As soon as my best friend and I turned sixteen, we were ready to explore what lay beyond our home country, the Netherlands. Since we were both aware of the negative environmental impact of air travel, flying was not an option. And thus, that summer, we boarded a train to Berlin.
That train ride was not just a way of getting from point A to point B. For the full six and a half hours, my friend and I talked and talked excitedly about how amazing the trip was going to be. That train ride quickly became a cherished part of our first free-of-parents adventure.
After finishing our final exams, we decided to take it one step further. For two and a half weeks, we travelled with an Interrail pass through a handful of countries, living off bags of spinach and instant noodles. Looking back on that trip now, four years later, some of my clearest memories involve trouble with trains: almost missing the last train to Ljubljana or accidentally ending up in a bike compartment with two other Dutch girls. Those moments, although very stressful at the time, truly brought us closer together.
The most challenging journey we undertook involved a FlixBus from Amsterdam to Rome. It took twenty-six hours. It was quite terrible. But it was also very freeing. I imagine that what I feel for the FlixBus and for train travel is the same feeling expressed in the ideal of the American road trip: the sensation that the world is suddenly open to exploration if one simply steps aboard that dramatically green coloured vehicle.
Once, we flew. It was a year after the infamous Flixbus journey and due to our shared interest in ancient philosophy, we decided to go to Athens. After some deliberation, we decided to take a plane, just this once. I had always been aware of the environmental impact of flying, thanks to my parents. Therefore, I already expected the little nibble of shame I felt when I boarded. What I did not expect, however, was how different it felt to travel so quickly.
This time, the journey did not become a challenging yet cherished part of the holiday. It was over too quickly and felt disconnected from the ground. On a bus or train, one is intimately connected to the outside. Slowly, watching through the window, you see the scenery around you changing. By comparison, when flying, you mostly see clouds.
I would therefore argue that choosing to travel by train or bus instead of by plane does more than constitute a form of environmentally responsible consumption. It changes our relationship with the environment itself. Hopefully, the deepening of this relationship, leads to an increased sense of responsibility to care for the world around us. I know that for me, it certainly has.
