Valpo Voyager

Student Stories from Around the World

Tag: Transportation

Outskirts of Cambridge

Getting Around in the UK

March 3, 2012 / / 1 Comment

The narrow streets of Cambridge

One of the largest adjustments I’ve had to make coming to the UK has been losing the independence that came from owning my own car.  However, this has given me the chance to explore many of the ways locals travel around Britain.

There are a surprisingly large number of cars in the UK.  However, driving really isn’t optimal.  This is especially true in old medieval towns like Cambridge that have very narrow (and often stone) streets.  These have enough difficulty handling the flow of bikers and walkers, much less cars.

Chances are, most long distances you would travel by car in the States can be traveled by bus, taxi, or train here.  Most journeys of over several hours are traveled by train.  While rail tickets aren’t necessarily cheap, there are many available departure times to nearly every destination.  From Cambridge, it is possible to get anywhere in Britain within one day of travel.  Trains are easy to use, clean, and relatively comfortable.

If your journey is shorter than about two hours taxis and buses are often used.  Taxis are far more convenient, but an all-day bus pass to anywhere in or around Cambridge costs half of what a taxi ride across the city would.  Besides having to plan your trip within the bus schedule, they can be rather confusing in general.  To start with, bus schedules aren’t easy to read, but finding one can be just as hard.  Many bus stops have had their schedules stolen, and because the locals don’t need a schedule another one simply isn’t put up.  On top of this, most cities have two bus companies, and as easy as it might seem it can be difficult to get the schedule, ticket, and bus to all match.

 

Outskirts of Cambridge

Within cities the majority of people prefer to transport themselves and not pay.  Bicycles are most common and all European cities have an army of them.  Nearly every single road has a lane specifically for bicyclists.  Due to the large number, having proper warning lights is taken very seriously.  I’ve seen several cyclists pulled over by policemen for having a missing light.

Wandering around Girton

If you don’t have a bicycle, then you are left walking alongside the majority of others.  Conveniently, most European cities are compact and it’s not too far to most locations (however, it’s not considered a long walk unless it’s at least 45 minutes!).  Personally, I like walking because it gives you a chance to take pictures and notice things you normally wouldn’t.  The main thing to remember when walking is that there is a hierarchy.  Vehicles have a lane, bicycles have a lane, and those walking have the sidewalk.  And if you venture into a lane that’s not yours you had better watch out because bicyclists will hit you and cars won’t slow down until they absolutely have to.  The fact that cars drive on the left side of the road isn’t a huge problem if you take the time to think, but if you’re traveling to Britain expect to have several near accidents in the first few weeks!

 

Missed a blog or want to see what else is going on in Cambridge?  Take a look at:  http://blogs.valpo.edu/studyabroad/category/cambridge-england/

Take a look at my photo albums on Picasa at:  https://plus.google.com/photos/112463823006344854498/albums?banner=pwa

Follow me on Twitter at:  https://twitter.com/#!/CambridgeUKJohn

 

International Flights…¿Qué Divertido, no?

May 19, 2011 / / 0 Comments

Estoy in Chile!!! It’s crazy to think that I’ve already been here 2 days! It feels both very short and much longer than that at the same time 🙂

Viajadores a Chile!

But I’m gonna focus on the adventure of getting to Chile for this blog post, because let me tell you, it was quite the adventure. We took a pretty crazy flight because we were able to get it SUPER cheap…but part of the reason for that was that it had 2 layovers in foreign countries and arrived in Santiago at 2:35 in the morning…yikes. We left O’Hare at 10am, arrived in San Salvador, El Salvador at 1:30, had to wait for 2 hours, took a 4 hour flight to Lima, Peru, had to wait for 2 more hours and then took another 4 hour flight to Santiago! Once in Santiago we had to wait until 8 am to get picked up by the people from the Y and then had a 2 hour drive from Santiago to Valparaíso.

So here’s what I learned from this international traveling experience:

ANNA WIERSMA’S DO AND DON’TS OF INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL:

DO talk to the people next to you on the plane, you’ll be amazed by people’s stories!

