On the road

[raino]

Since yesterday morning I’ve taken train, ferry and am now sitting in a bus, somewhere in Skåne area, Sweden. Top deck, front seat with view. Had a breakfast while golden fields, fluffy clouds and cute little towns rolled past. Managed to sleep reasonably well (secret weapon: woollen socks).

I just enjoy traveling so much. Even if a bit cramped, shower overdue, and not completely rested, I feel energized and excited. Coffee tastes better, sunshine is more golden, life in general feels fuller.

Do i have to admit my flight strike is fueled not only by environmental concern but also the desire to just be in transit longer?!

Comments

[raino]

Thanks! I'm now nearing Holyhead in UK, and still having great time! I'll make a separate post afterwards about the whole trip, but highlight so far was starting a random chit chat with some dude in bus from Copenhagen to Hamburg, and it just happened he was a researcher of green energy grids and we had the most amazing discussion. Then, at Hamburg, as we were getting off the bus, a third person joined us - he had just completed his phd on hydrogen electrolysis and had been eavesdropping on our discussion. More fascinating impromptu discussion! And all of us had chosen to travel by bus instead of flying. We had a little measuring contest, who has the longest ground travel, and ofc I won because Helsinki > Dublin is hard to beat :D

[kareina]

My personal best for distance driving to an event was going from Alaska to Texas for the SCA 20th year celebration. There were people there who came from further (Australia, Europe), but we drove the longest.

However, afterwards we didn't drive back to Alaska, only to Arizona, where we were about to start attending a new (to us) University, so that may have been cheating...

[raino]

That’s an impressive distance! How long did it take to drive?

[kareina]

Oh, dear, how much can I remember--that was 1986, and in those days I didn't keep a journal, nor did I have email...

Let's see, we drove only four hours the first day, from Anchorage to mile 150 on the Richardson Highway, where my aunt and uncle lived at the time to visit them. Then we drove through Canada, staying (I think) two nights in hotels along the way. I don't recall if we stopped in the Seattle area or not, but we stayed one night in the Bay Area with Duke James and Duchess Verena, and the next day we drove all the way to Phoenix, Az, where we dropped off the non-SCA stuff in the car with some of his friends to keep till after the event. I don't recall if we stayed one night somewhere between Phoenix and the event, or if we did that stretch in one go. So at least five days, possibly seven?