I’ve just completed a week of work in the city of Southampton, UK. It is about an hour and a half by train to the southwest of London. It felt odd coming off of vacation in Scotland and going right into a work week without leaving the country. None the less, I had a job to do. Wherever I go, I try my best to utilize mass transit and walking as much as possible. I have an innate fear of rental cars and taxi drivers. This week presented a challenge in that the work site was 1.8 miles from my hotel, the closest grocery was 1 mile, and the closest launderette was 1.6 miles.
At first I went to Southampton Central station, but it turned out I had another 10 miles to go before I got to my hotel so this would require a little more train travel (2 stations to Red Bridge). I took about an hour to explore the main street and old town before heading back to the train station.
When I arrived at Red Bridge train station, I had to walk about 1 mile north and then had to cross a dangerous roundabout that had limited pedestrian walkways due to road construction. Thanks to google maps, I found bike/walk trail that would prove better for the rest of the week. Nine years ago, during my first trip to Japan, I learned how much I liked a lifestyle without a car. Better yet, I like the idea of not having to go to the gym or plan a workout because just living my life and going to work gives me a workout. It will be interesting to see what getting 70 to 120 minutes of walking for 7 days does for the body.
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My hotel turned out to be a combination family vacation stop point before the cruise ships as well as a spot for all the road work contractors. The walls were paper thin. This was a noisy combination of screaming children, drunks, and construction equipment (6am wake-up every week day). My favorite part was that I was in one of those rooms where there is a connecting door to the next room. At least 3 times throughout the week I heard my neighbor (new one on multiple days) open their side, make some captain obvious comment about the second locked door, then close it again.
I am ready to go home to California.
