Bridesmaid refuses to fly

If you think I'm a bit crazy with my whole "cars are evil and aeroplanes kill the planet, let's all plant trees instead" approach, then check out this blog I stumbled across earlier in the week.

Babs2Brisbane is the travel log of a young woman who lives in a caravan in Wales (with no electricity and no computer! Crazy!!) whose good friend invited her to be bridesmaid in Brisbane. It's clear Babs is a bit of a greenie and she was horrified at the thought of having to fly to Australia so, after toying with the idea of not going, she decided to travel overland instead. See, because Babs is a greenie, she doesn't really spend a lot of money so she doesn't really need a full time job. She will take 6 weeks to get to Brisbane travelling by boat, bus and Trans-Siberian rail. What an adventure!

Whilst I do find Babs' way of life a little extreme I also find it entirely admirable. She has completely opted out of the rat-race (if she ever even joined it) and lives life according to principles she believes in.

See, no matter how passionate I think I might be about the environment, I will not travel to UK overland, even though I feel a bit bad about flying. Why? Well, because if I take 6 weeks off work, I want to spend that time with my family, not sitting on my bum looking out of a bus or train window. Why can't I take more than 6 weeks off work? Well, I can't really afford it. Why not? Because I want a sizeable house by the beach, a laptop and other gadgets, running shoes, a gym membership, a social life, the odd dive holiday. In short, my desire to have stuff and do stuff stops me from living in a particular way. (I think it's been termed Affluenza although I have a very mild strain).

Her decision has sparked some lively debate as to the virtues of air travel versus overland travel and there are some interesting comments on her website. I think she'll have an amazing time and I wouldn't mind giving it a go myself some day - obviously not every time I come home though, otherwise I'd spend the rest of my life travelling between England and Australia.

And to close this very green post, here's a very green picture of a dew drop which I spotted the other morning whilst doing yoga in the garden and which I suffered 4 mosquito bites for because I stayed still for too long whilst taking it.


Related: I also stumbled across this article in The Telegraph which discusses how flying is becoming an anti-social activity: Travel without leaving a trail