Again, I miss public transportation

In Ukraine, I took public transportation for in-city travel, of course, but also for inter-city travel (like when I visited Dnipropetrovsk or Kiev). I did not always love it. If you take the inter-city buses in summer, you nearly roast to death (no AC and people are often reluctant to open windows AND there are always more people than the bus manufacturers ever intended). If you take the inter-city buses in winter, you never get warm. On the 4+ hour rides to Dnipr, I'd keep my winter coat (and often my gloves and hat) on the whole way. It's a sign that you're going to be cold when there's a thin layer of ice coating the windows...

These buses were also VERY old and clunky. Seriously- most of them have been around since well before the Soviet Union dissolved. They often break down, there is almost no leg room, the luggage bins overhead will hold the equivalent of a 3-ring binder, and heaven knows when the seats and curtains were last clean. The seats are very narrow, and I almost always ended up next to very large men who took up more than their fair shares of the available seating.

As uncomfortable as the rides could be, I truly enjoyed the rides (after the first couple wherein I had NO idea what was going on or if I'd actually get to where I was trying to go or if I'd get left at a random bus stop). I particularly enjoyed the rides in the winter- when the leaves had fallen off of the trees. I really came to appreciate the beauty of the tree limbs. It's sort of like art, and I could stare at the branches for the whole ride. I did several times, actually.

I came home for Christmas break the other day. The ride was so different from the inter-city trips in Ukraine. I was driving my car, had total control over the temperature, and wasn't sharing a seat with anyone. I like that situation, for sure. However, I sort of missed the intercultural experience and the solitary times of reflection I usually had on buses.

I know that sounds lame and sappy, but I never fully realized how much I liked those things until now. The nice parts of the trips were usually overshadowed by things like big, smelly men and icy windows and grumpy bus driver. And little kids running up the aisles and animals on the bus and no leg room. And wretched roadside pit stops.

But, the trees were truly lovely.