The Best Way Not to Give Up the Ghost on a NYC Double Decker Bus Tour

During the New York City portion of our 10 day Canada/New England jaunt, my husband and I decided to do something completely touristy: take a double decker bus tour. (a.k.a. the “hop on, hop off” tour.)

It turned out to be the best investment we could have made given the short amount of time we had in the city. (We were only there for just over 24 hours. The tickets were $54 each, but they were good for 48 hours and gave us access to all the routes. Plus, it was hop on, hop off so it made for a really great way to get to different parts of the city.)

THE WARNING

However, something immediately caught my eye during the tour: the potential danger. I snapped a pic of the notice plastered to the back of each seat.

“Keep your parts inside the vehicle while in motion” is a pretty standard warning, isn’t it? You’ll find something similar to it on many amusement park rides.

DOUBLE DECKER DANGERS

Trouble is, even though New York City sizzles with a sort of oversized amusement park atmosphere, it’s not a playground. Just because you’re on vacation doesn’t mean you’re immune from getting hurt. And there are opportunities galore to give up the ghost on a double decker bus tour if you’re not paying attention.

I was amazed by how many people didn’t get that. They kept standing up when the vehicle was in motion. I think because there were seats to hold on to they thought the biggest danger was from falling if the bus stopped too quick.

Wrong. That was one danger, but not the biggest.

One of our tour guides (because we took advantage of the hop on, hop off part of it as much as we could) could not stress enough to some other passengers to remain seated. They kept wanting to stand to get better shots.

LOW CLEARANCE

The trouble was they weren’t paying attention to what was over their heads. And I guess they weren’t watching our guide the couple of times he stood up while the bus was in motion. There were obstacles that, if they didn’t lob your head off, would certainly give you a solid, and likely incredibly painful, thunk on the noggin if they hit you.

I’m talking about street signs and stop lights.

When we’re pedestrians down on the sidewalk or driving behind our cars, signs and lights serve as guides to help us navigate. But when you’re that high up on a bus you need to pay attention to them for a different reason –because they come at you in a no glasses needed 3D kind of way.

Hit one (especially a sign) at just the right angle going just the right speed and it’s not hard to imagine how heads could roll…

SAFETY TIP VID

I turned some video I took into a sort of safety tip video. It’ll give you an idea just how low the signs were. (Even from my seat I could’ve reached up and touched them if I’d been so inclined. I’m pretty short with short arms to match, so that might give you some indication of how little clearance there was.)

Courtney Mroch

Courtney Mroch is a globe-trotting restless spirit who’s both possessed by wanderlust and the spirit of adventure, and obsessed with true crime, horror, the paranormal, and weird days. Perhaps it has something to do with her genes? She is related to occult royalty, after all. Marie Laveau, the famous Voodoo practitioner of New Orleans, is one of her ancestors. (Yes, really! As explained here.) That could also explain her infatuation with skeletons.

Speaking of mystical, to learn how Courtney channeled her battle with cancer to conjure up this site, check out HJ’s Origin Story.