When on road trips, why does it always feel so much longer on the trip there than on the trip back?

Question

Inspired by quita

Answer 1

I'd say I don't know for sure, but it probably has to do with the fact that you are much more conscious, and therefore _aware_ of the first leg of the route, mainly because you are not sure what exactly is going to happen, how long it will take, what to anticipate. On your way back, assuming you are just backtracking, and not taking a new route, you are not as attentive to your surroundings, and essentially time goes faster because you don't have to be so focused on what road you should be on, or what direction you should take. "I've been through this before," you say to yourself, "so I can let your mind wander", and therefore time seems to pass faster.

Think of this: how fast does time go by? You can't really answer it because time _is_ the rate at which things change. Time is not one second, instead one second is a measure of time. If you try to describe what an hour or a minute feels like, you have no other reference other than the speed of change. So if there is little change happening, the rate of change slows down, and your memory of time seems much longer than the actual seconds, hours, or days that are passing. Alternately, if there is an incredible amount of change happening, time can seem to slow down vs. the actual seconds passing, because with so much change going on around you, your perception of how much time is passing is very quick versus the actual amount of seconds passing by.

Ironically, while these things are happening, your internal awareness of things will increase as there are more things changing around you (a car crash, for example). Your brain will experience more in a few seconds than it may be aware of in an entire day, but this 'dense' experience will not cause your perception of time to speed up, instead it will cause it to slow down. This is because time is like a math equation, and you can only change the amount in the variables, not the equation itself.

For example, if you take the amount of change going on around you, and then you add it all up, you will get an amount (this amount is subjective, based on your own personal perspective). Then take that number, and compare it to somethings relatively constant, which you can take for granted, such as your heart beat or your breathing, or the sun in the sky or the watch on your wrist. Take a measure of this type of time, and you get the 'objective' amount of time. When you take the time to compare your subjective amount with your objective amount, you may be surprised ("It's only been 5 minutes?).

The trick here is, your objective time is relatively constant, while your subjective time can change all the time. This fluxuation in subjective time can lead to differing amount of percieved rates of time, and for some reason we are all interested when things like this happen. It's a huge part of our lives, probably because we don't like to remind ourselves that there are things beyond our control, like time.

Answer 2

Because the road is now a familiar territory. Also, in my case, you've seen the family and now know how to make your life perfect (cause they all know )so you can scoot your butt back to your own turf and start living life again.

Answer 3

On the way there, you have something to look forward to. On the way back, you feel like the fun is over, and now you have to go back to whatever you are normally doing.. I hate that part too..

Answer 4

I don't know but when going to visit my mother in law the trip there is very, very long.

Answer 5

Anticipation going.

Reality returning.

Answer 6

The anticipation perhaps...