Last week I traveled by bus. Many buses actually. I don't mind the bus. It's less fun if it's crowded or if there's a lot of traffic or if some asshat is eating a banana next to you but I tend to travel during off-peak hours so I've been lucky usually. Given where I live and where I try to go it's generally no slower than flying and it's approximately 1,000 times cheaper - though my math isn't perfect.
I flew to Chicago. Since I don't travel a whole bunch flying is still kind of fun for me. Well, not the flying part itself, I'm a nervous flyer, but the overall experience. I like hanging out in airports because they can be like whole little towns in themselves and you only have to live there for (ideally) one day. I get there early and don't mind the wait. There's a system to air travel that I respect. I love a good system.
No train travel recently unless you count the subway and I don't. (There was a mouse on my subway car last week. The hell? That's certainly fucking new.) I was toying with the idea of branching out on my own and taking a train back from IN in December. I really like the train. It's smooth and largely unhindered by traffic and more spacious than bus or plane. It takes a little while but you've got power and a dining car and cool scenery so it's not half bad. However, if you want to go from IN to NYC first you have to drive to OH then you have to take a train to Chicago and from there to PA before you can get a train to NYC. With layovers that makes it almost a full 48 hour trip. Well, train, that's a dealbreaker. You are the hot guy who loves me for my brains but is anti choice and roots for the Yankees. Deal. Broken.
Far and away my favorite form of travel is the road trip, though. A good, long car ride is one of life's greatest pleasures. It can be slightly marred by too tight a schedule or too much traffic but mostly it's about the company and the mindset. I have road tripped with everyone from my father & grandfather to, in the case of my MI theatre job, two people I'd never met before who, through the power of the road trip, became close friends. I have fallen in love on road trips. The road makes me happy.
What's your favorite style of travel?
Monday, November 09, 2009
Travelin' Shoes
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I once rode a bus from Oregon to Iowa. I. Hate. Buses.
ReplyDeleteFlying is still fun for me, too, although I'm not quite as enamored with the waiting involved. Especially post 9/11.
Like you, my favorite form of transport is the car. You're in control and can stop whenever you want; plus you have transportation available when you arrive at your destination.
favorite line(s) ever:
ReplyDelete"You are the hot guy who loves me for my brains but is anti choice and roots for the Yankees. Deal. Broken."
hi.. just dropping by here... have a nice day! http://kantahanan.blogspot.com/
ReplyDeleteI don't have a whole lot of bus experience, but I don't think, knowing what I do about them, that they'd win out over the train (of course, my train trips are all straight shots from Boston to NYC or DC, so I'm a little spoiled). I like to fly, but only if I get on in one place and off in another and don't have to deal with anything in between; layovers suck (oh, and I'm a nervous flyer, too). I'm NOT as huge a fan of road trips as you are, though the last couple of trips to MD, DC, and VA with my family have been positive experiences. I don't despise the road trip, but I'm a much bigger fan of letting someone else deal with the travel arrangements...
ReplyDeleteThe eco-warrior in me hates to admit it, but the road trip via automobile is indeed the shizzle. Jules nails the rationale. It's all about control, which includes pace, route, food, music and company.
ReplyDeleteI love train travel. We took the Rapid Train when we went to France this summer - it was fantastic.
ReplyDeleteI used to have to take the Greyhound from my college to home when I was in school - hated hated hated it.
I'm not afraid of flying, but I hate it because its uncomfortable. Although I took my first First Class trip this summer (also to France!) and if I could do more of that, I think I'd like it better!
Car trips are tons of fun, too especially because you can detour.
I've been on school buses, city buses, and tour buses but never a Greyhound/Trailways bus. And, frankly, hope I never need one. I'm sure there is a worse way to travel but I don't know what it might be.
ReplyDeleteTrain travel is ok, IMO it's basically a huge car. With its own restaurant. And you can have open containers of alcohol and not get arrested.
I like flying, too. I don't fly often, so I haven't developed that jaded, world-weary attitude or the intolerance of the crying babies. It's the fastest way to get there if you're going very far and since time is generally a precious commodity for me, that's a plus.
But I think I will agree that road trips top the list. I'm driving from IL to AR for Thanksgiving and I'm starting to look forward to the 9 hours in the car. I'll check out some audiobooks from the library and lose myself in the stories. Funny thing...I live alone and spend a lot of time by myself but I'm looking forward to that solitary time. Wow, lots of happy memories about car trips.
When I lived in Europe I loved to travel - plane, train, bus, ferry. The schedules were accurate, fares were affordable, the layovers minimal and transfers easy. Here in the States it seems none of that exists. If I travel at all it's by car. Having complete control is nice, but it's not a good way to meet people, which was always part of the fun of travel.
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