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> but I'd still rather be behind the wheel

Maybe if it's a trip I do once in a while. But going from Málaga to Madrid and back once a week, in a car, driving? Or Barcelona <> Madrid once a week? No, hard pass, I'd rather be driven by someone else, in a comfy carriage, where I can comfortably sleep or do other things in the meantime.

Me and thousands of others agree, otherwise we wouldn't have one of the most expansive train networks in the world. Spain might be larger than people think, driving to everywhere in the country while fun, isn't feasible for repeated trips, the distances are just too large.

With that said, every once in a while a road trip with a car is really nice, maybe every 1-2 years, and driving across Europe stopping when you see something interesting or driving towards interesting things you see in the distance. Hard to get that same "explorer" feeling with other modes of transportation :)

[mlrtime]

True, I don't drive or take public transportation for a commute so I wasn't thinking of that scenario. I wasn't thinking of a scenario where I HAD to do it frequently.

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Afaik, that's how lots (most?) of the train network is used here, cheap commuting to/from work on the weekdays, and to/from birthplace/family-town/city/closest metropolitan area on the weekends/holidays. Probably true for most places with extensive train networks, come to think of it.