My life without a car

This time last week I was all set to write a post about how great it was without having a car…… well, lets just say I had a rough week with public transport!

First off, the good things. I live in a small town where I can walk to everything, which is great. And even taking the train into the bigger cities, I never have to worry about traffic or parking. When I go grocery shopping, I can only carry a certain amount, so if forces me to only get the "necessity" items!
For work I take the bus in, its about 40-45 minutes each way. It ends up being pretty nice, especially in the morning, seeing as I am not really a morning person, it gives me a chance to wake up before I get into work. The "big green bus" runs every hour all day from Portloaise to the Dublin Airport, and its a really nice and affordable service...most of the time.

So for the bad. The weather, when its raining its not always fun to walk for long periods of time being cold and wet trying to catch a train or bus. Or even worse, when you get off the train on your way home, to it snowing unexpectedly, and then have to walk in the freezing another 20 min to get home (an experience from the last week). Or when you're waiting for the bus in the morning, but it doesn't  come. Forcing you to rearrange your whole schedule and run to catch a train so you won't be late for work (another experience from the last week). Or the next day, when you think all the bus problems are over, and on your way home, and the bus breaks down…in the middle of nowhere…(yet another experience from the last week)

There was a time in my life where I would have thought it crazy not to have a car, but overall its been fine! A few things I've learned from public transport:

• Be flexible- more often than not, the bus will not be on time!
• Get comfortable being close to people- having to be crammed in a train sitting or touching people you don't know, or smelling unpleasant bodily odors…its a normal occurrence!
• Be patient- this goes with the be flexible one, again, the bus is likely not going to be on time, but be patient, they are people too, and you never know what they have had to deal with on the way to get you. Like my driver scrambling to get the bus started when it broke down, he was doing the best he could, and it wasn't his fault. All you can do is take a deep breath, and realize that my life won't end just because I'm stuck on a bus for longer than I expected.
• Bring good headphones- with all the things you cannot control, including the "loudness" of other people, having headphones so you can tune out and enjoy the scenery is key!

I'm not quite used to it yet, but definitely getting more comfortable without a car. I'm sure there will be more days of bad smells and broken busses in my future, but thinking that I am not only saving money, but also helping the environment in a small way, makes it all more worth it!


Side note: picture from the Dublin Castle