Category: Travel

A few months ago our car broke down as we were leaving a car dealership after a test drive. The car had served us well for over a year, but it was old enough that it needed costly repairs all the time — and this was just one repair too many for us. We had been looking into a replacement for a while (several test drives and spreadsheets were involved in this process) but were suddenly prompted to make a decision within a matter of days.

Over that weekend, we concluded that only one car was right for us: an all-electric Nissan Leaf. Even though we have no way to charge the car at home, London is well-catered for public charging stations, which were mostly free at the time (and are still pretty cheap today). And the 155-mile range is enough for us, as we drive mostly within London, with the odd trip to the airport.

With the help of Carwow, we got an amazing deal on a lease, and we embarked in our electric adventure. Over half a year later, people ask me whether we’re still happy with the car, and the answer is a resounding ‘yes’.

There’s been some moments of stress, like when the in-built GPS system took me to the middle of rural England instead of the motorway service station that I needed to charge (we only use Google Maps now), or when it was a choice between having the heating on or freezing but managing all the way to the next charging station. But then there’s those times when we’re sitting in traffic in central London, having paid zero congestion charge, and knowing we’re not wasting a ton of petrol.

I don’t think we’ll get a petrol-run car any time soon, or ever again. The lease will be up in a couple of years, so we just have to wait a see, but from what I hear in the industry news, the options should be even better by then, which is very exciting.

I think I’ve mentioned this before: I find it interesting that coming back to London after a trip feels so much like coming home.

It’s true that my house and my work are in London, but I have only lived here for 8 years. I was born in Russia; I lived in Panama and grew up in the north of Portugal; I lived in the south of Portugal for 8 years; I lived in Belfast for 18 months.

All this moving makes it hard to answer the question of where I’m from. I’m not Russian; if I say I’m from Portugal that leaves out my Panamanian side — and I don’t live there anyway —; but I’m not from London. Or am I?

I’m writing this as I sit on a plane from Bucharest, where I was working for the past week. Knowing that soon I will be landing in London fills me with a sense of joy that I don’t remember feeling of any other place. Or maybe I’ve just forgotten it.

I never thought I’d have a car in London. The public transport network is good enough that you can get pretty much anywhere you need to, and the expenses that come with having a car (maintenance, insurance, parking) don’t appeal to me. I didn’t even want a car when Rafael was born: he came home from hospital in his buggy, on the bus.

But there were some annoyances: we missed a GP appointment once because we were so late getting ready to leave the house, trips to IKEA took forever with getting there by public transport and then either having to pay for a taxi to get us back home or carrying all our shop on the bus, and visits to the hospital always meant paying and waiting for taxis. No fun.

It all changed last Christmas: a friend lent us his car while he was travelling over the holidays. I realised how much you can do at the weekend when you’re not taking buses everywhere. We didn’t have to choose just one thing to do: we could go out for lunch, do the grocery shop and pick up a Christmas tree. All on the same day! What a novel concept that was to me.

Then out friend didn’t want his car back (thank you!), so now we do own a car. And we’re quite pleased about it.