Commute with Gusto! – Everyday Adventure #3

Enjoying the pungent aroma of a fellow Tube rider’s sweaty armpit thrust across your face. Sat in static traffic so long that the radio starts repeating songs you heard earlier. Watching your breath as you shiver waiting for a bus that should have been here, ooh, a good half hour ago now.

Commuting is a drag.

Not only do you have to endure all of the above but you’re not even trying to get somewhere you want to go. It’s not like fighting crowds to escape Brighton having cycled there from London or a sleepless night in a coach on your way to the ski slopes. No, you’re going to work.

Getting to and fro your job can be tiresome but not this month, soldiers. Not in the month of March, in the year of 2010. This month, on the streets of the UK, across Europe and the world over, we march purposefully on our way to offices. This month, loyal troops, we race excitedly to our workplaces. This month, we commute with gusto!

Some ideas:

• Take a new route – Dig out a map and plot a novel course (or just go blind) ; follow a sat nav (even if you’re walking/cycling); try a different bus/train/Tube combination
• Walk/run/cycle to work – Whatever you’re not used to, try that (and if you do all of them, use motorized transport for the novelty). Too far? You don’t have to do it every day, just give it a go once. Set your alarm 30 minutes earlier, or an hour, or four hours if you have to.
• Slow down, go sightseeing – What interesting places do you pass on your way to work? Or, more to the point, what interesting places do you miss every single day as you pass by in an early morning mental fug? Take it easy. Take it slow. Look around you and see life from the other side of the street. Leave earlier and embrace your journey as an experience not a chore.
• Make it fun – Do it with a friend. Treat yourself to a new book/album on the MP3 player/coffee on the way. Put your jacket and wellies on and splash in the puddles (rather than whinge about the weather). Treat the journey as if you were going somewhere new or on holiday and maybe it’ll set your day off to a better start.

Some answers to your excuses:

• I know the best way already – Boo for you! Is life really about efficiency? This is the very thing we are trying to address this month – turning the commute from a necessity to a pleasure. Just once.
• I don’t have time – Yes you do, you’re just sleeping when it goes by. Sure, it’s already a traumatic experience when the alarm goes off at the normal time but who ever achieved anything great without first putting in a little hard work? It’s a one off. Get out of bed and get to it.
• There’s only one bus/train/road/cycle lane – Oh, come now, is that the best you can do? Get off the bus a stop early. Walk to the next railway station from home. Deliberately drive the wrong way and see where you end up. Ride your bike on the road, run it along the pavement, find a dirt track or a field to cross. Use your imagination!

You know the drill by now. Stop reading this and get a map out. Plan your adventure and report back to me on the comments form below or on the Facebook page within the month.

Now, what are you waiting for…? Go have an adventure!

This is an Everyday Adventure…

…and it is here for you to try.

There are no rules, constraints or conditions. Treat this as a spark for your imagination. Use it as an injection of excitement into your daily routine.

Please spread the word, email a link to this page or share it on Twitter and Facebook with the buttons at the bottom right. There’ll be a new idea for each month of 2010 along with another fantastic image courtesy of David Tett Photography.