Bus-tastic

So what does travel look like if you don't have access to an aeroplane?

To me, over the last couple of days, it has looked like this:

Tuesday, 14:15: Leave Kinsale for the last time, and head to Cork on the bus
16:30: Leave Cork on a bus for London
21:30: Leave Rosslare harbour on a ferry for Fishguard

Wednesday, 01:00: Back on the bus, leave Fishguard. The bus stops at various places on the way to London, but I doze-sleep through most of it.
08:00: Arrive in London. Put my backpack into left luggage, realise I've left my hat on the bus.. arrgh! Pay 20p to use the toilet at Victoria Coach Station
10:00: Go to the Victoria & Albert Museum, which is fascinating
13:30: Check in, back at Victoria Coach Station, for the next part of the journey
14:30: Depart London for Brussels
18:00? Take the eurotunnel under the English Channel. On arrival in France, our German coach driver says: "So, it's raining. Now, we stop for toilet and something to eat." - the drivers were absolutely lovely.
23:00: Arrive in Brussels. Really ugly coach station with lots of warnings about pickpockets! Toilet here is 40 Euro cents (I don't use it, but I was amazed at the cost!)
23:30: Leave Brussels, heading to Copenhagen... sleep...
Thursday, 07:00: Arrive in Hamburg, where we are delayed by an extra hour waiting for another bus to arrive
09:00: Finally leave Hamburg. Wind turbines everywhere!
12:15: Take the ferry from the continent to Zealand, which is the island on which (most of) Copenhagen lies.
13:00: Back on the bus - motoring to Copenhagen. We are late!
15:00: Switch bus in Copenhagen, to the last bus journey - to Malmo.
15:45: Arrive in Malmo, walk up to the train station and have a large hot chocolate (with cream and marshmallows), and a panini with cheese and tomato. They give me a little electronic device that flashes and beeps at me when the panini is ready. Expensive, but good. To use the toilet at Malmo train station is 10 Swedish Kronor - about 85p at the current rate!!!
17:30: Get on a train to Karlskrona. I really enjoy watching a woman playing with her corgi dog.
20:15: Finally arrive! Wow!

So what's that, 54 hours of travelling, to go what would take maybe 3 hours of actual flying. Of course, I got to wander around a museum, read, knit, and play on the PSP a little, too..

I felt pretty good at the journey's end, too - tired, but not cramped. I'd not eaten much on the journey, and had very little caffeine. I'm amazed I could read so much, actually, and not get motion sickness.

What wonderful insights have I attained? Well, it's true that fast travel distorts our perception of distance. And coach, even though nowhere near as fast as plane, is still pretty fast. Compared to, say, walking. I mean, at 20 miles a day, I wouldn't even have reached the end of County Cork, yet!

Unneccessary travel is crazy. Commuting is crazy. That's what I think. This doesn't prove or disprove it, but it certainly strengthens my sense of it.