With the warmer weather, I keep thinking about trying to spend more time outside. Yesterday, one of my co-workers rode her bike to work. I should really do that. Of course, I'd have to buy a bike. I could also walk. I'm a little worried about how far I would get, though. More than that, if I did make it all the way to work, I would probably never get home.
I wasn't always like this. A while ago, I mentioned that I lived in Mexico in college. I didn't have a cell phone, and I didn't have a car. I didn't have a car in high school, either, but at that point most of my friends did. In Mexico it was public transportation or my own two feet. Even though I was in a much smaller town (about 100,000), the public transportation was very good. The buses ran to most parts of the city every ten or fifteen minutes. If you didn't happen to be at the actual stop, a bus could be hailed like a taxi if you were persistent enough. In fact, there were times the drivers would pass the stop unless you were flapping your arms forcefully enough to take flight.
Getting off the bus usually worked the same way. There were no bells to alert the driver, so you just have to yell when your stop was getting close. However, if you didn't say it firmly and with enough conviction, they might not stop at all. It was awesome to watch children barely old enough to talk shouting "stop" in such authoritative voices.
I did do a little walking, as well. I volunteered at a girls' home that was prominently situated at the top of a very large hill. Normal buses didn't go up there, but the bus company had a minivan that would take passengers to the top. The catch was, the fare was40 cents. Now, normally, bus fare was 20 cents, and for students, it was 10 cents. Then, they asked 40 cents to climb that hill! Naturally, I was outraged. In protest, I spent every agonizing half hour climb up that hill thinking about all of the money I was saving. At least I got to spend a little quality time outside.