London
Quality of life for Londoners, just as for residents of many a megalopolis such as New York or Hong Kong, is ironically judged on how quick and easy it is to escape.
A getaway from London has never been more agonising. Its train terminuses, though central, are expensive and overcrowded at peak times. Roads are always congested and the countryside and open road are 50km out; up to a two-hour drive in heavy traffic. But nightmares truly start if you want a break abroad.
Notwithstanding the relatively smooth hop via Eurostar to Brussels, Lille or Paris, Londoners must fly.
It is 6.15am on Friday, before extra security measures following the car-bomb attacks, and the queue for the Wizz Air flight to Gdansk stretches past Starbucks and around the corner. There is just one woman processing 250 people. Well, there are two, but one has left her will to live on her pillow.
Check-in, even with e-tickets and less hand luggage, has taken an hour. Still, that leaves a queue for passport control, security scans, toilets, provisions and boarding.
Although this is Luton, just 50km north of London, perhaps less crowded and the easiest-to-reach airport from central London, a quick weekend break is still a misnomer. Times to reach Gdansk, just one hour and 40 minutes away by air, still takes seven to eight hours. That includes waking at an ungodly 5am and a GBP30 (HK$470) cab ride, to security clearance and check-in and then 10 minutes to the hotel.