For one, Rich and I spend more time together because he drives me places. He drives me to work 4-5x a week, dropping me off on his way to his job. This is an extra 30 minutes a day we get to spend with each other!

If we’re running a bit late (we have to leave early enough to get me to work and still leave time for him to get to work, making me really early to work, usually), he lets me off a bit further than usual and I walk the rest of the way so he can get to work on time. (even if it’s raining or snowing or winding or whatever). I actually like it, because it gives me a nice 10 minute walk in the mornings. That’s an extra 10 minutes of exercise that I get when that happens! It’s a bonus, trust me!

It has been a joy rediscovering my feet! God gave me these feet, and they get me places. Sure it’s not as cool as having a car…but it saves money, the environment and I don’t pay for a gym!

I take the bus home from work (and in to work on 1 day a week as well). I thought it would suck, but sometimes, because of bus lanes where cars can’t go–the bus actually gets me home quicker than if Rich picks me up! I know you said something about not having a bus near you…but, I bet there is! You might have to walk a bit…but, it makes your life a bit more planned, actually. You HAVE to get up because you have a real schedule to keep. You can’t be even 5 minutes late.

If you remember, a LOT of people take public transport here in England. The transport is a lot more expensive I’d say (£3.20 for an all day pass, or £1.70 for a one way journey–there are also bus passes, but b/c rich drops me off on the way, usually only buy the 1 way journeys)…but SO many people use it. A LOT of people don’t have cars or even licenses! I work with 2 women who are going to be 30 next year and one of them shares a car with her husband and the other doesn’t have her license or a car or anything AND she has a little boy. She uses the bus with her buggy to take him to day care EVERY DAY.

If she can do it, TRUST me, YOU can do it.

Of course…driving a car here is more expensive as well. Petrol is more expensive here–at an average of £1.15/litre (or £4.60/gal or about $7/ gallon) and we also have to pay for insurance, MOT (which is like a smog check you have to get every year but more expensive), road tax and any parking permits you might need (we don’t need one, luckily) and any other maintenance on the car….People still talk about small things to save petrol–keeping your windows rolled up. Bringing blankets in the car rather than turning on your heater…I wish that it wasn’t so easy, actually to have a car in America, I think people would be more in tune with how much oil they actually consume every year compared to their European counterparts…

I DO miss having my own car, it does make me feel more independent. But there ARE other alternatives. Is there a way J could drive you to work sometimes? Pick you up? Drop you off at the bus station/a bus stop? The first few times are the hardest. But, once you work out the bus system, it’s easy, probably cheaper for you (than for me, certainly!) In the spring/autumn and possibly summer you could get a lot of walking in which is like free gym time!

AND you’re helping the environment!

To wrap up, I think you can do it, it will just take a bit of planning!

Good luck. Let me know how it goes!

<3 B