I love to travel. Whether by wings or wheels, any chance I have to get on a moving vehicle and go someplace new, I’m there. Actually, if it has legs and can carry me, I’m down.
But in the same way that my eyes are bigger than my stomach, my backpack is bigger than my budget. So when I’m not able to hop on a flight to Egypt or India or someplace hot, sunny and sandy in the Caribbean, I play tourist at home.
Since I live in NYC, that’s pretty easy, especially during the summer when there’s a different outdoor movie, concert or festival every single day.
But I am not a subway kind of girl. It’s not that I’m high maintenance. I’m just not into the smell of urine in close quarters when temperatures reach 100 degrees and you’re sitting in an enclosed metal box with a broken ac. And I’ve never been good at playing dodge ball, so when a mentally ill man begins showering fellow passengers with an open container of bleach, attempting to fight the crowd to rush into the next car isn’t on the top of my list of pleasant activities.
And since driving a car in NYC is akin to being thrust into a more advanced form of The Hunger Games without a weapon, and I’m much too lazy to ride a bicycle, I found the perfect mode of transportation. An e-bike.
My electric bike isn’t exactly like the small, 2 seat electric bikes delivery guys use to terrorize pedestrians by whizzing up one way streets or popping up on sidewalks unexpectedly, silently, giving senior citizens a heart attack. My scooter looks a bit more like a motorcycle, at least in my imagination.
Not only do I have transportation that is wonderful for the environment, extremely economical, especially now that I bought a lithium battery that I only need to charge for an hour or so once a week, but I met so many people every day since my bike is now covered in jewels, pearls, rhinestones and crystals. Even my helmet is blinged out.
I love riding my bike to Coney Island, Prospect Park, Fort Greene to Soul Summit parties in the park, and over the bridge to Manhattan. E-bikes are inexpensive (less than $1,000 for larger bikes), socially responsible, economical, and fun.
How do you get around? What’s the coolest mode of transportation you’ve ever seen? How do you live like a tourist in your area when you aren’t able to travel? Leave your comments below!
