To Drive or to Fly

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In a week or less I will go on a long drive from Switzerland to Spain, stopping at least once, to refuel. I love the drive. I love that it gives me time to think, and to listen to audio books for hours in a row, rather than for a few minutes while cooking or an hour or two while cooking.

This time I considered flying but the issue with flying is that I lose a lot of freedom, and the cost, in terms of time is half a day, instead of an entire day.The point is that flying takes the entire day anyway so I don’t really gain, by flying rather than driving.

For fun I asked perplexity.ai whether flying or driving had a higher carbon footprint and the first answer is that driving had a higher carbon footprint. I then asked whether if by using my car, and driving at 120 km/h through France this would affect the carbon footprint and the answer is that my carbon footprint would be less if I drive rather than fly. The difference is just 20kg of co2 so it’s not huge. It also added that "if you account for aviation’s non-CO2 effects (e.g., contrails and high-altitude emissions), which can multiply the climate impact by approximately 1.9 times, the flight option’s total climate impact would be significantly higher." In other words it’s better to drive.

In theory the train is another option but according to various searches, and asking AI it could take over 24 hours, and if that is the case then driving is definitely less tiring.

And Finally

Although flying would be easier, and twice as fast as driving I like the process of driving rather than flying. I like the time that driving gives me to think, and transition from being in one place to being in another. As I said when I flew between London and Geneva, it felt like a commute rather than an adventure. Driving gives that sense of a trip. I like that time to think, and listen to audio books and podcasts. If I take the bike then the car definitely makes sense.