How do I get Around?

Transportation

There are many different ways to transport ones self around England and France.  There are public ways and private ways.  Some are very different than what I am used to living in a small city like Livonia.

The first different type of transportation that England and France both shared was a subway.  However, they both had different names, England's subway was called The Tube, while the subway in France was called The Metro.  I did notice a difference between the two subways after traveling on them both.  The Metro was more smooth and didn't sway as much as The Tube.  This might be because France's subway had tires all around the subway carts to help stabilize it and make it a smoother ride for the passengers.  The Tube ran along a single rail which powered the train and supported.  Due to this it could be a very uncomfortable ride at some points along the journey.  The subways offered a cheap way of transportation but I don't think I would enjoy taking it to work every day.

  The next thing I noticed about how the people of Europe moved around was walking.  Many people would walk to their destination instead of driving a car.  Here in Livonia it is almost a given that you would drive wherever you want to go, not walk.  Walking has its pros and cons, first off it is better for the planet.  With more people walking that means less cars, and that leads to less pollution.  The other benefit of walking is it takes cars off the road, and believe me, London and Paris need all the room on the roads they can get.  They are very crowded and jam packed.  A disadvantage of walking is that it will take longer to get around.  You will have to plan accordingly and leave at a sooner time.  however, with more people walking around that means the sidewalks will be more crowded as well.  More people means more chaos.  It would be easier for a pickpocket to steal someones wallet and money if the streets are filled with people.  They are professionals and they will take advantage of crowded sidewalks.

Finally, after walking around London for a couple of days  I started noticing their cars were different.  I saw no trucks and few SUVs, the Europeans drove smaller cars than us.  The vast majority of there cars were small sedans and hatchbacks.  Also, here in America we are used to only seeing sports cars with large engines or heavy duty trucks with manual transmissions, but overseas in Europe stick shifts were much more plentiful.  Not only were there more sticks, they were in more kinds of vehicles.  A good example of this would be my friends and I were roaming around one day in free time and passed a Ford minivan, and to our beliefs, it was a stick shift.  You would never find anything like that back here in Michigan, unless you custom ordered it.  Me personally I prefer to drive a stick, I think its more fun, so walking around in England and France I loved seeing all of these cars with a manual transmission.

Seeing the different ways of transportation really opened my eyes to how limited we are.  Not many choose to walk or ride their bikes as their first choice.  We don't have a public way of transportation here in Livonia.  The only way that people get around here is by car, which are much lager than the ones overseas.  Europe has a much more diverse way of transporting their people around.