Feeling the distance between places
In New York he got used to walking long distances. Once or twice a week, instead of taking the subway, he’d walk the hour and a half to the university from the room he rented in a Carroll Gardens brownstone. He’s kept up the habit since he returned to Chile. He likes to feel the real distances, he even finds the resulting tiredness pleasant, and it’s a pleasure that includes the satisfaction of wasted time: while others advance automatically, caught up in the muffled fury of an eternal Monday, he can wander the streets, looking, thinking, meandering.
This is an excerpt from a book I read a couple years ago, Chilean Poet by Alejandro Zambra, that has stuck with me ever since.
I live about 5 km away from my workplace and almost always commute by foot or bicycle. Don't get me wrong: I'm a big fan of public transport, and I often rely on it when I visit other places.
But there's something about literally transporting yourself to places. I never knew how to express it until I read the above passage.
It's feeling the distance wherever you go, which is lost if you commute by car, train, or bus.
Whether I bundle up to combat snow and ice during a winter trudge to the store or rejoice during a springtime bike commute as the wind in my face on the descent home makes me forget all my responsibilities, I experience a primal satisfaction in quite literally treading the earth.
The speed at which I travel by foot or bicycle also leaves me no choice but to appreciate subtle (or even dramatic, depending on the season) changes in my everyday surroundings. And if I am visiting a different city, I can sometimes afford the extra time it takes to walk to my destination (or everywhere) instead of taking the metro. Or maybe there is no particular destination. In fact, I think walking around aimlessly is the best way to become acquainted with a new place.
In any case, through such meandering I can actually notice everything that envelopes me. I feel like my body becomes more in sync with space and time.