Flying is often the fastest way to reach a destination – but what if the journey became part of the experience itself? Environmental researcher Anette Mansikka-aho swapped planes for trains and ferries and discovered that slower travel gradually changed her relationship with time, uncertainty and travel itself. In this blog post, she shares her experiences and practical tips for travelling overland.
Text: Anette Mansikka-aho
What kind of revolution or societal change would you like to see in the future? How do you think structures, laws, regulations and social norms should change? The next step in an exercise proposed by the American social critic Paul Goodman is to consider how you could live today as though the society you want to see down the line already existed.
After reflecting on this question, I decided not to wait for laws and regulations on flying to become more environmentally sustainable. Instead, I began travelling as though those changes were already in place.
Since making this decision, I have completed six work trips overland: to Hildesheim in Germany; three times to the UK – twice to Bristol and once to Glasgow; to Aarhus in Denmark; and, most recently, to Kristiansand in Norway. In this blog post, I want to share what I have learnt along the way, in the hope of inspiring others to give up flying too.
Could overland travel work for me?
Flying is usually faster and sometimes cheaper, making it the easier choice for many people. As environmental researchers, however, we should be prepared to prioritise environmental values over efficiency. Living in accordance with our values reduces cognitive dissonance and improves life satisfaction.
Travelling overland may also mean making fewer trips. In the context of academic capitalism, attending conferences can feel essential to many researchers. Yet there are numerous other ways to build and maintain international relationships. If you attend conferences less frequently, you also begin to think more carefully about which ones are truly worth taking part in.
Travelling by train takes longer than flying, which means we need to change the way we think about the journey. In advance, a long train journey often sounds more daunting than it actually feels. Below, I share some of the unexpected benefits I have discovered.
The benefits of travelling overland
Watching the landscape slowly change through large train windows sets your thoughts in motion and allows your body and mind to keep pace with the journey. Seeing different habitats gradually succeed one another helps you appreciate the vast distances that an aeroplane crosses in an instant. The experience is very different from speeding through the sky, where efficiency tends to be the main objective. Now that my journeys take longer, I value the opportunity to visit faraway cities more than I used to.
It is surprisingly relaxing to begin the journey at your nearest railway station without having to calculate how much time to allow for security checks. Trains also take you directly into city centres, so you do not need to navigate both an airport transfer and local public transport after landing.
Overland travel often allows you to see several cities along the way. On numerous occasions, I have left my backpack in a station luggage locker and headed into the city for lunch or a visit to an art museum.
When travelling alone, train journeys also offer plenty of opportunities to meet people and hear their stories. Unless you speak every European language, you may sometimes need to rely on the language skills of local people. This has reminded me of something important: most people want to help one another.
Another important stage in my personal growth came from learning to live with the uncertainty of train travel. I am someone who likes to prepare for different situations in advance. On routes involving several connections, I have learnt that things will work out one way or another and that I am capable of solving many kinds of problems. Instead of worrying, I have learnt to focus on the present moment, because there is often nothing I can do to improve my chances of catching the next train. I have also been able to bring this attitude into my everyday life. Perhaps train travel is best approached as an adventure.
Preparing for the unexpected
Train travel brings you into close contact with unpredictability. German trains, for example, are notorious for being late. I have learnt the hard way to allow more than an hour for connections, although I have also been lucky with changes of only ten minutes. If a delay causes you to miss a connection, you can generally continue your journey on the next available train. The most important lesson has been to carry enough food and drink: you may find that a planned lunch break disappears and there is not even time to buy more provisions.
It is also worth remembering that flying involves plenty of surprises and complications. I recently heard about a colleague whose flight landed somewhere entirely different from its intended destination, returned to Helsinki a few hours later and departed for the destination again the following day. At least trains do not send your luggage to the other side of Europe.
One more practical tip: do not head to the platform too early. It is common for the departure platform to change shortly before the train leaves, so keep a close eye on the information boards.
Making the transition to more sustainable travel
Many personal choices related to sustainability can feel like giving something up. But framing change in terms of sacrifice only makes it more difficult. Grief is an essential part of adapting to a new situation. Instead of longing for the past, imagining a different future can therefore help us adjust to new ways of doing things.
A wealth of research shows that knowledge alone does not drive behavioural change – and that motivation often follows action, rather than the other way round. I encourage you to find out what might happen if you made your next work trip overland.
The purpose of the Nessling Foundation’s sustainable practices guidelines is to ensure that the principles of sustainability transformation are also reflected in the project’s own practices by supporting projects in making sustainable choices already during the project planning and budgeting phase. At present, the guidelines cover instructions related to travel and catering within the project. We require the guidelines to be taken into account in the project application and during project implementation.
Photo: Jonne Renvall / University of Tampere