When I lived in Vilnius I had to use public transportation every day for at least an hour one way. I also had to take longer walks through the city to reach my destinations (including beautiful old towns with castles, churches, parks, other buildings, people). Through sunshine, rain, snow, a lot of snow and cold, a lot of cold.

My iPod was my best friend. The 16G of music was barely enough to support my trips from home to somewhere and from somewhere back home.

Some people say that travelling is tiring and time consuming; some studies show that working in the train is never happening, even if people say that they are working. Many of us just sit in the train and dream about our beds or other things we could do somewhere else. A lot of travellers hibernate. And yes, then they waste their time. But it is necessary, unfortunately.

Me on the other hand, with my iPod, I have always had a weird sense of being awaken in the train, trolleybus or bus. I used to watch people, see their lives and experiences in my imagination. I saw some fairy tales when the snow fell down before Christmas. I saw some magical creatures flying when the asphalt was shining after a rainy day, at night, when the temperature dropped below zero. I saw so many things and so many stories! Hmm… so many stories worth being written down or noted down in any other way. And then I used to do that. Return home and write the stories down, in poems, essays, paintings, drawings.

So no, travelling was never a waste of time for me and I am always happy to sit in the train and watch the people and Dutch landscape trying to catch up with me.