The Car

Italian trains

This is hard to admit being from the country that invented the automobile, but I have fallen out of love with it. Do I need to relinquish my citizenship? Until recently, I truly earnestly believed that to give up my car would give up my freedom. But no more.

Is gas an afterthought?

Our somewhat more organic trip of Europe included all public transportation. Planes, buses, lots of walking, metro/underground, Vaporetto (water buses), and the Eurail. This was going to be a real treat and with my husband's experience with public transit in San Francisco, I had faith we would get along.

Paris metro with map

I grew up in the suburbs and always loved the convenience of having a car. I biked a lot when I was younger, but my experience with public transit was limited to an extremely unsatisfactory Greyhound Bus trip to the Midwest and the occasional fun excursion on BART into The City. If someone took the bus, I always asked if their car was in the shop.

Typical express train

London Underground

Here, from my mouth to yours, is the truth about European public transportation: it is fun. It was fun figuring out the timetables and how to read the wall maps on the Underground. It was fun learning how to get from a train to a bus to a metro all in one day. It was even fun hauling luggage up and down stairs and over and under bridges and to discover trains have little luggage alcoves built in. We felt like a local as we sprung on and off boats in Venice and took ourselves down uneven stone streets on flimsy luggage wheels that held up remarkably well. We did, too!

Bldg on left is Venice
vaporetto bus stop

We met memorable people along the way. It was even ok to wait in lines for tickets and advice. It was good to recognize and appreciate the hard work of those who kept the trains on time, safe and clean. And the biggest discovery was the myth that this kind of travel is hard or inconvenient. A few American cities have put top notch public transit systems in place, but there are woefully few of them and often not self-sustaining by the people it serves.

 London street map

It was interesting to observe a public transit that attracts people from all walks of life, who good naturedly spend part of their day together every single day. The families we met have cars for weekend excursions but choose public transportation as a daily routine. The buses and trains and metros were clean and free of graffiti and vandalism. There was no trash in the aisles. There were no guards. It's as though traveling together breaks down the barriers within the community and brings out the best in them. They seem to recognize and respect the system itself, all things we appear yet to learn. 

Extreme Rome

And that brings me back to our insane love of cars. I returned home thinking how unfortunate it is to have such an affordable option as owning a car and being a solitary driver in a gas guzzler and willing to sit five lanes wide in traffic for hours without meeting or talking to or learning about anyone around us.

Life (and the environment) would be so much better off if we would.