A trip to spend a bit of time with mama - #1 Introduction

In the beginning of 2023 my wife and I learned that both our mothers were admitted to hospitals in Warsaw, on the same day, with very serious heart problems. Last time we saw them was 2018. We decided to visit them and spend some time with them this year. We went separately at different times of the year and stayed in our moms' apartments.

I love travelling, but I haven't travelled since late 2019, and I pledged to not fly for pleasure anymore because of the climate crisis. There is very little left for me to do to fight the climate crisis. I went to protests in Gold Coast (Fridays for Future) and Brisbane (Extinction Rebellion), I was a member of Queensland Greens for two years, helped with elections, signed petitions, wrote letters, fought against a new motorway in Gold Coast (NoSecondM1), etc.

The only areas left to me are my private choices: not commuting by car - using public transport and riding a bike instead: sold our 2nd car in 2018. Not investing in fossil fuels - keeping my pension savings in such a fund since 2018. Using renewable energy: installed solar panels in 2016, heat pump in 2022 - our house does not use any methane anymore. Swapped my wife's petrol car for an electric one - 2023 - the state of public transport in Gold Coast is so bad that she would not be able to get to/from work without a car, and we would have a hard time getting to shops, appointments, etc. Unfortunatelly, we need one car here. This year we also finally moved our mortgage to a bank that does not help fossil fuel companies.

Ok, so I wanted to use the trip to see my mom, to see as much of the world as possible. But I planned the extra travel to be by train, or if not possible, by bus. No hired car, instead, using public transport or public bike infrastructure.

Cities I saw for the first time: Singapore, Doha, Vilnius, Riga, Tallin, Helsinki, Łódź. Cities I saw again: Warsaw, Cracow, Wrocław, Lublin, Melbourne. I travelled in Poland with my mom by train. I travelled to the Baltic countries (Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia) and Finland with my brother, by train, bus and ferry. I got to Melbourne by the round-about nature of the Singapore to Brisbane flight.

I travelled in September and early October. The weather was August-like: Summer instead of Autumn. The climate change is very noticable in northern Europe. September 2023 beat temperature records by a large margin. People, on a personal level, were generally happy about the weather: instead of cool and windy Autumn, a few more weeks of glorious Summer. Farmers - not necessarily, less rain, disrupted seasons. Warsaw was very dry and dusty. You can see the the dry grass, dust on the footpaths, cars, buildings, shoes. Warsaw may need to start installing sprinklers for city lawns and flowerbeds and should regularly (every day?) wash streets and pavements.

Doha is a hell on Earth for me, temperature wise. Qatar is a peninsula, surrounded by the hot waters of the Persian Gulf on three sides (water temperature is above 30C from June to October), and the Arabian Desert. It is hot and humid, even at night. The felt temperature is often above 50C. I turned around and went back to the air conditioned metro at some point because I realised that I may faint. Singapore, which is on the equator is hot too, but Doha was much worse - I was able to walk outdoors for hours in Singapore.

Singapore was very interesting. I would like to explore it more in the future - ideally when electric planes take off, or an Australia - Europe electric railway connection becomes a reality. There was a time, before WW1, when you could buy a train ticket in Tokyo and in two weeks you would be in Paris.

Vilnius, Riga, Tallin, Helsinki were great. As we travelled north, almost in straight line, the prices were getting higher, the countryside less populated, cities cleaner, footpaths better, and the people less stressed. Helsinki has an outstanding public transport infrastructure: metro, trains, trams, shared bikes. Everyone I had an interaction with in Helsinki spoke perfect English. I've seen the construction of Rail Baltica, in Poland, but also in the Riga city centre. It is much needed. There is no good train connection from Riga to Tallin (the only one has a four hour stopover in a small border town), and there is no train connection at all from Vilnius to Riga. Buses suck. Because of the design, scheduling and drivers. Out of the four trips with three different bus companies (FlixBus, Lux Express, EcoLines), only one driver did not risk our life trying to overtake other vehicles on narrow roads. Only one bus (Lux Express Lounge) had a 1+2 seating that was spacious enough to be comfortable. If you leave something on the bus, and you may, because the overhead shelf design makes it impossible to easily see what is there, don't count on the driver returning it to the Lost and Found (FlixBus).

Polish cities are a mixed bag. On one hand great public transport, increasingly good bike infrastructure, and fantastic pedestrian experience: plenty of zebra crossings, drivers stop at zebra crossings, very short wait times at crossings. On the other, there is too much graffiti, rubbish, and drunks.

This trip made me realise that long distance migration, like mine, from Europe to Australia, is a very bad thing for carbon emissions. It is not just the original migration of a young person, maybe with the closest family. It's all the subsequent trips to see family and friends, and them visiting back. The impact may last decades. I would not do it again. I moved out of Poland for better climate, health. Poland has a very dynamic weather. You need to be dressed for anything. It is easy to get sick. Also, the allergies were affecting us a lot. It was a tough place to live for me and my family. But, I would not move that far away again. I would try a little south: maybe Slovenia or Croatia. So, if you are considering moving to Australia, New Zealand, Canada, America, Europe, think about that. The distance to the rest of your family becomes more important with age. It's good to be close.