Anyone Else: I Detest Driving and Have An Upcoming Road...

SC1 · Nov 17, 2022

trip.

10 hours each way, three day trip, days one & three are gonna be long in the car.

Used to love stuff like this as a younger man but the thrill is 100% gone. Highways are boring, rest stops are all the same, drivers seem to have become aggressive and distracted... and everything is expensive as shit once you leave your driveway (gas, food, lodging).

Anyone else not into driving any longer? Anyone else not into leaving home any longer?

My wife says I am boring and that we don't do anything out & about but I feel like I did enough interesting things earlier in life (I was on the road for years as a musician) that staying local is fun.

noelekal · Nov 17, 2022

I'm not there yet.

I love travel and love to drive. I could almost list driving as a favorite hobby. I even relish the challenge of heavy traffic as long as it's not at a standstill.

SC1 · Nov 17, 2022

noelekal
I'm not there yet.

I love travel and love to drive. I could almost list driving as a favorite hobby. I even relish the challenge of heavy traffic as long as it's not at a standstill.

Care to drive me 20 hours over the next few days... I envy your enthusiasm!

Aroxx · Nov 17, 2022

I'm with you. Shouldn't get me started. I literally can't even drive a mile from my house most days without witnessing some absurd negligent driving (I live in a very congested area). People can't even be bothered to stop for red lights (or go for green ones) or stay on their own side of the road. It's infuriating. Thinking of selling my motorcycle because I can't stand being on the road anymore and can't justify the risk. Unfortunate too because my riding has come a long way the past few years after going to a couple of track schools. May eventually get a track bike and only ride at the race track.

flw · Nov 17, 2022

I'm not there yet either, perhaps because the pandemic conditions of the past couple of years have prevented me from getting on the road for more than one or two long-distance trips. I've barely put a thousand miles on my car in the past year, and I enjoy driving. (I live where I work, and I walk to work most days.) That said, I know how nice it can be to stay home and enjoy some peace and quiet.

Evitzee · Nov 17, 2022

I still love to drive, it represents freedom. I do not want to be constrained by EV range issues, or be driven in an 'autonomous' car which really don't exist. I don't want to have to rely on somebody else or on sketchy technology. And I still enjoy getting out on my motorcycle, over 45 years on two wheels. I would never accept the idea of using only public transportation, unless you live in a crowded city it is a non-starter.

bananapeanut · Nov 17, 2022

I love traveling and there are still many places on my bucket list that I'd like to visit. However, if I have to drive more than 2 hours to reach my destination, I'll usually book a flight whenever possible or get on a train. Driving is fine for short distances. I agree with you that highways get boring quickly and I'd hate to have to drive all day. Good luck on your upcoming trip !

noelekal · Nov 17, 2022

I used to love flying, but changing societal folkways, cramped airplanes, and finally TSA have degraded what was once an elegant way to travel. We don't fly unless the destination is unreachable in a hard day's driving. It's just too much time, expense, and bother to fly short hops. By the time one gets through the airport grinder he can be far down the road.

Spoken as a confirmed curmudgeon.

Foo2rama · Nov 17, 2022

Depends what you drive….

Larry S · Nov 17, 2022

With retirement, and adding another fur kid to the family, we are finding ourselves on some long road trips in our Outback. I find that the key is not driving more than 5-6 hours. Very tolerable then. I spent a big chunk of my working life on airplanes. I’m happy to avoid them now if possible and I do enjoy the conversations I’m having with folks in flyover country.

dsio · Nov 17, 2022

I love short trips on backroads and mountains, I hate long freeway miles entirely. Its not fun for me speeding up and slowing down with trucks and drivers who don’t have or don’t know how to use cruise control, I don’t speed on the road at all and we have mobile speed cameras everywhere, yet I get constant assholes tailgating and raging out at me for doing the speed limit while driving a sports car which has led to accidents on their part very close to me.

I really wish we had high speed rail in Australia, some French TGV speed lines between Brisbane and Gold Coast and linking the east coast from Melbourne to Sydney to Brisbane would be so brilliant and easily doable, the benefits it would bring in terms of freight, commerce and energy independence for our oil poor yet every other energy type rich country would be amazing. I know @Trev is constantly pissed off at our lack of high speed rail too, we’re just the perfect country for it yet our government is investing in the 2032 Olympics instead for some stupid reason.

DaveK · Nov 17, 2022

The price of travelling is a bit sad. $5 for a muffin at a cafe, everything’s priced like it’s the Four Seasons. We always pack a cooler lunch now (more fun too, really) for day trips, a thermos of coffee or tea, everything to stay self sufficient. Oddly, people have begun driving really slowly in Vancouver the past year. I’m constantly coming up in people driving 10km/hr below the speed limit. It has a zombie apocalypse-like quality to it.

