12 days to go...

A week on Monday I will be setting off for Copenhagen and already I know I will be failing my environmentalist colleagues who are likely to be all setting off several days earlier than me to make an intrepid trip overland. In fact, I love to travel by train and ferry and I wish I could do that too. However, when I came to look at transport options last week (yes late I know but some times it's not possible to be super organised) the only financially feasible option was to fly. Yes, madness!! The train option which looks great, going via Brussels and Cologne, yet to buy a ticket at this stage would cost £515. The ferry from Harwich also looks good, takes a little longer but what a fantastic journey to climate change summit over the sea...but its not to be. The only cabins available are the deluxe ones with a sea view which would weigh in at around £450 for the round trip. The last land option open to me is the bus, for which tickets around £180. This is the only financially feasible option, but I just didn't think I could do it, 20 hours cramped into the bus then going straight into the conference then 20 cramped hours back again. So, I have bought a flight ticket. But the point is, this is NOT what I wanted to do. In the end I have made a compromise that I know many people wouldn't have, but how can it be that the land options are so much more expensive or unbearable? Promoting the land travel to Copenhagen is all very well, but is it only for the rich? How can European train travel be more affordable? These are all questions I am mulling over as I prepare to attend my first UNFCCC summit, and one for which I do not have high hopes.... you might ask why am I going then? (and wasting those carbon emissions). It's for my PhD research which I do feel justifies in some way the compromises I am making. We all play different roles, and whilst sometimes I have the identity of an environmental activist, this time I am trying to contribute to orginal knowledge and understanding about India and climate change...