Friday Five: Trains, Planes and Automobiles

The RevGalsBlogPals Friday Five today involves travel:


1) What was the mode of transit for your last trip?

Any trips in recent memory have been in the car. I must admit I'm a little tired of the car, since I've got a long commute to the parish I serve, and some weeks are out there four times a week (an 80 mile round trip). And since the car is a standard transmission, doing that in heavy traffic is not pleasant.

2) Have you ever traveled by train?

I adore train travel. There's nothing quite as fun as the Acela, zipping at over 100 mph up the east coast, or taking one of the longer trains from Chicago out west. Yes, there are often delays on the latter, and yes, the former is expensive, but it is such a pleasant way to get from point a to point b without having to drive out to an airport on the outer limits of the city.

3) Do you live in a place with public transit, and if so, do you use it?

Your Nation's Capitol has public transportation that is generally pretty good, despite some woeful safety failures in recent times. It is designed, however, for people who work regular commuter hours, not for those of us who work odd hours or travel into the city for restaurants or theater. To get to the Metro, our train system, you need to take a car and park it at quite some expense, or you need to take a bus. The buses generally run at morning and evening rush hours only. When I did my CPE (chaplaincy training) at Children's National Medical Center, I used the bus/train combo every single day, and enjoyed it tremendously. I wish I could use it more.

4) What's the most unusual vehicle in which you've ever traveled?

A Land Rover with special tires in the Arabian Gulf. The driver let most of the air out of the tires so it could navigate sand dunes without getting stuck. I did not participate in the ATV activities,a s did my daughter, but I did ride a camel. Does that count as an unusual vehicle?


5) What's the next trip you're planning to take?

Outside of the trip out west to Country Church in Horse Country tomorrow to lead our Vestry Retreat, I think the next one will be a mini-vacation for PH and me. We are going away for a weekend to the town of Mr Jefferson's Academical Village to stay at a lovely inn and enjoy a Valentine's Day respite.We are fantasizing about the possibility of staying with a couple of friends at their house in northern Ireland sometime this summer. We shall see if that comes to pass.