Lost in Translation: How Moving to Canada Turned Me Into a Bus Direction Illiterate

Have you ever felt like you were on top of the world, only to come crashing down in a hilarious heap? I certainly have !

One such moment involved my attempt to navigate the bus system in Canada, after years of confidently riding a two-wheeler in India. I thought I had it all under control, but boy, was I wrong!

Read on to know how I made a fool of myself just trying to get from A to B.

Riding a two-wheeler was an essential part of my daily life in India. I learned to navigate through the busy roads, weaving in and out of traffic with ease.

But when I moved to Canada, everything changed.

Every morning, I would travel from my apartment in Mississauga to Hamilton. The journey involved changing many buses. I was determined to make the most of my new life in this strange, snowy land. But as I soon discovered, even the simplest of tasks could turn into a comedy of errors.

On my first day to work, I was all ready and excited to take the bus from my home. I had checked my GPS and knew exactly which route to take, and how many buses to take, to get to Hamilton. I got down to the bus stop with plenty of time to spare. My bus arrived. I got in, swiped my card and took a seat.

“That was easy”, I thought.

As the bus rumbled down the road, I noticed something funny on my GPS.

“Hamilton is on that side. 🚌 Why is the bus going this side 🚍 ?” I wondered.

To my horror, I realized that I was headed towards Toronto, exactly opposite of where I needed to be. For a full ten minutes, I sat there, hoping against hope that the bus would somehow veer off in the right direction. But no such luck. Finally, I had to admit defeat and ring the bell for my stop.

I got off the bus feeling like a complete fool, and found myself stranded in an unknown part of town. I stood there waiting for the correct bus on the correct side of the road. “Well, this is brilliant,” I muttered to myself.

Here I was, a grown adult, completely befuddled by a simple bus route.

From that day on, you’d think I’d made sure to double-check the bus number and route before stepping aboard. Oh no. Two years later, I repeated the mistake on my way to Toronto. This time boarding a bus that was heading in the exact opposite direction.

How many times have we embarrassed ourselves by repeating the same silly mistake? But in hindsight, those moments of foolishness are what make life interesting. And besides, without a few missteps and wrong turns, how would we ever learn and grow?

I’m a Writer. I love writing about my life which is full of failures, and just enough successes. I write with the hope of making people like me feel confident about their failures. Join my email list if you want to read more about me.