The role of transportation in our lives

    After living here in the Netherlands for almost nine months, I wanted to reflect on one of the most striking differences in my everyday life between here and Los Angeles: transportation. In LA, it’s pretty much impossible to travel without a car. Walking is off the table because of how spread out the city is; biking isn’t ideal because of the hills and the distance; and public transportation is inconvenient because the routes are relatively limited. Thus, the car is the most practical mode of transportation. However, here in the Netherlands, transportation looks entirely different. While many stereotypes about countries around the world are exaggerated or inaccurate, the stereotype of the Dutch and their bikes couldn’t be more true. Here, I use my bike to travel practically anywhere: to school, to the grocery store, to the beach, to my friends’ houses, to the city, to the dentist. 

Coming from such a car dominated environment like Los Angeles to a place where I’m in a car maybe once a week has given me an awareness of the role that transportation plays in our daily lives. I had never really given a second thought to how I traveled from place to place until I arrived here in the Netherlands. Now, I’ve come to deeply appreciate and understand the benefits of being able to use my bike or walk as my primary mode of transportation. Biking is incredibly eco-friendly, it promotes a healthy lifestyle, and it gives me the freedom to travel essentially anywhere I want to go without having to ask my parents. It has also helped me appreciate spending time outdoors. Walking is also another mode of transportation that I have come to use and appreciate much more here than I did in LA. The nearest market is an easy five minute walk from my house, a number of outdoor restaurants just a couple minutes further, and the local ice cream shop about eight minutes away. And if the weather is terrible, and biking or walking is off the table, the public transportation system here is extremely well developed, and I can easily hop on a bus or train to get to where I want to go. 

As I prepare to return to Los Angeles, I am coming back with a newfound appreciation for means of transportation other than the car. While I know I’ll have to go back to driving to most places due to the geography of where we live, I am going to make more of an active effort to walk or bike or use the bus.