28 Days...

In three years...

82,500 minutes
1,375 hours
57.29 days

26 days underground

Welcome to my newly formatted blog. Here you will read stories inspired by my experiences using Montreal's public transit system. I have spent a good portion of my three years living here riding on buses and the metro due to my long commute (previously 55 minutes there and back and recently one hour and a quarter). People always ask me- how can you stand it? *Not sure. Why don't you buy a car? *Can't afford it. So instead I answer- It's not so bad. *Yes it is. But really. I can relax. Shut my eyes. Dream. Listen to music. Read. Can't do that in a car. Well, I suppose you can dream in a car but I don't recommend it. Now, I would be lying if I said that I didn't prefer my old commute from back home. *15 minutes by foot. Now that is dreaming. But, life is what it is and we carry on. So I have chosen to put a positive spin on my daily routine and turn it into project?

It's shocking to think how much of my life is spent in transit... literally. I calculated back and determined just how long I have been on the bus. The results made me nauseous. In the last three years I have spent... *you might want to be sitting down for this... 82,500 minutes riding buses or the metro. I based this calculation simply on my day to day commute and taking into consideration six weeks total absence due to annual vacations. That is 1,375 hours! Or even more frightening- 57.29 days. It gets worse. 26 of these days were spent underground, traveling through the tunnels of the Montreal metro. That is disturbing. 26 days wasted staring at people. Sure, reading books or listening to music... but come on, there are better ways to pass our time. Since I moved in July, my commute unfortunately increased to one hour and fifteen minutes twice daily adding on an extra 5.75 days (2 of which were spent underground).

So, in the last three years, I have spent a total 63 days on transit, 28 underground.

Surely there has to be something there to write about.