Travel Dilemma- Bus or Air?

I'm travelling from Edmonton, AB to Chicago in a few weeks time. Flights have gotten outrageous, and it'll cost me about $750 round trip to get there by air. Alternatively, I could take a Greyhound for about $350, but it would take over 2 days of travel time. Is $400 worth 2 days on a bus? I've never been on a bus for anywhere near that long, does anyone have experience with trips that long?

Well...from experience.. i'd choose air. I went to Quebec from Ontario with one of my classes once. Twelve hours.. people were literally going insane.. they couldn't take the drive.. I think flying would be worth it..

It's definitely not worth it to take a bus.
-It wastes two days of your time, the opportunity cost of the bus makes the actual price tag a lot higher than flying
-It's bloody uncomfortable, makes lots of stops, you can't count on much in the way of comfort and predictability
-It's twice as much to fly, but you save more than half the time and you go in style. Unless you're pressed for cash, flying is the better decision.

I have done several cross country trips on Greyhound, from NY to California. Took four days.

Some of those trips were absolutely amazing adventures. On some occaisions there would be a party on the bus with singing and jokes that got so loud the driver would have to tell us to tone down.

What I like about bus trips is that your seatmates often tell very interesting stories about their lives and tell details that they would probably never say to anyone else.

Your time on a bus really will depend upon you. If you feel like talking to interesting people make sure you sit near to them. They will be bored and looking for a chance to talk to someone interesting.

The other cool thing about the bus is that you can get off where ever you want and get back on again. This means that if your bus goes through somewhere interesting, you can get off and explore it for a day and then get back on the next day.

On the otherhand, just like on a plane, if the person next to you is 1 years old, you might suffer. Also, you never really sleep on a bus so after a couple of days of half-sleep you feel like you are hallucinating.

Traveling by bus can be a great adventure, or it can be a misery. But much of that is up to you. I loved it and would do it again in a heart-beat.