There is a stark contrast between how people get from point A to point B in America and Europe; a reflection, I believe, of each country’s age. At roughly two and half centuries old, the US is a relative newcomer. Naturally, the nation leans toward the modern–the automobile. Why use a train or bus when you are afforded the freedom to go wherever you want whenever you want in a car? Any other way would be considered old-fashioned.
An entire vehicular ecosystem has been built around automobiles. The landscape of America is crisscrossed with interstate (“between states”) and intrastate (“across state”) highways running north and south, east and west; clover-shaped concrete designs have blossomed at major interchanges. Whole towns and cities have grown (and perished) alongside the most (or least) traversed road ways. People live further and further away from the centers of social and commercial activity. It is not uncommon to spend an hour going between home and work and the reverse. The fast-food drive thru, a uniquely American creation, was developed to reduce the time spent in eating establishments and more time on the road. Sidewalks and walkways seem to have been built where convenient for motorists.
The story is much different in Europe. The countries of the continent have existed for millennia. Many European cities pre-date the invention of the locomotive and the automobile. While in the States, towns have sprung up around major thoroughfares, across the Atlantic, highways and railways have had to accommodate towns. In the older parts of the Eternal City (Rome), for example, “streets” are less places were cars were meant to travel but pathways or alleyways were citizens got from one place to another by foot. Roads exist in Europe but they are usually on the periphery and are secondary to other modes of transport. The preference is to travel by train/metro or bus (airplane if greater distances must be crossed).
Out of necessity, vehicles are much smaller than they are in America.
Sections of some cities are completely closed off to cars.
If the “open-jaw” flight is the backbone of the trip, then the metros, trains, and buses are its veins, shuttling visitors to and fro.
TRAVEL TIP: If possible, make intra-European air, train, and/or car arrangements online before leaving the US.
TRAVEL TIP: The straightest and most economically efficient route between two points is not necessarily the best when it comes to traveling. It is the crooked path that runs into dead-ends or back onto itself that is the most cherished and memorable.
I want to go! This sounds amazing!!!