I don’t have a car in San Diego, but against all odds, it doesn’t make my life hard. I have tested almost every transportation in San Diego area: walking, biking, driving a car, sitting on a bus, Uber, train and ship. Because I live so close to my office, I always bike with my beach cruiser to work. If I have to go somewhere farther away, I take a bus or trolley.
Busses and trolleys are actually fun and easy to take. I usually work while I’m traveling; call, text, read or think of new ideas for articles. I’m not stressed about the traffic and the schedules because usually you know when you will arrive. Bus drivers will tell you when to get out if you don’t know your exact bus stop.
Travellers in busses and trolleys are nice and friendly. I see smiling students, people who help you and couples talking to each other. Last week I was traveling by bus and I was checking my phone. A man next to me said I should fix my phone (the screen is badly cracked), because also his screen was also cracked and a few months later that phone was history. I really think he had good advice.
In Finland, we are used to using public transportation, because our gas costs double the price as here. Also, our old cities have quite narrow streets and sometimes you have to go through a bad traffic jam. If you take a subway in Helsinki, you probably get to your destination two times faster than with car. I also save a lot of money with public transportation: you only pay for the ride, not for the vehicle, insurance or any other side-expenses. Tomorrow I will call an Uber to go to a fun evening event: no driving under influence. 😉 (I’m Hanna Laukkanen, a 26-year-old journalist, who moved from Finland to San Diego for an internship in San Diego Community Newspaper Group. In this blog I will compare Finnish and American lifestyles and try to find out a lot more about the Californian way of living. Please send me feedback at [email protected].)