Source: Canadian City Life
Recently, Mr. William Hui, whose English name is William, spent nine days traveling across the country by various means of transportation.
He made his own rules, then carefully charted his route, determined to get all the way to Tijuana without planes, Greyhound buses or Amtrak.
Just at the end of June, he did just that, crossing two borders by only taking public transport from Vancouver to Mexico.
According to CTV, Mr. Xu is the director of systems engineering for TransLink, but the trip had nothing to do with his relationship with TransLink, but his own interest in transportation. "One of my earliest memories is being in Chinatown with my grandmother. We have lunch and there is still some time," he said. "I asked her, 'Where is this bus going?' She didn't know... But ask me if I want to see where it goes. ”
They then drove to the terminus at West 41st Avenue and Carnarvon Street. "I thought, 'I can take the bus and go on an adventure.'" This is a very novel concept. So he spent nine days, nearly 3,000 kilometers, changing buses and trains to the southern tip of California and beyond.
On June 24, when Mr. Hsu told United States border officials that the reason he was entering the United States was to take public transportation to Tijuana, it confused border officers. "He asked me where I was going. I told him about Santiago. He said, 'How do you get there?' I told him I was going to take public transport. He looked confused. Seems surprised.
"He was kind, but a little confused. He had never heard this answer before. Mr. Hsu planned his entire trip, the details pleased the border officials, and he moved toward his goal, taking only buses and light rail in California's three largest cities.
The trip, which departed from Lougheed Station in Burnaby, took nine days to reach downtown Tijuana, with 50 transfers, a 2,945-kilometer journey and cost $200, the most expensive of which was the 175-kilometer journey from Coos Bay to Brookings, Oregon, which cost $20.
By comparison, $200 was almost equal to the cost of his flight home from San Diego. But it's not about finding the cheapest (or fastest) route, and it's not just about getting to your destination. What matters is this nine-day journey.
He met all kinds of people, listened to their stories, and noticed the huge difference between rural and urban transportation.
"One of the things I like to do is simply look out the window and at the scenery along the way," he says. Whether it's the shores of Oregon or the giant redwood forests of northern California. He claims to stay in a hotel every night and admits that this kind of travel is not for everyone. "Not everyone likes to ride public transport alone, even if it's only for half an hour," he said. "That's what I'm good at, and I really enjoy exploring new places and exploring places that I thought I would never be able to get there without a car." It was possible for him to cross Tijuana again, but Mr. Hsu said his Spain skills were limited and thought it would be wise to end his bus trip there.