Today I’m doing a simple journey going from my home Uppsala Sweden to Stuttgart Germany for a meeting in the Eu project NemoGrid.

No big deal, just book a flight, add a hotel and you’r done in less than 5 minutes with bonus programs and a nice hotel. The map connected sorting routines creates easy choices. Several sites makes it so easy to fly. But that’s a journey generating 324Kg Co2, so to go less fossil than that I choose to go by train for only 16Kg of  Co2.

04:20

Sustainable innovation is a somewhat unique company where we try to do the right thing and help in enabling  a sustainable future. Minimizing Co2 is one goal and our policy’s reflects that, flying should therefore be avoided. So when a compulsory EU meeting in Stuttgart I saw my chance to do a change.

So I start my quest to make the train. Google helps me with finding possible routes (not done by any train companies) and I have to separately find and pay for all parts of the journey, not that easy to create accounts in german, compared with all the flight services. I have put done at least 3h to nail down the alternatives and a suitable hotel.

All in all I’m now on a 17h train journey to Stuttgart to save 300+ Kg of Co2. My time vs saving future generations life, cheap price? Would you do the same?

05:11 passing  Arlanda airport

So taking the right decision is usually uphill. The smooth systems around flying is so much easier and less time consuming. This post would have ended here jumping off and doing the security check and boarding of a flight airport transportation etc.

But I’m continuing on the train reflecting. That the time spent is more productive and less stress full. Will it be worth it?

06:20 leaving Stockholm on time

Perfect worktime and a short nap. SJ delivers good internet coverage and an ecological healthy bistro. But 10 min late to malmö. Next stop will be crusial Copenhagen with change time of 15 min to my hamburg train. Please prove me wrong …

and we made it with 2 min excess time. Sustainable innovation office is now on the Hamburg train.

13:35 arriving to Rödby for 45 minutes ferry to Puttgarten on time. This is going like clockwork just finished of a few more work things.

16:36 Darn, connection to Frankfurt missed in Hamburg with just a few minutes. But extremely good service at the platform rebooked instantly for 17.25 arriving an hour later to Hamburg but it’s a direct train and no changes …

Update 21:04 at Frankfurt.

It’s going well and it has been really good quality on the trains with  access to power and internet. So apart from the ferry and extra hour at Hamburg I have been able to work most of the time.  Now it’s just 2h left before arrival at Stuttgart HBF.

23:00 arrival at destination Stuttgart HBF since I new I would be arriving very late I booked a hotel at the station building, good choice.

23:50 update: the local beer is really good. I walked around for a while and found a nice place.

Nice local place with good music nesenbach