STANDY · Nov 18, 2022

Drive in Northern Australia…love it.
Drove 6-7 hours one way just to camp under the stars a few months ago.
Tow a boat 10 hours on a dirt road for a fishing trip 500km from civilisation.

Boat is a lot bigger nowadays due to a crocodile being bigger than the boat (another story for later)

Togri v. 2.0 · Nov 18, 2022

It really depends on where you live.

We don’t own a car. We live in Copenhagen with excellent public transportation and besides it’s a “bike-city”, so not really necessary. I still meet people who can’t understand how we can get by without a car but if we really need one someday, we borrow my mother’s car.

I don’t hate travel by car but it does nothing for me in terms of feelings. If going somewhere I would rather take the train. I am currently lobbying the family to take a train trip down to southern Germany next year.

SC1 · Nov 18, 2022

STANDY
Drive in Northern Australia…love it.
Drove 6-7 hours one way just to camp under the stars a few months ago.
Tow a boat 10 hours on a dirt road for a fishing trip 500km from civilisation.

Boat is a lot bigger nowadays due to a crocodile being bigger than the boat (another story for later)

That looks amazing... I'll be by next week!

gbesq · Nov 18, 2022

I enjoy driving on scenic routes and country roads, but not so much on highways. Flying certainly isn’t what it used to be and unless I’m traveling in first class, I can do without it. For me, the most relaxing mode of travel is via train. A train trip over the course of several days in a private compartment is a wonderful, relaxing experience. Time to read, watch a movie, meet and dine with new people, take a nap - all as the beautiful scenery rolls by. Here’s a video of the view from my compartment at dawn on the Coast Starlight, somewhere between Los Angeles and Seattle. Nothing like savoring a cup of coffee, enjoying the view, and knowing that you don’t have to do anything except enjoy the ride.

SC1 · Nov 18, 2022

gbesq
I enjoy driving on scenic routes and country roads, but not so much on highways. Flying certainly isn’t what it used to be and unless I’m traveling in first class, I can do without it. For me, the most relaxing mode of travel is via train. A train trip over the course of several days in a private compartment is a wonderful, relaxing experience. Time to read, watch a movie, meet and dine with new people, take a nap - all as the beautiful scenery rolls by. Here’s a video of the view from my compartment at dawn on the Coast Starlight, somewhere between Los Angeles and Seattle. Nothing like savoring a cup of coffee, enjoying the view, and knowing that you don’t have to do anything except enjoy the ride.

When we lived in Portland Oregon we took that train a few different times -- agreed 100%, very relaxing and enjoyable.

Spruce · Nov 18, 2022

STANDY
Drive in Northern Australia…love it.
Drove 6-7 hours one way just to camp under the stars a few months ago.
Tow a boat 10 hours on a dirt road for a fishing trip 500km from civilisation.

Boat is a lot bigger nowadays due to a crocodile being bigger than the boat (another story for later)

Little chance of you falling asleep on roads like that …… 😀

krogerfoot · Nov 18, 2022

I have a similar life story as Scott—touring musician, behind the wheel for lots of 12-hour drives. My parents lived 13 hours away across what I considered to be the most featureless part of the country outside Florida, but I never dreaded the drive. Now I drive a handful of times a year, but it’s always during a vacation so it bets the hell out of staring at a computer screen all day. The wife’s hometown is 13 hours from Bangkok across a remarkably Texas-like terrain. We’ve been prevented by the pandemic and ensuing financial hardship from making any of those drives, but we’re bringing my mom to spend Xmas in Pattaya this year. That’s hard any drive at all, but since we’re renting a seven-seat car for $500 for a week I’ll be looking for excuses to either load everyone up for a day trip or volunteering to pick up provisions to get away from everyone.

pdxleaf · Nov 18, 2022

Used to love a good road trip. Up and down from Portland to Seattle a lot, several trips to the coast. Driven across country maybe 8 times. Drove between Minnesota and Philly probably 20 times. Longest trip was from Anchorage to LA to Philly.

Driving 10 hours is tough, especially if you haven't done it in awhile. Kindof like moving from a cold place with snow to a warmer climate. Loved it when you were there but hard to think about going back.

Hopefully once you get started you'll loosen up and remember what you enjoyed about a road trip. Bluetooth helps. I had a car with no Bluetooth and brought a small mobile speaker to listen to podcasts (on space and watches, what else?) Sometimes set the map to avoid highways.

Hope you find some unexpected joy along the way, an unexpected encounter that rekindles that wanderlust.

And above all else, pictures (but not while driving.)

Edit: a memory from home and reminder of what's out there

Anyone Else: I Detest Driving and Have An Upcoming Road...

SC1

noelekal

SC1

Aroxx

flw

Evitzee

bananapeanut

noelekal

Foo2rama

Larry S

dsio

DaveK

STANDY

Togri v. 2.0

SC1

gbesq

SC1

Spruce

krogerfoot

pdxleaf

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