Tag: train

Don’t rush me

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three rocks
Photo: Openverse

What I hate the most is to rush things. I want to do things at my own pace. Things go better when I get the time to do them. If I need to rush things, I only get agitated. If I get an assignment, I will do it, but if you rush me, it won’t get finished faster. Life is not a competition where you must finish things before everyone else. I’ve never understood why you need to rush things. For example, if school or work starts at 9 a.m., what’s the big deal if you get late for a few minutes? Will you miss something? You can’t always be on time. As long as you don’t make a habit of being late. If I know I will be late, I won’t hurry because someone is waiting for me. I don’t like running to places. I like being on time, so I try to have enough time so I don’t need to rush. Especially if it comes to public transport. You need to be on time because it won’t wait. The last time I had to rush was when I had to catch a train while studying filmmaking this year. I almost overslept, and I had to hurry up. It was awful, but I did get to the train on time. I was totally knackered, and it reminded me how much I hate to rush.

The first time you need to rush is knowing what you want to be when you grow up. It begins when you turn 16 or 17. Should you attend high school (it’s voluntary in Finland) or not. That was an easy choice for me. By then, I was tired of school and didn’t like reading. I knew what I didn’t want to be. The most challenging part was what I wanted to do. When some people try to find their “calling” through work, I did it with studying. Maybe it was the wrong way to go because I lack work experience today, and now I must pay the price. But I did it my way, and other people did theirs. People tried to rush me to make decisions, but I always had my thoughts and needs. You can’t go back to the past to change things. You can only look forward. I can’t become something I’m not. I like learning new things, but I do without being rushed. Sometimes, it feels like time running out, and soon, I’m too old to become anything. That feeling goes away, though. If one dream won’t come true, then you have another one. But one thing is sure: I won’t rush to do anything.

Bloganuary: My 3 fave ways to travel

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StPeterLine
Photo by me. Princess Maria, Harbour of Helsinki

Here are my 3 favourite ways to travel

Number One: By cruise ship

I live in a harbour city, so it’s easy to travel by ship. Everything is done for you. The food and the entertainment. You sleep in a cabin. All you need is to relax. I’ve been on a cruise to Stockholm the most. Then to Riga and Tallinn at Christmas. Then to Saint Petersburg, Russia some years ago.

Number Two: By train

It’s a bit more expensive than by bus, but it’s the fastest. I travel to Helsinki twice a month. The most challenging part is the sleeping arrangement. I find it difficult to sleep sitting up, so my sleep is light. I’ve also travelled to Lapland by train, but then you have a bed to sleep on.

Number Three: By bus

It’s the same on a train. I can’t sleep sitting up, but at least I can rest a little bit. You can’t move like you can’t on a ship or a train, but it’s easier than driving yourself. I don’t like to drive long distances either, so the bus is my 3rd favourite way to travel.

Taking the train to somewhere

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inside a train
Photo by Anastasia Kolchina on Pexels.com

There are many ways to travel to places. Besides going by bus and by car, I’ve mostly travelled by train. The problem is that it isn’t cheap. It’s a faster way, but if the bus is cheaper, I rather take that. No matter what way I travel, I can never sleep very well. Unless I’m exhausted. It’s the sleeping sitting up, even if you can turn the seat a little. The first time I travelled alone by train was when I was 17 when I went to study in another city. Or it was in a small town. It wasn’t fun to travel there the first time. I had no numbered seat, so I had to move to another one. The train was full, and I had things with me. I had to walk around on the train, trying to find an empty seat. I had to stand for the rest of the trip. Carrying all those things and then trying not to fall. Those trains weren’t as steady as they’re now. Luckily I always found a seat when I went home over the weekend. It was the 1990s, so you had to buy a ticket from the train station. Since I was a student, I had a series ticket, and if you wanted a numbered seat, you had to reserve it by phone. I didn’t want to do it since I didn’t like talking on the phone, so I rather sit where it was free. Today there are mobiles and apps to do all those things, so it’s much easier. I don’t use apps when it comes to buying tickets. I don’t really trust them. If I go somewhere, I buy the ticket via the computer and print it out on paper.

The best about taking the train is watching the view pass by. I’ve travelled by train early in the morning and seen the sunrise. Seeing it feels different on the train. I’ve seen a misty morning. The fields look like they’re cooling down, and smoke rises up from the ground. It’s a beautiful sight that is difficult to describe if you haven’t seen it yourself. You can’t really get the same feeling when you’re going by bus. My least favourite thing about trains is when they are crowded. Once when I studied in another town, I had to change trains. They were usually quite empty in the morning, so I thought it was strange that many people were in it. A moment later, I realised I was on the wrong train. I had to get out of it on the next station. Luckily the right train came behind the wrong one. If I hadn’t noticed I was on the wrong train, I would have got late for school and been in the wrong place. That was quite an adventure that time of the morning. I didn’t make the same mistake again.

I haven’t used the train for a while. If I had gone somewhere, I’ve taken the bus, because it’s cheaper. Next time I might take the train is when I’m going to see Elton John concert next month. The problem is, will it be moved to next year again? If you buy a train ticket, you can’t get your money back. Or it will be difficult to. If the concert will be on, they should inform about it as soon as possible, because the earlier I get to buy the train ticket, the cheaper it is. When it comes to public transport, the schedules are the concern. That day, the last train leaves after 8 pm, and the concert will be much longer than that. There won’t be any buses going either. Maybe I should stay at a hotel, but that isn’t cheap either. I won’t be driving there, because of different reasons. Whatever I chose, I rather go by train than a bus. Sitting on a bus for two hours isn’t good for my legs. I need to have them straight from time to time, or I will feel uncomfortable. So choo, choo train it is.