CMU School of Drama


Thursday, April 23, 2015

the bus rules.

this tour life: So, you’ve found yourself on a bus (coach) tour. Welcome to living in tight quarters with 10 other people and very little privacy. Now you’ll need to know how to properly conduct yourself in your new home. Knowing the unspoken code of the road will help keep you safe and hopefully make your coworkers not downright resent you.

First and foremost, this is your home on the road. It needs to be treated with the same respect you give your own place. Unless you’re a miserable slob, if that’s the case treat it way better than your own home.

8 comments:

Kat Landry said...

This is a pretty fun article for something I imagine is not the most fun thing in the world. The more I think about what I'm going to be doing with my future, the more I've been considering things other than straight up house stage management- such as a touring show or a festival or event management or unusual entertainment management or something else, who knows. But it really is interesting to gain any kind of insight into the things that I could be doing when I graduate. One of my friends is beginning a tour at the end of his time at CMU, which had me thinking about how I would enjoy that. It's cool- living in a bus, seeing all different parts of the country, putting up and tearing down every week. I imagine it's as thrilling as it is claustrophobic. It seems like the bunk areas are like very tiny little dorm rooms. Communal living I suppose isn't so hard to do once you've been in college. I realize this was just a little article about courtesy for people on tour, but it did put me in a place where I could imagine being on tour myself, so I'd say that's pretty cool.

Kimberly McSweeney said...

This article is just the reminder that people going on tour, or even roommates at college, need to see. Living in a small space means messiness is prohibited and that enjoyment is strictly at a calm-volume. You can not have a rager in your 10 square feet of living space with 8 other people trying to sleep. I like the courtesy that comes with being on the road, and I don’t know if I would ever want to tour someday, but if I ever did, I expect my bus mates to follow this guide and be awesome about it. Logistically, I never new these kinds of tour buses were double-deckers but I think I would prefer it that way anyway. Having an upstairs bunk area would be a huge bonus because I know from experience of living in an RV type of scenario that those little doors don’t block out much sound from the adjoining rooms.

Katie Pyne said...

Having shared a cabin with between 4-8 people every summer, I was really looking forward to reading this article when I came across the header. I think the biggest thing to remember here is respect for personal space. When you're living in quarters that are this close together, it's easy to get in each other's way and share literally everything. However, it's important to maintain a sense of personal space, as things can grow communal very quickly. My favorite tip I got from this article was how to orient yourself while you're sleeping. I never considered emergency braking and it make a world of sense to sleep with your head to the back of the bus. I will save that tidbit for later. However, the most critical part of this article is respecting your driver. Though he or she is getting paid to drive your butt cross-country, it's a tough job and you should definitely take some extra time and make sure that they're okay. Whether it be picking them up a Coke a rest-stop or just brushing your own teeth so your breath doesn't stink up the bus, it's going to make a world of difference to them.

Fiona Rhodes said...

This article provides a good etiquette reminder not only for people going on tour, but also for college roommates and people sharing space in general. The same ideas apply even when sharing a studio (ahem) and general etiquette is a good way to keep things positive and productive. The article made a really good point that when one is sharing a space with others, it doesn’t matter what one considers “their stuff”. That stuff affects everyone, whether or not it belongs to them. The article says the samekt thing about noise, which I think is key. If other people are trying to sleep or work, staying quiet and being courteous when others ask to keep the noise down is important. Keeping clean and organized not only can benefit the owner, but everyone else who is living in that space. The tour bus is an extreme example of a tiny living situation where a lot of these rules are necessary, but it definitely applies to sharing any space.

Unknown said...

This was very interesting because people do not really think about the unglamorous parts of road life when they think about tours. It must be very difficult to live on a tour bus with 9 or 10 other people. Most people like their space and would not live in a tiny apartment with 10 people. Instead of living in a small apartment they are living on a moving bus with all of these people. It would be really bad if someone got bus sick while on tour because they would stink up the whole bus if they threw up and cause the bus to possibly be late if they needed to stop. I do not know if I will go on tour during my life but it would definitely be an interesting experience and a new challenge. I do not know if I could last living on tour for more than a few months.

Sabria Trotter said...

As I currently share a room with two other people I completely understand the need for an article such as this one. More often than not, people have different standards of personal hygiene, cleanliness and overall living. When you are forced to live with so many people in such a small area, I think everything comes down to common courtesy and common sense. Even if you come from somewhere where you don't usually have to pick up after yourself, clean your own dishes or shower regularly, it should be obvious that those aren't behaviors you should subject other people to. This is especially true in a professional environment.
I thought that it was great that the author mentioned treating the bus driver with respect and being cognizant of the nature of their job. It may not be your job to take care of them, but is certainly nice to make sure that they have everything they need to effectively get you from one place to another.

Monica Skrzypczak said...

This article is mostly just courtesy etiquette that serves as a good reminder fro if you ever find yourself on a bus tour. Most of these things are common sense, but it is nice to see them detailed out. Things like getting to know the bus driver and making sure you have their number incase you get left behind is common sense, until you are on a tour for the first time and get left behind and you forgot about having their number. It was nice to see the floor plan of the bus laid out as I had never really thought much about how a tour bus is set up outside of what I have briefly seen on like a TV show.
Overall, this article gives really good advice about how to live with anyone, not just in a tour group. While most of it is common sense, there are some gems of information that you might not have already thought of.

Drew H said...

I think it would be pretty cool to go on tour for a year or two at some point of my life and this article is helpful to see what living on a tour bus is like. I can imagine that there are some unspoken rules about living on a bus. I can imagine that living on a bus has some pros and cons. I know that some people have a great time on tour and others hate it. I think I would like it because I would only really have to focus on one thing and get to do it a lot. However, it probably gets boring doing the same things everyday for a year and lonely living on a tour bus, but you probably get to know your coworkers pretty well. Another perk is the ability to travel all over the country putting up your show. I know there probably is no time to site see but it is still nice to be traveling around the country.