Opinion: Atlanta site visitors may gain advantage from a number of modes of journey

Imagine commuting within a postcard on a regular basis. Sounds nice, apart from the entire 2D side, proper?

My spouse, Momo, and I didn’t know we’d be doing simply that on our latest weeklong trip to Slovenia. The small central European nation — previously a part of Yugoslavia and flanked by Italy, Austria and Croatia — might have a fraction of the site visitors complexities metro Atlanta has, however we noticed a number of notable issues.

Our journey right here was a shock, due to journey company Journee, which asks vacationers to fill out a questionnaire after which matches them with an itinerary. Travelers get packing lists and clues beforehand however open envelopes on the airport to search out their connecting flight and last vacation spot. This Slovenia journey is our third with Journee, which despatched us final 12 months to the Azores and to Iceland in 2024.

We break up our time between the lovable, basic capital of Ljubljana and the picturesque vacationer city of Bled, on a beautiful lake of the identical identify.

Ljubljana is break up by a river, and metropolis planners mapped routes across the waterway’s banks. Walking and biking paths hug the river and loads of bridges cross it.

Many blocks inside what is named the outdated city are closed to autos, so pedestrians can simply meander out and in cafes, pubs and retailers.

We took a 6-mile bicycle tour on our first full day in Ljubljana. The terrain is pretty flat and nearly each road has bike lanes or large sidewalks. Many locals are on two wheels. Drivers and pedestrians are so used to cyclists that only a few bikers even put on helmets.

This could be very European and on par with my experiences in London, Paris and particularly Amsterdam. Momo and I don’t personal bicycles and we hardly ever experience them. When I instructed the information I by no means experience, he mentioned, “Of course, you are from America.”

Side observe: Having simply disembarked from a automotive in Ljubljana, we forgot to look each methods and nearly bought nailed by a bicycle owner. They simply shook their heads.

The paths, sidewalks and streets are additionally very nicely maintained. Of course, doing that is far simpler in a smaller and fewer populated nation (Slovenia’s 2.1 million inhabitants is a few third of metro Atlanta’s). But our threshold for highway harm each in Atlanta and within the U.S. appears to be far larger.

We loved a number of hikes to viewing factors off Lake Bled and the 3-mile shoreline path was as easy because the view was glowing.

Walking and biking are so engrained on this tradition that these paths should be in high form. And tourism is an effective purpose, too.

We additionally seen the obvious lack of litter, each within the metropolis and in much less dense areas. Recycling and cleansing up appear to be woven deeply into Slovenian life. Applied to site visitors, much less trash means fewer autos are swerving or having tires broken. It additionally means drains are much less prone to clog and flood the roads.

Ljubljana additionally funds a free, small electrical trolley that ferries folks round its principal districts. That is a pleasant contact for folks much less in a position to journey by foot or bike.

Sure, site visitors can get heavy within the excessive vacationer season or as folks from different elements of Europe cross to and from Croatia. But commuting as passengers in autos on quick drives, on lengthy walks and on a motorcycle tour was a stunning expertise for each of us.