When I was originally given this assignment, I was pretty much clueless on what exactly I’d do. What I eventually did do wasn’t really a stroke of genius and I’m sure that a much smarter person than I would have thought of it on the spot, did the task, took the photos and wrote the blog post in a day instead of waiting three weeks like me. But hey, I’m doing it now!
Okay, I live about five minutes from campus so I walk there, I live five minutes away from
Lidl so I walk there, heck, I even live five minutes from Odeon cinema so I walk there too. Therefore, I was left to ponder, what method of transport could I replace with a more environmental one to be considered ‘Smarter Travel’? Well my dear friends, the answer came one student race day not so long ago when I needed shoes. High heels (but not too high), cream, size 6 and… Well you don’t need all the details. But my quest to find these led me to the City, on a bus, which cost me the hefty fee (in a student’s eyes) of €2 each way. So Eureka! Right then and there I discovered that should I ever need to venture into the City again, I would walk. The opportunity arose just last week when I decided to go into the City to meet up with Mark, a fellow New Media and English student, to study and write up this blog in his humble apartment in the very heart of the City.
All in all, I was unprepared. I brought a heavy bag of books (special shout out to Edgar Allan Poe) and was wearing new Dune boots which, as fashionable as they were, were not suited to an hour long journey. The walk however was refreshing, several City buses passed me as I leisurely strolled by and the dull, grim faces of the passengers gave me an odd satisfaction (as I masterfully nearly tripped myself over a perfectly flat stretch of sidewalk). I returned home that day tired, and would have been €4 richer had I not bought second-hand DVDs in CEX while in the City.
So on a reflective note, do I think walking into the City was really Smarter Travel? You bet I do! I’m not going to engage you with a load of balderdash about how from now on I’m going to walk to the City. I’m lazy. I like being zapped from one place to the other in a magical transportation device like a car. But usually I’m in the City bus for an hour or more anyway so, if I’m equipped with the correct footwear, I think it’s both more economical and enjoyable to take a nice stroll to my destinations (unless it’s stormy outside, then I most certainly will take the bus).
Have a look at the Smarter Travel here!
http://www.smartertravel.ie/
SineadListon 