I bid my farewells to the friends that left with the bus and joined my mom to take a shuttle to the hotel we'd be staying at for the next three days. Our plan was to use public transportation to get to Newport Beach so that we wouldn't just be sitting around the hotel waiting for our family to arrive, but the lady at the front desk said that the public transportation in Anaheim is complicated. My mom didn't want to pay $50 for a taxi one way though so my mom created an entire plan by looking at the bus routes on the Internet. I knew she was working too much though and that we could simply find our first stop and ask the bus driver from there, but she wanted every detail mapped out. We went on our way and started our adventure by not being able to find the first bus stop. My mom finally found it, and just as I had expected the bus driver knew a much simpler and convenient way to get there. He even gave us a free bus book and we payed $5 each for an all-day pass rather than the $12 each we had read about on the Internet. When we got off of his bus, we were worried that we had already missed the next buss that only ran every hour, but luckily it was late. The woman driving this bus was hilarious. It was the end of her shift, and she just talked to us and yelled sarcastic comments at the drivers. One of my favorite parts about the city is the bus drivers. They're usually patient, helpful, and funny in my experience. We arrived at Newport Beach and shared a peanut butter cup shake from a quaint 50's themed restaurant on the pier. As we enjoyed our shake, two sea lions swam up to the pier and barked at the fishers. They were adorable and were probably eating the fishers's bait. We lounged on the beach for a few hours before leaving on the bus again.
The longer we rode on the bus, the more my mom began to worry that we were on the wrong one because she didn't recognize the area. We got directions from the bus driver that once again assured us we were going the right way. I looked out of the window at one point and saw a scruffy looking old man holding a sign that read "homeless not hopeless". The bus came to a stop, and the man put down his sign and pulled out a huge wad of cash. I'm shocked at how easy some of those people's lives are. In The Pursuit Of Happiness, he didn't sit and beg for money from other people. He worked and tried to create a better life for himself. If beggars are making this kind of cash, it's no wonder that they're not willing to give it up. I'm not saying that these people are worthless, and people shouldn't help them out. I just believe that many of them don't have the intention of saving that money and trying to get a job. It's not a great photo, but it still captures the same story.
Soon after passing the man, my mom and I arrive at our stop and exit the bus. We have trouble finding our next bus stop, which adds some tension of frustration, but we find it eventually. The tricky thing is that the bus we were boarding was coming to the end of its line so you have to transfer onto the northbound bus. When we get to our hotel room, my sisters welcome me with hugs and we tell them our stories until nighttime. So for any of you planning to take public transportation from the Disney area to Newport beach, I would suggest boarding the 43 southbound all the way down Harbor Blvd. then transferring onto the 71 exiting at the Ocean Front stop. On your way back get onto the 71 again at the Ocean Front stop. I can't remember the bus stop at which you transfer, but you can always ask your bus driver. Once you get off there, board the 43 southbound again until you arrive at the end of the line. Then transfer onto the 43 northbound and ride until you get to the stop nearest to your hotel or wherever you may be going.
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