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The Peregrine Journal

Stories from those who have made a foreign land their long-term home.

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From LA to Madrid: My Car-Free Love Affair with Public Transportation

Yes-I-Can
7 min readNov 26, 2024

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Okay, full confession: I’ve never driven. Ever. I know, I know — cue the gasps and raised eyebrows. You can already picture me trying to navigate the freeways of Los Angeles, right? Spoiler alert: I don’t, because I don’t have a car, and that’s how I’ve survived all these years. Los Angeles is a city built on the back of cars, and here I am, a metro-riding, Uber-obsessed anomaly. While my friends are cruising around in convertibles, swearing at the 405, I’m crammed into buses, waiting for metro lines that seem to take forever to go anywhere.

But then — then! — I moved to Madrid.

And let me tell you: it was like someone handed me the golden ticket to public transport heaven. I stepped off the plane, ready to tackle the city, and it was like the universe said, “Girl, you belong here.”

The Metro: A Speedy Lifeline in Madrid vs. LA’s Underwhelming System

In Madrid, the metro is everything. It’s not just a way to get around; it’s the city’s nervous system. Need to go to the airport? No problem. There’s a metro for that. Want to go from the bustling Puerta del Sol to the artsy wonderland that is…

The Peregrine Journal
The Peregrine Journal

Published in The Peregrine Journal

Stories from those who have made a foreign land their long-term home.

Yes-I-Can
Yes-I-Can

Written by Yes-I-Can

Mexican-American writer living in Madrid for 5 years, sharing stories of identity, culture, and the expat journey between two worlds.

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