Permanent Tourist

General Abonnement

Travel
Thursday, 17th July, 2008

By my reckoning, I have made the journey between Brienz and Spiez nearly three and a half thousand times in the past seven and a half years: a phenomenal number of trips backwards and forward for a person who used to long to abandon the car and travel in relaxing comfort on public transport. Back in the days when I used to travel through the daily traffic jams of south eastern England – for up to and often more than two hours every day – the ability to relax, read a book, work on a design or just doze between home and work was just a dream.

As I shall be commuting between Spiez and Bern from the start of next month, I have, at long last, invested in an annual “[General Abonnement](http://mct.sbb.ch/mct/en/reisemarkt/abonnemente/ga/general-abo-bonus.htm)” (national public transport pass) as the cost, in comparison to the regular ticket between home and my new office, makes it worthwhile. That means that I can now travel pretty much anywhere in Switzerland by train, bus or ship without having to buy an additional ticket. Days out with the [Flickr crowd in Zürich](http://www.flickr.com/groups/zueriflickrdrinks/); trips over the mountains on the scenic train to see friends on Lac Léman; weekends away and travelling up into the mountains to spend the day hiking will all be free. Even the trip to Milan – just over two and a half hours away from our home station thanks to the new [Lötschberg tunnel](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%C3%B6tschberg_Base_Tunnel) – will be free as far as Domodossola and massively cheap from there on, as Italian train prices are much lower than Swiss ones. I imagine that Jo and I will now be travelling more often in our spare time, which will be great. I am sad that I will no longer be travelling through [such spectacular scenery](http://www.flickr.com/photos/mhowells/1812532963/) every day, but the prospect of more travelling and the return from the city each day, towards the grand view of the Alps, will be worthwhile alternatives.

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