Source I like a nice map.
I've got this dream life that I'll be able to travel between my house in the Midlands and a coastal retreat with the minimum of expense and inconvenience.
My idea is that each place will have everything that I need, so that I can travel light between one and the other carrying only hand luggage with maybe a laptop, some knitting and a picnic for the journey.
I bought a small backpack this year for day trips to London, and it should fit the bill for longer journeys, too. I checked today: an off-peak return journey costs £33.60 and takes less than three hours each way. That's cheaper and faster than by car.
I love train and bus journeys. I used to meet an elderly lady at the bus stop, she told me she was eighty, her family had owned a coffee farm in Kenya. She'd scurry to the bus stop, chestnut hair in a Patsy-style bouffant up-do and carefully applied eye-liner.
"I like travelling by bus," she'd say,"you're chauffeur-driven, after all."
I lost the run of her with the pandemic, but perhaps I'll see her again if I start travelling regularly. We have one of the best bus services in the city from my house to the rail station and the town centre. The stop is a few minutes walk from my back door and the ride takes about nine minutes - a bit more in rush hour. It's free now, with my bus pass.
Some journeys require a bit more ingenuity. There is the bus that will take me to and from the new job I will be starting later in the year. I'm thinking about going to the gym on a Friday afternoon, and I've found I can get a bus from outside work into one of the local towns, with a short walk to the sports centre.
Coming back is more complicated, takes longer, but is possible.
It will be better when I have the electric bike. I'm planning to get a folding one that can be stored easily. I guess I could take it on the train, too, maybe I'll need a small trolley for that.
There's always taxis if the worst comes to the worst - or I just want to enjoy a drink before I make my way home!
It will be great when I have more time to take bus journeys just to see where they go. Once I understand all the bus routes, I should be able to get to Hastings and Brighton for free. It would be lovely to visit the galleries there and see if their beach is different to the ones here.
