Travelling

22. Travelling

Why do people travel? There are many answers and reasons for it. The fact is that for many of us travelling is a true hobby. We live under continuous stress, surrounded by concrete, bricks and stone. We enjoy coming back to green nature because it has a positive effect on our physical and mental well-being. Nowadays we are able to travel even to distant countries, where we can get acquainted with new cultures, interesting people and their customs, and compare the differences between the way of living in our country and the land we are visiting.

Having decided to travel, first we ought to know our destination. The simplest way would be to go everywhere on foot. We do not need to worry about missing the bus, running out of gas, and our car breaking down or getting into a car accident. Our own feet will take us everywhere we want to go. We can even get to places that we could never reach by car. When we are tired, we can simply sit down, rest and have a snack.

Another possibility for our travelling is to go by car. Almost every family today owns a car. Travelling by this means of transportation is quite convenient, because the car can take us relatively quickly to wherever we want to go at the moment. All that we need to do is get in and start driving. As drivers, we should, however, respect certain rules and principles. If we see a prohibition of entering a forest, a meadow or any other place where we want to drive, we would better park at a place where it is permitted. Today’s advanced civilisation builds special roads and motorways for cars and buses with rest areas, gas stations and motorists. There a traveller can relax and order a meal, fill up the gas tank, get a car-wash, buy what he needs and then can keep going on his way.

Another popular means of transportation is the bus. Travelling by bus may sometimes be a little uncomfortable, but the situation is gradually improving. Buses are usually equipped with better seats, dark glass against the sun, air-conditioning, television and radio, and often with toilet as well. Some buses even offer travellers food and drink. In such conditions even a long trip can be rather pleasant. Far more often than long-distance bus lines, we use city mass transit buses.

When getting ready for a trip to a distant country or to a different continent, we can travel by car, bus, ship and aeroplane. Aeroplanes can take us to our destination in a relatively short period of time. On board a ship we will spend more time than in a plane where all is prepared to make the trip as pleasant as possible for the passengers. The possibility of seasickness from the waves is also taken into account.

Bicycle riding is comparable to walking. The reason is that we are expending our own energy to get to our destination. The market for bicycles nowadays offers mountain bikes – made for cross-country riding over fields and steep roads, in mountains and in cities, and road bikes – suitable for travel on quality roads and bicycle paths.