My all-time favorite thing about living in Europe is the ease of transportation, and I learn new, helpful things regarding transportation every day. There are buses and trains, for very reasonable prices that can get you pretty much anywhere in Europe. With that being said, I wanted to highlight my favorite public transportation realizations that I have had so far.
The first is surrounding the London Underground. This place is a maze of subways that can get a person anywhere in the greater London area. The vastness and ease of the Underground is remarkable. When we first arrived, we had to get from Heathrow Airport to St. Pancras International Train Station, and it was the most intuitive experience of my life. What I expected to be stressful and confusing was very straightforward. Luckily, the airport had a direct subway to our stop because the line we needed was obvious and present, but even when the route was unclear, the underground was easy to solve. During our second trip to London, we needed to get to Manchester United’s Stadium, but the line we needed was not available from the train station, so we were able to identify where we needed to go to get on the correct line. It was fun and exciting to learn something that many assume is confusing. Luckily, the underground is not only intuitive but also cheap, as a day pass was around £10.
Another amazing experience I have had with public transportation in the UK revolves around buses. You can get just about anywhere with a bus, and every bus has tap-to-pay and Apple Pay options, making them easy to use. Myself as well as Sam, my roommate, can get to and from London to Nottingham for under £20. This costs less than a third of what a train would cost with only an hour more of time spent on the bus. Similarly, we can get anywhere within Nottinghamshire for about £2 each way. The cost and accessibility of buses are exciting, but it makes me a little frustrated that we do not have bus stations as robust as those in Europe.
Lastly, I will only briefly talk about trains, as I have another blog post about them. I love trains. They are fast, reliable methods of transportation. When I discovered the train from London to Paris, or the interconnectedness of Europe through trains, I was impressed (I still am). Trains are great because they require less hassle than a plane, but are normally much faster than a bus. I could rave about trains all day because they are that smart and useful.
Overall, public transportation has been incredible to explore. The ease of getting from one place to another in the UK and Europe is remarkable, and the US needs to update its transportation systems.
