I'm a 'slightly extend the leg while staring out the window' kinda guy. What about you all?
I once rode Greyhound from Salt Lake to Detroit with steve, who had an interesting tactic to keep the seat next to him open. That trip was hellacious and surreal. I think I lost a bit of my humanity on it. The part about the sleep deprivation is true. It's brutal having to get out of the bus at 3AM, and wait in a cold dirty station, on plastic seats, under flickering fluorescent lighting, in the middle of nowhere. The article is spot-on.
I'm a pretend I'm asleep and already sprawled across both seats kind of guy. I've not traveled by bus inter-city. After the account of the beheading, I'm not sure I want to. -Yikes.There are certainly signs of social disengagement on trains and planes, but not to the extreme that Kim describes, and spontaneous camaraderie on these modes is much less rare.
-I just wrote about my experience on Amtrak here. I think trains are the most social of all the travel options. Reason being, they have cars that are made just for such things. A smoking car, observation car, dining car, bar. When you are in these cars, it's perfectly acceptable for a stranger to speak to you. When you are in your seat, it's very much like the Greyhound rules.