"Going anywhere for the holidays?"
"Yes, upstate."
"Plane or car?"
"Oh Jesus no! Train."
"How long will that take?"
"9 hours. But my vacation starts when I get on the train, not when I get off the plane. It's much less stressful."
"You know... I can see that..."
Folks, I may have a made a convert today. Let's be real. Driving is work, and flying is torture. A train ride, might seem "long" but did you count all the time you spend getting to the airport, the security checks? The silly rules?
People who think "flying is faster" are falling for airplane propaganda. Take a day to travel. It gives you time to think, you can watch movies on your laptop and read. You can have a nice sit down dinner. Your ears won't pop and your legs won't cramp. No security people will yell at you for having too big shampoo.
The last time I flew was a decade ago. But I've been all the way to Alaska and beyond nonetheless. Travel itself should be part of the "vacation" not what you do when you get there
I've always been envious of the people whose vacation in Europe meant crossing the ocean in a steamship, and being able to just relax on a boat for the journey (except I guess when the weather was bad 🤢 ). You had all that time to acclimatize to the idea of traveling.
It means less traveling, more saving up, but as I've said many times, I want to go to Borneo to see the Giant Forest Ants, (and well everything) someday. I plan on sailing.
Sailing ought to be a bigger thing than it is in these days of excellent GPS and satellite phones. This project will take so long to plan I've decided to start studing Bahasa Melayu and the history of the country. I think 15 years of planning will do it.
I realize this is a bit extreme.
myrmepropagandist
A Vernal Pool