Commuting Life

Making fun of commuting

Hi, Chynnerio here!

Germany has one of the best public transportation system in the world, and I appreciate it soooo much. Take Hamburg for example, if you want to visit your friends in the city? Take U-Bahn (subway), S-bahn (inner-city train), bus, or even,… gasp, ferry! If you want to have a day-trip to another city, take RB (regional train), or if it takes too much time and you want a quicker way to travel, IC and ICE is waiting for you. Except for IC and ICE, all other public transportation are included in a ticket that costs 58 euros per month. Or, as a student, you can travel the whole Germany with your student card, and that 58 euros is included in your tuition fee!

AHHH.

But when I’m inside the system, some other aspects occur to me.

Well yes, the transporation is top-notched, and the travelling around is fun.

On the other hill, commuting life can sometimes be qutie daunting, especially in rush hour, or just simply you forget your headphones and have to endure the rest of the trip, forth, and back;

and sometimes, you cannot easily surfing TikTok or anything to kill time :P The internet inside a train is one of the worst kind, and sometimes mobile data is not even available due to reasons I don’t know;

and, doing rush hours, you’re squeezing inside the ocean of people;

and, it takes siginifcantly longer time to reach my destination, or wost of all, the train is cancelled!

Welcome to…

In those events, apart from crying, and standing freezing in -2 degree waiting for the next train to come, wondering if a 2-hour walk shown on Google Maps is actually doable or not, I have come up with some ideas to do during these wonderful time, which surprisingly not that rare.

First, of all, in my bag, however big or small, will carry:

1. Wallet with a valid ID card, because no ID card = no valid train ticket = say bye-bye to 60 euros fee.

2. Phone, no phone = no valid train ticket = like above

3. Headphone: To cancel out the noise

4. Kindle - an E-book device

5. A pen

ANDDDD

A sketchbook for drawing on train.

I really love this tiny shiny sketchbook that I got from Amazon. It’s small, thus portable and fit in almost every pocket. Together with a filler, I hop on the train and sketch people. It’s fun to just observe people, how their rest face look like, the men spread, the people angry because the train stops for 5 minutes longer because of another train ahead, people surfing the internet, knitting, crocheting, reading, or, in the funniest case, a person sitting in front of me who is drawing me! LOL.

This is me starting the notebook

And the people I draw

And it all combines into my life of…

You may wondering, but what if I’m scared of the other people knowing that I’m drawing them? Well, I got you, because I’m you, too! Drawing is fun until people catch your eyes staring at them, and notice your sketchbook. To tackle this, make a smile at them, a friendly smile, and if they want to talk, well, let them talk, and if you feel uncomfortable, just switch seat, switch train, switch city, switch country, until you not feel embarrassed anymore.

Or, to prevent this, which is what I did to prevent the above scenario:

• Sit at the back of the train

• Practice not looking directly at them, but pass their head, so if they look up at you, the eyes don’t hit each other.

• If the train is too full and you are not comfortable drawing, maybe do something else and save the sketching for another time then. That’s when the Kindle comes in handy, I can read wherever I want.

• Last resort, no place to sit, then just listen to some musics, and try to avoid commuting at this peak time.

• Last resort v2, you forget the headphone (as the scenario in the beginning), then maybe swiping phone is not a bad idea. I write the first part of this blog with my phone on the train because I forgot my sketchbook AND my headphone at home tho lol.

A full Plan A B C D to spend time commuting. Commuting is fun, good for the environment, and not so costly as with a car. But to make the most out of the “dead-time” that you are stucked in the tube transfering you to your desired destination, some ideas may help, and I hope this have helped you have some ideas about what to do when pendeling. I have no experience commuting with cars, so, car-folks, how do you spend your time travelling to work? Leave your ideas below!

See you next time!

Love you infinitely,

Chynnerio