planes, trains, and automobiles

as i was en route to paris this past wednesday, i realized that my solo travels this past year abroad have all followed a distinct pattern. that is, in an attempt to be the cheapest possible (to fit in my student budget) i end up taking at least 3 different methods of transport for each trip.
let's start with my first trip, back in october. i was visiting my friend steffen in freiburg, germany. i took a flight from vienna to karlsruhe, a bus from the airport to the train station, and then a train to freiburg. i repeated this entire process to get back to vienna fafter my five days of sunshine and amazing south-german cuisine.
then, of course; the massive february break trip. started with a plane ride to london, then bus ride to oxford. i then took the bus back to london and caught a plane to dinard, france. i took trains with florent all over france and eventually departed with a train from paris to amsterdam. then came the most epic leg of all of my journeys ever. i forgot to book my travel to dublin and my hostel there while i was distracted by a million different things (travelling, skiing, flowers, coffee etc) in france, so i found myself booking everything mere days before i was supposed to be heading to the irish lands. with help from the housemates of my friend ravi (who i was staying with in delft, an hour away from amsterdam) i found a way to get to dublin that would cost me about 60 euros. I took a bus from rotterdam to london, in the middle of which we (bus and all) got on a ferry and crossed the sea. i then spent 10 hours exhausted and freezing cold in london before taking a second bus and ferry extravaganza to dublin. it was awesome.
now, i find myself in france again. i took a ryanair flight to get here, which was 25 euros a leg; but the catch is that ryanair does not fly from vienna. i had to take a bus to bratislava, catch my flight to paris, then take the bus from the airport to the city. after a day and two nights in the city of lights, i took a train down to vichy, where i'm crashing with my fav french man for a long weekend before heading back to the city and repeating the entire process to get home. the thing is, after everything, the transport is barely less expensive than just catching a flight from vienna, which round trip to paris was around 160 euros and would take much less time.
so for my next trip to france during easter break, i lay just be lazy and fly from vienna, we'll have to see.
i feel like after doing so much to get somewhere, you really decide how important the trip was and whether it was worth all of the trouble. so far, it has been worth every second of waiting, delays, and being hungry on cheapo flights without snacks.

btw vichy, france is a magical beautiful fairyland place surrounded by rolling countrysides and lots of cows. plus a beautiful river cutting through the city and lovely fresh air and wind. like vermont, only with even better yogurt and cheese and everyone speaks french.

love,
lucy