Big Bus Envy

Since becoming a bus driver back in December, I have become susceptible to varying degrees of Bus Envy. Basically it is a feeling of envy when I see bus drivers who are driving bigger buses than I ever get to drive. For example, since Grayhound buses are bigger than the buses I got to drive for the Town of Vail, I got a little twinge of bus envy when I saw Greyhound buses, but it was often neutralized by knowing that they spent most of their time just driving on the highway which is boring, and also that they had to deal with lots of crazy sorts of people. Sometimes I felt envy towards the ECO bus drivers because their buses were slightly longer than the Town of Vail buses. But nothing compares to the bus envy I've had here in Europe. Not only are there lots of big, long, beautiful buses, but also most of them have manual transmissions (extra envy), AND they get to drive them through the crazy traffic and narrow cobble-stoned streets of europe (yet more envy). I'm pretty sure that being a bus driver in Europe would be at least like 3.4 times more fun than in the USA. Every time I see one of those beautiful huge manual-transmission buses go by I imagine to myself how much fun it would be to drive.

In addition to bus-watching, I've also been doing plenty of car watching which has also been quite rewarding. Car-watching in Europe differs in three primary ways: 1) There are lots more diesel cars, 2) There are lots of small and European-brand cars which are unknown in the USA, 3) There are more expensive cars that I rarely see in the USA. In the past week and a half I have seen several different Ferarris, more Porsches, BMW's and Mercedes-Benzes than I can keep track of, an Audi R8, at least one Rolls-Royce Phantom, a Lamborghini, a few Bentlys, a few old Minis, lots of crappy old Soviet-era crap-mobiles, and several $100k VWs. Plus it is interesting just to see all the tiny econo-boxes and minivans and stuff that don't exist in the USA.

So whether it be buses or cars, it's been pretty good vehicle-watching so far. I think the only really special car that I have NOT seen yet is a Bugatti Veyron, but I'll be keeping my eyes peeled no doubt.

We just got to Berlin today after a quick spin through Leipzig and a few days in Dresden. Berlin is huge and I think I will really like it a lot! Aufwiedersehen!