h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Here in Northern Ireland we've nothing like the congestion or public transpost system that exists on the mainland. Things can get quite bunged up at rush hour of course, but it's nothing like what goes on in England's cities. Belfast's probably the worst for rush hour madness, but only half of us live there.

For me, it's unusual for it to take longer than 10 minutes to go the couple of miles to work. Though I have to be careful when I finish at 5. If I go one way, I can sit at a junction for a while, but not too long. If I go the other, I can sit for 20 minutes at a set of badly timed traffic lights. It's infuriating and I won't attempt to describe it coz it's so complicated.

My home town also has an unbelievably infuriating one-way system. for example, I can't turn right after leaving my local Tesco. For the sake of 50 yards, I have to add about a mile or so onto my journey. If you can't change lanes you end up going the whole way round the town, adding another mile or two on.

Public transport's not great either. It's neither frequent nor cheap. If you miss a bus you're likely to have to wait 30 mins or an hour for the next one. None of this bus-every-10-min stuff.

I live occasionaly in Norway.
The public transport system is a little unusual in that it often involves ferries and more.
The buses are very easy to use and relatively cheap. The great thing however is that they have a large space underneath where you can put anything from parcels to bicycles.
Car driving where i live is easy. Few people and so very little congestion.
The only problem is that cars and everything to do with them are very expensive. Pps that is because of the low population?
One of the most interesting journeys you can take by bus locally is out to the island of Ona.
The trip involves a change of bus over the island of Gossen, then onto a ferry which takes 3 hours to get to Ona.
The fare for the ferry is £3 and you pay that on the way back.
The island has a camp site which is free, a shower room and washing machines again which are free.

Sounds amazing!! We do have a couple of amazing routes - one by road and one by train - that cover most of the coastline round from Belfast right round to the wetern boader with the Republic of Ireland. Some beautiful views and a few points were you have to go through the cliff too.

You're lucky that public transport is so cheap. Here it'll cost you nearly £15 to go from my town to Belfast return, and it's only 60 miles.

Though I've heard that it's cheaper to fly from Belfast or Derry airports to London and get a taxi to your destination, than it is to get the train from Liverpool or Manchester or wherever.

I would love to visit Norway at some point - it looks like a beautiful country.

I travel to Manchester quite frequently on the train, and have noticed some dramatic fare increases over the years. A saver return is now £65.50 and a standard open return is a somewhat eyewatering £225...(and that's not even first class - that would set you back £343)

I'm having an attack of nostalgia....bring back British Rail!

Know what you mean bout British Rail.
It seems the aim of public transport is not to provide a public amenity but to provide profit.
The lottery works on statistics. Because of this the company running the event knows someone will win because of the numbers, it works; its the same with the rail system.
Because of the numbers they will "win" no matter the price. If there ever was a boycot, they would still have enough numbers to make a profit.
Incedentaly i mentioned the prices for buses in Norway, i didnt say how much they were. They are not in fact particurlarily cheap on the whole but Norway is one of the most expensive countries in the world and so its relatively cheap in that context.
The trip out to Ona is that cost because they are very keen to keep up the tourist flow.(i was also told by one of the ferrymen, that if i swam back i wouldnt have to pay at all, but they would like to see me try)
When i camped there i was the only one. The council even provides a mountain bike complete with crash helmet because the toilets were so far away.
The bike became a cause celebre as people simply couldnt believe that they did that. The publicity it generated was huge. It got on German and Dutch television as well as in many Norwegian newspapers. The bike is still there.

I remember hearing that it can be cheaper to to get a ticket from wherever you're leaving from to somewhere on your route and get another ticket from that place to your destination, instead of just getting one from start place to end place.

So do has no-one tried to swim back from the ferry place then or is it too far? People swim the Channel, so I'd be surprised if it's never been tried.

as far as i know no one has tried swimming back. It is over 20 miles over some very dangerous water too. (but if challenged im sure there would be no end of takers)
I have a 17 foot open boat and im very careful of when i go out in that.
Last year i was caught out in a storm at the end of a 3 day trip - never been in a boat that one moment was nearly on its nose and the next with the propellor quite clear of the water.

You must visit Norway - the Germans are taking over.
You are looking at a country 3 times the size of England with every kind of terrain most of it extreme, and yet with the population of devon and half of cornwall.

Reading this thread has reminded me that Norway is a country I've wanted to visit ever since I was little, when I read Road Dahl's autobiography Boy. Dahl gave some wonderful descriptions of summer holidays spent there with his family.

Sounds amazing though. I was in Denmark a few years ago and it was beautiful. Have you seen the glacier with Slartibartfast's signature on it?

mm, is that in biro or feltip?

You know, I'm not quite sure.