There’s something about drinking on moving vehicles that—provided you’re not driving of course—just takes the whole alcohol experience to another level.

I’ve had many a good time playing power hour on a train and drinking mini liquor bottles on a plane, beer-bonging on a boat and shot-gunning in the back of a cab (note: most drivers do not appreciate this). But my personal favorite, the crème de la crème of getting wasted on wheels, is the stripper pole-adorned perennial shit show: the party bus.

So you can imagine my delight when my friend (shoutout Emily!) sent me the link to sign up for a—wait for it—FREE (!) party bus pub crawl.

Now if there’s one thing I like as much as a party bus, it’s a good pub crawl. And I’m not talking about the literal crawl you see the drunkest of the drunk doing from bar to bus at 2 a.m. on Sixth. I’m talking about a good old-fashioned tour of bars that there’s no way in hell you’d ever find on your own, guided by charismatic chaperones with drink special hook-ups at each location.

Needless to say, I signed up. Twice, just to be safe.

The crew of The Cherry Bomb, the self-proclaimed “ultimate party bus experience,” met me and the other excited attendees at the Wing Stop on 24th at 7:30. After signing a few waivers and initialing a few dozen times next to various acknowledgments (“I understand that intoxication is a risk”…well yes, I certainly hope so…) and scrawling aliases with the obligatory sexual innuendos on nametags, we were off.

Ingredients: Shiny red seats, lights and music, high-def TVs, the requisite stripper pole and 40 college kids. Directions: Just add alcohol.

And that alcohol came both in the form of BYOB and courtesy of the lovely crew, who throughout the night passed out shots that seemed to get stronger batch by batch as we proceeded to hit up four different bars all over Austin that I’d never heard of. At each we were treated to various drink specials before retreating, more and more buzzed, to the bus, hoping no man was left behind. (Well I was at one point—and, according to my bank statement, having a fabulous time— but in true Saving Private Ryan-style, they made the journey back to retrieve me.)

By the time we pulled away from the first bar, everyone had become best friends. By the time we left the second bar, several people had become more than just friends. And judging from the drunken bumping and grinding happening on the bus by the time we left bar three, hours later and countless drinks deep, a few people might’ve become parents.

So to sum it up, The Cherry Bomb is basically the bottom line for a good time. It’s a safe way to hit up the most random bars in the most fly fashion (fo FREE), rollin’ like a big shot with a 0% chance of DUI’s but a 100% chance of a Thursday hangover. RSVP for this Wednesday at http://ridethecherrybomb.com and attend for an intoxicating experience and a guaranteed good time.


Trust me—it’s a hell of a ride.