Commute by Carriage

In “what-ever-normal-world-existed-before-covid,” I commute approx. 22 miles everyday to my office in San Mateo each direction via car. Over the course of a week, that adds up to 220 miles a week in my car.

After watching the newest movie version of Emma (2020), I can’t help but think about transportation modes of the late 1700s, early 1800s. What struck me was the volume of traveling scenes. Arriving or departing in horse-drawn carriages: dinners, visits to a friend’s estate, to and from church, off to the ball. We never see the stables or prep to get these horses ready. But we know this time period was SLOW. Things took a long time. Emma’s director sped through 2 years of drama in 90 minutes and letters were delivered post-haste (but would have taken weeks in reality).

On my first trip to England last year, we explored a lot of fancy estates and carriage houses on a road trip. I’ve grown up on PBS Masterpiece Classic (all travel via horseback, carriage, train, ship or very early car) and until this trip, never quite realized how close these estates and cities were to each other in modern distance (via car). Everyday we did less than 3 hours of driving, everything was relatively close and it gave us lots of time to explore.

A four-hour drive to Tahoe is common place in the Bay Area. A seven-plus-hour drive between Palm Springs and San Francisco was a big part of my childhood. Trains are incredible in Europe, but the equivalent time driving Palm Springs to SF in the UK is London to Edinburgh. Realizing this gave me some much needed context for all these PBS / Jane Austen carriage scenes.

According to Google, the average horse drawn carriage will travel anywhere from 5 to 10 miles per hour. Road conditions and weather would affect speed and “gas stations” were “stables” to let the horses rest or swap out your horses for a new set for the speedy traveler. Average 8 hour day of travel might cover 30-40 miles. Talk about patience and delayed gratification.

My 22 mile commute, early 1800s-style, is basically a full day of traveling - and most likely I’d say for a few days or a week. It makes the countryside stories “not-so-quick trips to London where she stays with her aunt” make much more sense. It also makes me appreciate San Mateo for the warm weather and the mini-adventure to the country everyday.

I recommend watching the new Emma. The costumes, hair and scenery were especially exquisite.

5 mi & 30 mi radius