Walk? Car? Plane? Train?

While waiting on the airport I started to think about the way we travel. Why do we prefer to fly? Why take a train or a car. Why take a bicycle at all. Starting with just taking a simple walk.

Walk, I walk if I feel like it but if I know the walk is going to be longer than 30 minutes I’ll try to take my Longboard or Bicycle. Mostly because I’m just not that big a fan of walking. It is boring, the scenery isn’t changing enough or something. I love to take my longboard out. As soon as I have enough money I’ll buy an electric skateboard for myself.

Bike, I take the bike for short distances, mostly within the city. In Amsterdam, it is normal to take the bike from one side of the city to the other. Some people take the bike to lose weight but that’s not the reason for me. (I stay a fatass anyway, biking is not going to change that.) It’s just the easiest transport and not like in other countries around Europe, it is allowed to drive a bike and drink. Ok, this is not true. It’s not allowed but it is excepted somehow by police. They rather see you on a bicycle than in a car. Doesn’t mean you can go ballistic on a bike because that will get you arrested.

Motor/Car, here the blog really starts actually. I’m talking about Europe. In Europe, I have this rule. everything within a 3-hour driving range it’s probably better to take a car or motorbike. In the Netherlands trains are expensive on long drives so believe it or not it’s cheaper to drive the car. I find this strange and I hope that they one day will make better public transport in my country so people can travel cheaper by train and is better for the environment. My motorbike I take for all rides between my home and 2-hour drive. I love to ride my motorbike for these kinds of trips.

Train, I like to take the train. Trains scare the crap out of me, I have fear of train drives somehow. I know its all safe and all but it the idea that such high machines are on rails with such speed that scares me a bit. Nevertheless, trains are cool. Some of the trains in Europe now have internet and a connector for power. So I can work on my website or simply watch a movie online. And taking a train is easy, you get to the station, get in and relax until you are there.

Plane, I know you guys love to fly and the main reason would be because you just like to fly a lot. Anyway, Flying has also his disadvantages (if you are not flying a private jet I assume). One of them is waiting. Waiting and more of this Waiting. It gets you to your destination fast but you should not count like this. Below I’ll explain why. I love to fly and for trips longer than 5 hours I would always prefer to travel by plane.

Example: I’m in the city center of Amsterdam and want to go to Berlin today. I could go by train or by plane as it is about 6 hours away from Amsterdam. If I would take a train I walk out the door at 0800 and arrive at the train station at 0820, grab some coffee and get on the train directly to Berlin at 0830. Around 1330 I’ll arrive in Berlin center and walk to my hotel. Now let us say my friend also has to go to Berlin today and leaves at the same time. He walks out at 0800, arrives at the train station at 0820 and takes the train to the airport. He arrives at 0840 at the airport and checks in his luggage. 1 hour 15/30 min before the flight like I mostly do. So he flies at  10.15 and the flight is 1 hour and 15 minutes. Arrival at 1130 in Berlin. Now he has to wait for his luggage 30 minutes and then has to walk to the train station buy him a ticket to the city center and take a train to downtown with a total of about 1 hour. My friend arrives at 1300 on the same place in Berlin as I do but he had to take many more actions than me. It is advisable that you keep in mind where you have to go. By the way, this Berlin trip is cheaper with the aircraft than with the train if you book early. But here you can see how this could be a better option.

RULE OF THUMB: Every trip longer than 5/6 hours by car or train is better to take a plane. (in Europe)

Or take your car with you on the plane. 

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