"Walking Distance"

What do I mean when I say something is within “walking distance?” To me, “walking distance” is anything that is one to three kilometers away. For my American friends, that is about a half mile to two miles. Why would I want to walk that much? When I walk, I get the chance to look around more and see more things. I also get the chance to take pictures of those things I find interesting. It is not easy to take pictures of stuff while speeding along on a tram. I have tried and only had minimal success. Buses are about the same. I have also tried snapping some shots while biking with little success and a few new dings on my phone case when I dropped it. Walking is the best when one is trying to take in all the sites and enjoy everything around them. Yes, there are caveats to “walking distance.” If I am going to someplace where I am expected to be on my feet for a while, like a museum, then I would rather take a tram or bus to the museum. If I am heading to a restaurant, then I have no problems walking two kilometers to get there. If I want to explore a different part of the city that is two kilometers away, I wouldn’t mind taking the bus over before starting. For this trip in particular, I was planning to get a lot of walking in for a number of reasons. Everyone can do with a bit more exercise and why not be rewarded with some beautiful things to see while getting that exercise. I am a big proponent of more walkable cities even though I don’t have the chance to practice what I preach much in most American cities. I also enjoy driving and have driven most days of my adult life, like many Americans. How comfortable would I feel not driving for 3 months? It has been an enlightening experience.

For those of you that like specific numbers: before this trip I was averaging about 6000 steps per day. While we have been traveling that average has jumped to 14000 steps per day. That is quite a bit of quality city walking. Keep in mind that this is an average because there have been a couple 24000 step days and there have been a handful of travel days where we make a bee-line for the train station and spend 4 to 9 hours on a train to our next destination. I am definitely getting the exercise in. Will I continue to preach about the benefits of a walkable city? Absolutely, if it is a well designed city. This means that basic necessities need to be within walking distance. Things like a grocery store or two, a drug store, a couple of nice places to eat, and maybe a tech store or department store. For bigger selections like malls and big box stores, it would be nice to have inexpensive mass transit that can get you there and back. Access to that mass transit should be walkable! Can I live without a car? In Europe, Yes! They have some very nice walkable cities with excellent mass transit systems. It would be nice to save thousands of dollars a year on car payments, insurance, and fuel. I could use that money to travel by train to see even more of Europe, the Middle East, and Asia.