We live on the outskirts of town in Germany. Beyond is are horse farms, dairy farms, and wetlands. But we get by just fine walking, riding the bike, and taking public transportation. I have a cargo bike for larger shopping trips. Driving on the Autobahn is not so much the problem as driving in town: Confusing narrow streets and parking worse than an afterthought. And I just saw diesel at 2.33€/L. No thanks. I have not refilled since November. I have not been back to the US for a couple of years, but when I'm there I am reminded how good I have it here.
A cargo bike and no fill-up since November, okay you're living the actual dream version of this. The in-town parking nightmare is real everywhere, but skipping the pump entirely is the goal. Germany's doing right by you!
Great advice! I lived in LA and the chat was always about the 405 connecting to the 101. (Giving myself away as a Valley Girl lol). Now I live in Spain and always use trains and planes and Uber.
this made me realize how Californians have really turned cars into functional furniture while most Europeans just use a car as a tool do do things. And with fewer car things to do, you can have fewer cars. Doing California with ONLY one car seems preposterous. It was a nice read. U'r a gud riter.
"Cars as functional furniture" is such a good way to put it, that's exactly what they became! And you're right, one car in California is basically a dare. Ha! Thank you, Dirk, and thanks for the kind (and creatively spelled) compliment 😊
I no longer work. When I have a "long" city drive (20-30-40 minutes), I usually don't have a deadline, so the time it takes is no longer annoying. A podcast, some random music, some sweet silence. And I *always* opt for the slower, tree-lined route over the quicker highway of the main road. Far less stressful.
Yes, the tree-lined route over the fast one is a lovely philosophy, and removing the deadline changes everything. Retirement clearly agrees with your commuting. Thank you for reading 😊
A friend of mine lives an hour away. She thinks it too far for a spontaneous visit. Outback. I live in the absolute outback. A Canadian friend asked me to come to the woods. A six hour drive. Loved it. Places thing in perspective. 😉 Humans, eh.
“There are people out there making beautiful hour-long shows about mushrooms, shipwrecks, the history of a single word, birds.” I would be very interested in this playlist!
A small Gulf coast town probably already knows the good version of this, short drives and slower days. So glad it resonated from there. Thank you, Suzanne!
I'm intrigued! I'm myself now 1,5 h from Nantes :D What is the name of your village? :) Thank you for this post, now I understand why my neighbours who had me over for apero yesterday exclaimed in surprise when I told them we'd been to Rennes on Saturday, a two hour drive each way. Bit long sure but not unusual for us on holidays abroad :D A nice thing to do is also playing games while driving, murder mystery puzzles are sth we regularly do :)
I can so relate to this. I grew up in a major city and never thought much about the commutes I made, beyond, did I have time to get somewhere and how bad would the traffic be. Then, we moved to a small town just north of the major one. One of the things I love most about it is that everything in town is no more than a 10 minute drive, 15 at the most. Now, it feels like such a big deal to go into the major city I used to live in, which is a whole 20 minutes away. But it's not so much about the time as it is about the traffic that I don't like. I think once you get away from what you used to deal with on the regular, your perspective changes.
We live on the outskirts of town in Germany. Beyond is are horse farms, dairy farms, and wetlands. But we get by just fine walking, riding the bike, and taking public transportation. I have a cargo bike for larger shopping trips. Driving on the Autobahn is not so much the problem as driving in town: Confusing narrow streets and parking worse than an afterthought. And I just saw diesel at 2.33€/L. No thanks. I have not refilled since November. I have not been back to the US for a couple of years, but when I'm there I am reminded how good I have it here.
A cargo bike and no fill-up since November, okay you're living the actual dream version of this. The in-town parking nightmare is real everywhere, but skipping the pump entirely is the goal. Germany's doing right by you!
Great advice! I lived in LA and the chat was always about the 405 connecting to the 101. (Giving myself away as a Valley Girl lol). Now I live in Spain and always use trains and planes and Uber.
I don't miss driving at all 🌸
The Valley girl freeway report, I can hear it perfectly. So glad you don't miss the driving, I don't either. Spain clearly suits you 💛
this made me realize how Californians have really turned cars into functional furniture while most Europeans just use a car as a tool do do things. And with fewer car things to do, you can have fewer cars. Doing California with ONLY one car seems preposterous. It was a nice read. U'r a gud riter.
"Cars as functional furniture" is such a good way to put it, that's exactly what they became! And you're right, one car in California is basically a dare. Ha! Thank you, Dirk, and thanks for the kind (and creatively spelled) compliment 😊
I no longer work. When I have a "long" city drive (20-30-40 minutes), I usually don't have a deadline, so the time it takes is no longer annoying. A podcast, some random music, some sweet silence. And I *always* opt for the slower, tree-lined route over the quicker highway of the main road. Far less stressful.
Yes, the tree-lined route over the fast one is a lovely philosophy, and removing the deadline changes everything. Retirement clearly agrees with your commuting. Thank you for reading 😊
Yes please to not listening to podcasts about self improvement! Ah! I’m choosing birds next time.
Yes, let the drive be about mushrooms and birds instead of your own optimization. Perfect choice given your lovely name 😊
A friend of mine lives an hour away. She thinks it too far for a spontaneous visit. Outback. I live in the absolute outback. A Canadian friend asked me to come to the woods. A six hour drive. Loved it. Places thing in perspective. 😉 Humans, eh.
The outback recalibrates you completely, clearly. Six hours to the woods sounds worth every minute. Humans, eh indeed. We're a funny bunch ☺️
“There are people out there making beautiful hour-long shows about mushrooms, shipwrecks, the history of a single word, birds.” I would be very interested in this playlist!
Ha! I probably owe everyone an actual list after that line! I would listen to that playlist, too ☺️
This was so enlightening and fun to read, thank you Kamille!
Thank you, Vickie! So glad it was a fun one.
Now the neighborhood is looking up. Thank you
Ha, thank you, Jay! Glad it gave the day a lift 😌
I don’t live in a city like LA, but in a small coastal town on the Gulf of Mexico. So love this post. I can identify with your words. 🥰
A small Gulf coast town probably already knows the good version of this, short drives and slower days. So glad it resonated from there. Thank you, Suzanne!
I'm intrigued! I'm myself now 1,5 h from Nantes :D What is the name of your village? :) Thank you for this post, now I understand why my neighbours who had me over for apero yesterday exclaimed in surprise when I told them we'd been to Rennes on Saturday, a two hour drive each way. Bit long sure but not unusual for us on holidays abroad :D A nice thing to do is also playing games while driving, murder mystery puzzles are sth we regularly do :)
This had me laughing! I absolutely agree with each point you made. 😄
We have this same thing even in London. We also have friends who think we're crazy for driving to Scotland and not dividing up the trip.
I can so relate to this. I grew up in a major city and never thought much about the commutes I made, beyond, did I have time to get somewhere and how bad would the traffic be. Then, we moved to a small town just north of the major one. One of the things I love most about it is that everything in town is no more than a 10 minute drive, 15 at the most. Now, it feels like such a big deal to go into the major city I used to live in, which is a whole 20 minutes away. But it's not so much about the time as it is about the traffic that I don't like. I think once you get away from what you used to deal with on the regular, your perspective changes.