Jul 19, 2026 · 1 hr 3 min · 13 segments
People on journeys they did not intend! Or agree to! Visit thisamericanlife.org/lifepartners to sign…
Rosa ListerGuestAiman OghannaGuest
Leticia LehmanGuest
David KestenbaumHostCleaGuestTobin LowHostThis morning on the subway-
...
this guy brought his own chair.
[laughs] I was sitting next to him, but he was in, like, a fold-out chair.
She came in the studio to tell me a story about a woman on a bus ride that went very strangely.
Um, her, her name's Duck, or that's her nickname.
That's what we're gonna call her.
She takes this, this bus between New York and DC a lot back and forth.
So on this trip, she's going from New York to DC, Union Station, and she's leaving around 6:00 PM at night, and she has this whole routine around the bus because she's done this trip a million times.
This is Duck.
I'll go, get a margarita, get on the bus, take a nap, wake up back home [laughs] in DC.
You know, I boarded the bus as normal.
They checked me in.
You know, the guy had the app with all the passengers.
He made a little announcement, and they even, I remember distinctly they said, "There's no stops planned." I, you know, great.
Are you good at sleeping on public transit? I can, I can, I can pretty much sleep anywhere.
[laughs] Oh my God, you're so lucky.
My parents would always joke that I could sleep through anything.
So she goes to sleep, and then she wakes up around 9:00 PM to a bunch of commotion, and all the passengers are talking on the bus about what's going on, and what's going on is really odd, and so odd that Duck starts writing a thread about this online-
... which is how I heard about it.
This morning on the subway-
...
this guy brought his own chair.
[laughs] I was sitting next to him, but he was in, like, a fold-out chair.
She came in the studio to tell me a story about a woman on a bus ride that went very strangely.
Um, her, her name's Duck, or that's her nickname.
That's what we're gonna call her.
She takes this, this bus between New York and DC a lot back and forth.
So on this trip, she's going from New York to DC, Union Station, and she's leaving around 6:00 PM at night, and she has this whole routine around the bus because she's done this trip a million times.
This is Duck.
I'll go, get a margarita, get on the bus, take a nap, wake up back home [laughs] in DC.
You know, I boarded the bus as normal.
They checked me in.
You know, the guy had the app with all the passengers.
He made a little announcement, and they even, I remember distinctly they said, "There's no stops planned." I, you know, great.
Are you good at sleeping on public transit? I can, I can, I can pretty much sleep anywhere.
[laughs] Oh my God, you're so lucky.
My parents would always joke that I could sleep through anything.
So she goes to sleep, and then she wakes up around 9:00 PM to a bunch of commotion, and all the passengers are talking on the bus about what's going on, and what's going on is really odd, and so odd that Duck starts writing a thread about this online-
... which is how I heard about it.
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