You’re going on a cross-country trip. Airplane, train, bus, car, or bike?
Life is a journey, it’s not where you end up but it’s how you got there.
My life with the spouse, started with a long drive, from TGIF to back home, on unfamiliar roads. I had just relocated back home to a city that had suddenly gone through a growth spurt and sprouted roads willy-nilly. Geometry was redefined with the kinds of circles that were drawn around the city, to create new locations and recreate geography. My life since has been a journey. I’ve done tons of road trips, train trips, even a couple of flights locally, a few internationally, and bus trips to various destinations. Trips where we took breaks, to look dreamily into each other’s eyes over a cup of coffee, at a barista on a random highway and use the relatively cleaner loos, to trips where we did it nonstop, to trips where we traversed the entire route and back on the same day, to trips with friends on a bus, so we could have a designated driver, to trips in cabs. We’ve done these trips over a couple of decades and we’ve focussed on the journey, we’ve focussed on the destination, we’ve focused on family, we’ve focused on friends, we’ve focussed on budgets and we’ve focused on speed. Believe me, every time, we’ve moved focus, the experience has been different because a few of these journeys were repeated with points A and B being fixed but the journey and destination as the focus. And in this time, we’ve discovered that moving the focus from the destination to focus on the journey, has allowed us to learn a lot more – because the destination is just a place to rejuvenate yourself. This shift in perception has happened over a few years, with pregnancy kicking off the start of this transformation in observing what was more important on a trip.
Pre-Pandemic, we did a few international trips, that were budget and time-bound, in the sense that as a family we only had a fixed period of overlap holidays (hence time-bound), and considering all that we wanted to accomplish at the destination, it was also budget bound. The planning was chaotic because although all of us are adrenaline junkies, and the roller-coasters and rides were a focus, we also wanted to balance it out with a couple of museums and in-city experiences. However we did not have unlimited time to complete everything the destination had on offer, so everything was prioritized based on what you could not miss, to what could be missed today and could be attempted at a later date and it would be more enjoyable then. Lists were made, routes were checked, destinations were listed, opinions were considered, timelines were mapped, routes were checked again, the budget was considered, the focus shifted, itineraries drafted, the budget was contemplated, destinations finalized, and only then did we embark on this journey. Based on all the listed considerations, this trip had a couple of flights, followed by trams, local trains, bus drives, and even a couple of bicycle rides. On this particular trip, converting the flights to a road trip with buses, trains, and cabs/drives would have increased the duration of the journey required more documentation, and increased the costs, all of which we were not inclined to do. But, the journey, such as it was, was an enjoyable one, with a pre-teen and a fresh-teen.
I’ve often considered doing a bike trip, but the baggage restriction and the lack of basic bike maintenance knowledge have me putting off this journey. One day, I will embark on this journey and will let you know if it’s something that should be considered. I’ve often seen the romantic version of this, but as a lover of lists, I need my basics in place first before I even consider it as a viable option. “Travel is never a matter of money, but of courage.” – Paulo Coelho.
I am by no means a seasoned traveller, but as a novice, I often prefer a combination of the modes of transport. Time has always been a determiner for me. Too much of it makes us lose value and too little of it, makes everything seem so fleeting, and often, finding the sweet spot of ‘perfect’ requires some sacrifices, a lot of compromise, and a great deal of patience. Coupled with a budgetary constraint, my journeys are often a balance of time and cost. How fast will I reach and what cost, is the question I answer most often. I am confident a day will come when I may be able to consider a trip purely for the vicarious thrill the journey offers and maybe then I will fix on one single mode of transport. But until then, the combination of the many, is a judicious use of my time and resources.
Just a little more 