International Carfree Day

Hi all,

I saw on the news this morning that today is International Carfree Day. I hope that those of you who usually drive tried to make do without your car today.

The day was observed here in Rio. Avenida Rio Branco, one of the main thoroughfares downtown, was closed to traffic. Other than that, frankly I saw little effect around town. The truth is, if I hadn´t seen the news blurb while enjoying my morning pastel, I might not have known the difference.

The thing is, every day is a carfree day for me now. It is worth reflecting on how different my life is from two years ago, before my move to Brazil.

In the US, like virtually everyone (outside of perhaps New York City), I had a car. Now I use the bus and the metro.

But the change goes deeper than that. Sure, I no longer have a car, and hence no car payment. I no longer pay for insurance, gas, oil changes, routine maintenance, parking – you get the idea.

I also no longer have a house. I share an apartment with a couple other guys. No house payment, insurance payments, homeowner´s association fees and politics, etc.

Any way you look at it, my life is simpler than it was. I used to have a keychain with several keys on it, and several more keys (What does this one go to?) in the drawer of my nightstand.

Now I have one key: the one to the apartment.

It´s nice that my carbon footprint is smaller these days, sure.

It´s even better that my life is so much simpler.

Yours could be, too.

It can happen. If things are not as you´d like them to be, and you don´t see them improving anytime soon, maybe a change of local is the answer.

Going ex-pat isn´t for everyone.

But it sure was right for me.

Abraços.

John

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