I am so through with public transportation

Katherine and Daddy enjoying a ride on the bus.

Don't get me wrong, I am very thankful that Oslo has a well organized, thorough and efficient public transportation system since we are without a car. We ride buses and subways daily and the tram and trains at least weekly. If we were in a city like our home town with a less complete and more difficult to navigate public transportation system, I would really be going crazy. I am however, sick of having to rely solely on public transportation.

I realize how much I love my car. Here is why.

1. I am able to strap Katherine into her carseat. Though she has been known to wiggle her arms out of the strap, she has yet to get herself out of her car seat. In Oslo, we wheel her stroller onto the bus, tram or subway and within seconds she is standing in her stroller, getting all arms and legs out of the straps. She then wants to sit in your lap or even worse, crawl all over the floor which was last cleaned before I was born!
2. If I am rushed and leave the house three minutes late, I might get lucky and make all the lights and get there on time or at the worst, I arrive at my destination three minutes late. In Oslo, if I leave our apartment three minutes late, it sets a chain of events in motion that can result in missing the first leg of a complicated transportation matrix that results in me being an entire 30 minutes late. This is especially bad on Sunday when most buses, including the one that takes us to church only run twice an hour.
3. Actual travel time. For me to get to church in Norway it takes 45 minutes. I walk, take a bus, walk to a different bus and wait, take another bus and walk to the building. A few times we have been able to ride with someone else to church and it took only 15 minutes. Somehow it has been rainy the last two Sundays which adds to the fun.
4. If it is raining, I am able to load Katherine and all baby accoutrements into the car in the comfort of my garage thus remaining dry. If I am lucky the rain stops before I reach my destination or I park in a covered parking garage. At worst, I have to walk, oh maybe 100 feet if I get a far parking space. In Oslo, I have to load Katherine and all of her accoutrements into the stroller. Then I try to fasten a rain cover that was designed for out small stroller onto our borrowed jogging stroller. Even when on as good as possible, it still allows Katherine's feet to get wet and that is if she does not play with it and lift it up over her head getting all of her wet! Then I walk 1/3 of a mile to the subway to get wherever I want to go. Arriving there, I will usually have to walk more in the rain. Most rainy days I just try to stay home. I can't wait until it gets cold and that brings more adventure.
5. Running errands on the way home from something is an advantage of a car. For example, if I go visit my friend Amy, I usually stop at the 75% off bookstore by her house on the way home. Or, when I go to my dad's office, I will stop at a lot of places since it is in a retail area. In Oslo, usually where I am headed is no where near the places I would want to run errands.
6. A car is a great storage area. In my trunk I have things that allow me to be prepared for many situations. I have a stroller, sling, picnic blanket, pool floaties, Katherine's nap mat, extra diapers, beach bag with both of our swimsuits, towels and sunscreen, toys, and who knows what else. It allows me to be spontaneous. Also, when running the above mentioned errands, I have a lot of space to put purchases. I am in and out of shops all day and I don't have to think about how large the packages are or how I will get them home. In Oslo, I have the basket of my stroller and whatever I can carry for storage. By the time I put Katherine's diapers, lunch, sippy cup, our coats and the rain cover, most of the basket is full. Think what a challenge going to the grocery store would be if you could not wheel the shopping cart right up to your SUV or the trunk of your car. Thus, I go to the grocery store almost every day! I hate that.
7. My car is private. I can talk on the phone, sing with the radio, pray or talk to Katherine with no one else paying attention to what I am doing. If Katherine is in a bad mood and crying, it bothers no one but me. On public transportation, well, it is public. If Katherine is in a mood (which public transportation puts her in) then I feel like I annoy a bus full of strangers.

I know that I am very lucky to have a car - heck our family has three cars and only two drivers. Most people in the world do not have a car and have to face challenges to get where they need to go. I am very lucky. Still, I am ready to have my car back.