  • I was a little bit worried about sitting alone (didn’t want to get stuck by a fat man snoring, ya know?) but I actually had really interesting people by me every time! First I had two male dentists who were going to Honduras for a week to volunteer in a dental clinic, second a couple going on their honeymoon to Macchu Picchu and third two Chilean women who I started to call my “mamas chilenas”. My “mamas chilenas” were my favorite becasue they were both my mom’s age with 20 year old daughters and started fussing over me immediately, it was adorable 🙂 They needed to know everything about my life at college and my travels to Chile and gave me as much advice as they could cram into our conversation! I’m very used to the American culture of public transportation where you sit as far away from strangersas possible and don’t talk, but everyone was very kind and eager to tell their story and hear mine, it was a great start to the trip. But you could definitely see the cultural shift with my “Chilean mamas”. Instead of onlytalking for 15-30 minutes, we talked for at least a good hour, in Spanish! It definitely calmed some of my nerves to actually hold an hour long conversation, plus they said my Spanish was really fluid already, so that was encouraging! When they heard that I had to wait in the airport for 5 hours to get picked up they were all worried about me and saying that they wish they knew me beforehand so I could stay and sleep at their house…and I’m finding that this is pretty typical Chilean hospitality, it’s grand 🙂

    Pobrecitas! 🙁 Our makeshift beds in the airport

DON’T choose a flight where you arrive at 2 am and have to wait to get picked up…

  • The only scary/bad part was when we had to wait from 2:30-8:00 in themorning I suck at sleeping on planes…it’s bad. I tried so hard for the last flight, but I can never get comfortable enough, no matter how tired I am!  I probably only really slept for an hour. So my advice would be, don’t bank on getting any sleep in a plane, unless you have a long flight and Tylenol PM! For our wait in the airportwe set up camp on some benches and tried to sleep, but it wasn’t very comfortable and the airport was FREEZING for some reason! Plus, we looked so pathetic, I felt homeless, and it was just odd trying to sleep in public. Again I only really slept for about 2 hours, because we were trading watches over all of our luggage! And THEN, in typical Chilean fashion, they didn’t show up until 8:30! I was freaking out that we were at the wrong gate, because we could only find 1 and not 1a like they had told us, and the telephone number we had for the Y wasn’t working and I was getting SO worried, until all of a sudden these 3 Chileans descended on us and started hugging and kissing and saying “Bienvenidos!”! Phew!

DO fork out the cash to get yourself some real food in the airport!

Estoy in Chile! We found a playground in the Santiago airport...Levi and Erica were very excited 🙂

  • TACA airlines, thank for feeding me on every single flight. Really, that was super nice of you. But already by the second time around, your limp pasta noodles were not making my stomach too happy, sorry to say. Ordering from Subway in San Salvador however, was a lifesaver! Plus, it was hilarious. I had no idea how to ask for oil and vinegar, I had done well up until then, so I apologized and asked for “the salsa rojo y la salsa amarillo” and they started cracking up, but they understood. And then they told me I had done a great job for an American and even clapped for me once I paid successfully in pesos. I took a little bow, which got them laughing all over again, “tontos americanos” (stupid Americans ;D)

Ok, I think that’s all I’m gonna say for the trip. I have some pictures to share of our travels and my past two days have been jam-packed with touring Valparaíso, meeting new people, going out to try Chilean food and speaking in Spanish todo el día!! Valparaíso is an absolutely gorgeous city. I’m right in the center of the city at the Y, but there are humongous hills surrounding the whole city that are stuffed with brightly colored houses as far as the eye can see and I’m also a 5-10 minute walk from the ocean. I’ll describe more in my next post, I’ve already taken so many pictures!!!

As they say in Chile, “Chao!”

A little taste of Valparaíso 🙂

Stranded in London

December 21, 2010 / / 0 Comments

I was hoping that at this time I would be writing a blog about saying ‘good-bye’ to a place that I’ve lived for the past four months, but thanks to the weather and Heathrow airport, I have been forced to postpone that farewell and that blog…

So, instead… it’s 7:15 a.m., Sunday the 19th of December. The sun hasn’t even risen yet, but I arrive at Heathrow Terminal 5 in hopes of being able to fly out to Chicago in approximately four hours on my British Airways flight. It has been five months since I was in the US and I’m extremely excited to return after an unforgettable semester abroad in England. After already having my bus canceled and being forced to spend big pounds to take a taxi all the way from Cambridge, I am slightly eager to discover if my flight is still scheduled. The detrimental snowfall has ceased more than 12 hours ago so surely my flight is still able to take off, right? Not the case. Minutes after arriving at the airport, a woman announces over the PA system that every flight arriving and departing from Heathrow Terminal 5 has been canceled, with the exception of a handful of extremely fortunate flights. I look around at utterly shocked faces, all of whose somber expressions reveal their disappointment. I, too, am in disbelief.

