Green Tortoise
From Free net encyclopedia
|
The Green Tortoise is a self-described adventure travel company based in San Francisco, California. It operates a bus line and two hostels (in Seattle and San Francisco).
Bus Line
Company
The Green Tortoise bus line hosts tours, mostly within the United States, using converted buses. The buses are customized so that all of the passengers are able to sleep on bunk beds while the bus is moving. This allows the tours to cover great distances at night. Most meals are cooked communally and are often (though not always) vegetarian.Template:Ref
The company is a for-profit venture, but business is reportedly conducted rather informally. The company itself advises customers to not assume that its own website will offer accurate information, and recommends that travellers call by phone to ensure that the information they have seen on the website is up-to-date. Template:Ref label Even the information one receives from the company over the phone may be suspect, however, according to some reports. Some customers have claimed that they were told (by the Green Tortoise staff) that payments had been accepted before their departure from home, only to allegedly discover upon their arrival that they had been misled by those that they had spoken to on the telephone. Template:Ref
Experience
The social experience should be expected to be considerably more communal than might be had with another carrier, such as Greyhound or Amtrak. Personal space may be quite reduced. Parts of some trips are reportedly clothing-optional, and passengers uncomfortable around nudity, sexual innuendo, or reduced privacy may wish to consider those details, especially given reported incidents in which female passengers were allegedly pressured by employees of the company to become more "open" to being nude or more sexually active, themselves. While some passengers have alternative social views that may mesh well with the experience, others may not readily accept these deviations from accepted social norms. Template:Ref
Passengers with special dietary needs have reportedly had difficulty getting them met, sometimes allegedly even in cases in which those passengers had been assured in advance, by the Green Tortoise staff, that their needs would be met. Under the circumstances, they might consider either bringing appropriate food or making alternate arrangements, although this may prove impractical, given the severe space constraints aboard the Green Tortoise's busses. Carrying enough cash to deal with unexpected situations is probably wise, especially when the issue of "breach of contract" has been raised as a concern. Template:Ref label
Destinations
Trips are operated to a number of destinations in the USA, Mexico, and Costa Rica. One coast-to-coast trip is offered, and destinations are often outdoors in nature, such as national parks.
Special trips are arranged to popular festivals every year, including the Oregon Country Fair and Burning Man, where they also operate a shuttle bus from the event into nearby Gerlach and Empire, NV.
Hostels
San Francisco
The San Francisco hostel shares its space with the bus line headquarters.
Seattle
The Seattle, Washington hostel is one of only two hostels within the city of Seattle (the other is associated with Hostelling International). It is located on 2nd Avenue between Pike and Pine, one block from the famous Pike Place Market. The hostel has roughly 150 beds and operates 365 days a year. Visitors include both foreigners and Americans. Individuals involved in the Alaskan fishing industry frequently stay before or after expeditions. Free dinners and beer are common for guests on a few nights a week.
See also
References
- Template:Note Template:Note label Template:Note label Official Green Tortoise website
- Template:Note Template:Note label "Bad Times on the Green Tortoise"
- Template:Note "Field Research for Boneheads: From Naïveté to Insight on the Green Tortoise"
External links
- Green Tortoise (Official) - Bus Line and San Francisco Hostel Info
- Green Tortoise Seattle Hostel (Official)
- Route 1966 A channel4.com reporter relates his difficult experiences aboard the Tortoise
- Green Tortoise Fan Club - A yahoogroup for those with a favorable impression of the Green Tortoise who'd like to talk about planning future trips to Burning Man and similar destinations on GT. (An early post on that list discusses the politics of the GT in a BM context, and how some of the popular sentiments in a segment of Burnerdom lead the Fan club's moderators to establish that group, and a sister yahoogroup for those who felt otherwise).
Further reading
- It was, like, real; Green Tortoise tours delivers intimate views -- of your fellow travelers. (Travel) Kelly Wilkinson. The Washington Post, June 21, 1998 pE01
- Slow, but steady: with the Green Tortoise Bus line, getting there is half the fun. (adventure tours bus line) Steve Wilson. E, May-June 1998 v9 n3 p46(2)
- Tortoise on a desert run: relive the days when getting there was half the fun. (Green Tortoise bus tours) T. Kelly Rossiter. Vegetarian Times, Sept 1995 n217 p92(3)
- A 1990's road trip worthy of Kerouac. (Green Tortoise bus tours) Lynda Edwards. The New York Times, Nov 14, 1993 v143 s9 pV8(L) col 1 (43 col in)
- A day camp on the road. (Green Tortoise offers travel and living in a bus) Eric Hubler. The New York Times, March 8, 1992 v141 s5 pXX41(N) pXX41(L) col 1 (27 col in)
- Trip on the Tortoise can be hair-raising if you aren't hip; rolling remnant of the 1960s, a bus unlike Greyhound, still plies the West Coast. (Green Tortoise a gypsy bus line) Bill Richards. The Wall Street Journal Western Edition, Jan 14, 1991 pA1(W) pA1(E) col 4 (29 col in)
- Touring with Green Tortoise; this California-based company offers the ultimate in adventure travel by motorcoach. (Green Tortoise Tours) (Focus: Group Travel) Susan O'Gorman. Travel Weekly, March 31, 1987 v46 p54(3)