escapism.

 

[_Minsk]

Yes it calms me a lot, its very soothing:)
Edit: i also love long bus/train rides at night or better while rain + storm outside

 

[Nolan96]

Long bus rides between cities through forested rural areas can be soothing, especially around dusk or dawn.

It's rare that I get to have a truly stress-free one because there are always tense things waiting for me at the destination, or someone loud and stinking and rude and blaring their horrible music on the bus.

 

[Ashu]

Yeah. If my life weren't so shitty I'd take them all the time, as much for the trip as for the destination.

 

[ClownMe]

Not a big fan of bus rides, I don't mind a good train trip as long as the other passengers aren't complete froot loops.

 

[ShadowsFall]

Not really. Obnoxiously loud passengers, arguments between other passengers or bus driver, the smell of skunk weed, among other things.