BA 295: “Contact your airline”, so I’m told by the departure screen.  Once getting over the initial shock of having my long awaited route home canceled, I make an attempt to call the British Airways’ phone lines that an airport representative had given me. Unfortunately the lines are busy and I am not able to get through. I then try the other number I was given. Unsurprisingly, it’s the same story. “Due to the high volume of calls at this time, we are unable to take your call.” Unfortunately, that’s been the theme of my week. After storing two of my large suitcases in the terminal’s baggage storage for 16 pounds a day, I made my way to a hotel near the airport that a family friend had been kind enough to book for me while I attempted to get a hold of the airline to rebook. As I sat in the lobby with numerous other frustrated passengers who had also been unfortunate enough to decide to fly on this day (or this week), I tried over and over again to reach British Airways as I waited several hours to check-in to my room. I quickly lost count of how many times I attempted calling or how many hours I spent waiting to get through to an agent, but at the end of the day I knew it was a hopeless cause.

Snow: Wreaking havoc all across the United Kingdom

I’ve traveled numerous times before in my life and throughout this semester abroad, but not much could have prepared me for this. It has been the ultimate test of patience and flexibility as I must now wait until late Friday afternoon to fly out, all while hoping and praying that this white powder from the sky and these brutal temperatures do not cause further disruptions and cancellations at Heathrow. The very thought of spending Christmas at Heathrow makes my stomach turn. I’m just one of several thousands of people stranded in England right now, however. The terminals at Heathrow are full of people who have been forced to sleep at the airport as they desperately wait to get to their intended destinations. I can consider myself extremely fortunate to have an extremely hospitable family friend to stay with outside of London while I impatiently wait with everyone else for Heathrow to clear the runways and for this situation to improve.

Despite the disappointing end to my semester in England, I’m determined not to let things end on a sour note. I’m happy for the people who have managed to make it home safely, but all I can ask is that they either cross their fingers or pray that the rest of us can make it back soon too! England is great, but it is Christmas time and everyone affected by flight cancelations most likely shares my sentiment in saying that all we want for Christmas is to be home. Did you hear that, Heathrow?

Also, airing the following commercial is not exactly comforting for the thousands of passengers stranded at this very airport and terminal. Hopefully we will all be at our own desired destinations soon, and when that happens, I guarantee you we won’t need a large crowd to gather and sing ‘Welcome Home’ in order to feel happy about being home!

The T-Mobile Welcome Back

Five Important Things to do Before You Travel

October 5, 2010 / / 1 Comment

Planning a trip can seem somewhat daunting at times, especially if you’re traveling to a new country for the very first time. If you plan accordingly, however, you are guaranteed to get a much better experience out of it. And no matter how many hours of research you end up doing beforehand, it will be worth every second of it once you arrive at your destination. Based on my travels so far, here’s a list of the five important things to research or do before you depart:

1) Transportation – It’s not even worth mentioning you need to figure out how to get to the airport from your own house, but it’s important to research the best ways to travel to your hostel, hotel or friend’s house from the airport you’re flying into. It’s easy just to wave down a taxi outside the airport, but if you’re traveling by yourself or in a small group, there are often cheaper options. It’s not a bad idea to check if there are any buses or trains leaving from the airport towards the place you need to be. Most airports provide bus or train services for a relatively cheap price.

2) Contact Information – in case of emergency, it’s always good to make sure someone from back home knows where you are staying in whatever country you may be traveling to. The chances of your flight being cancelled may be slim, but in case an emergency does arise, such as Eyjafjallajökull (the Iceland volcano no one can pronounce) earlier this year, it’s important your friends or family from back home know where you are.

3) Communication – To go along with the second point, it’s vital to have at least some form of communication while you are traveling. Not all hostels provide internet access so it isn’t a bad idea to have a phone on you. I found that extremely helpful when I travelled to Munich with four of my friends. At times it’s easy to get lost or separated from your friends, and without a phone, it can be a nightmare trying to locate other members of your group. Lastly, if you do have a phone, make you sure find out what the country code is where you are so you can make calls. Here’s a list of country calling codes: http://www.countrycallingcodes.com/countrylist.php

4) Attractions – I can speak from experience when I say it’s a terrible idea to fly to a new country without any real idea of what you want to see or do while you are there. If you research what type of attractions your country has to offer you’ll be able to pick and choose what you want to do ahead of time, ensuring you get the most out of your visit and experience as much of the culture as you possibly can. The internet is full of information of what to do and see in various countries, and if that doesn’t suffice, most book stores contain travel guides for specific countries, even cities. Also, bring a map of the city in order to help you get around from place to place.

5) Budget – Some countries cost more than others and it’s safe to say that food, drinks, accommodation and the price of tourist attractions varies in each country. Do a little research beforehand so you can have a good idea of how much money you think you’ll need to spend during your travels. It’s always good to have an idea of how much things will cost so you’re not overwhelmed when you get there.

The list is by no means conclusive, but it can be a good start for anyone embarking on a trip to a new country. Most importantly, have fun and take full advantage of being in a place some people still dream of going to.

Cheers!

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