{"id":12567,"date":"2024-12-14T17:46:24","date_gmt":"2024-12-14T15:46:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.main-vision.com\/richard\/blog\/?p=12567"},"modified":"2024-12-14T17:46:24","modified_gmt":"2024-12-14T15:46:24","slug":"the-long-drive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.main-vision.com\/richard\/blog\/the-long-drive\/","title":{"rendered":"The Long Drive"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading Time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>

It’s funny. It is a drive that I have done plenty of times. Tomorrow I will do the usual twelve hour drive from Switzerland to around Alicante, and I will do so with minimal stops.<\/p>\n

In essence the drive is easy. I take the motorway from Nyon all the way to Ondara, with a small segment on open roads around Grenoble. It’s long, but easy.<\/p>\n

There is a difficulty that I face. I always do this drive alone. Whilst it gives me the freedom to drive at my speed, stop when I want to and more, it also reminds me that I am still solitary. I always feel a little fragile before a trip, especially one like this.<\/p>\n

If I was going to Barcelona it would be an easy eight hour drive, but to go towards Ondara is a twelve hour drive. That’s twelve hours of podcasts, audio books and more. With a good audio book the drive is easy.<\/p>\n

Some people would stop along the way, and I have considered it. I don’t know where I would stop. If I stopped I could break the journey in two, but would that increase fatigue over two days?<\/p>\n

In reality this drive is a fun challenge. It’s liberating to drive for twelve hours, and to listen to an audio book from cover to cover. it’s fun to travel through three countries in a car like this. From the road to Grenoble in the dark to the sunrise near Valence to getting to see the Motorway after Marseille, to the wind and more as I head to the Spanish border, and then the congestion around Barcelona, before the quieter roads toward Valencia and beyond. The road is familiar, and it has memories.<\/p>\n

It would be nice to do this trip as a person in a relationship, rather than solo. I was reading The Midnight Library and this is one of those situations. When I travel my subconscious feels the presence of the book of regrets, so rather than excitement I feel regret until I start to drive, and then I feel the adrenaline of the open road. It’s the waiting for a trip that plays with us.<\/p>\n

Yesterday I spoke to someone who said doing this trip solo would be boring. That’s why podcasts and audio books are good.<\/p>\n

I considered taking the bike but that adds a layer of complexity. This time is different. I have my climbing stuff with me. If an occasion to climb comes up then I can take that opportunity to do something a little different.<\/p>\n

I think the problem is that I have too much time to think before a trip. If I had no time to think about the journey I’d be excited, and impatient. I should be excited and impatient. I will read most of Nexus, in theory. I finished Sapiens while eating lunch today.<\/p>\n

Tomorrow I drive a familiar road that is one thousand two hundred kilometres long. In the US such a distance is ordinary. In Europe it’s less ordinary.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reading Time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>It’s funny. It is a drive that I have done plenty of times. Tomorrow I will do the usual twelve hour drive from Switzerland to around Alicante, and I will do so with minimal stops. In essence the drive is easy. I take the motorway from Nyon all the way to Ondara, with a small […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12565,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":3,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"federated","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[914,934,930,20,920,901,9,205],"tags":[6745,6588,735,6744,977],"class_list":["post-12567","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-360-photos","category-climbing","category-niantic","category-observation","category-politics","category-rock-climbing","category-tech-related","category-youtube","tag-contemplation","tag-drive","tag-endurance","tag-long","tag-reading"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.main-vision.com\/richard\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12567","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.main-vision.com\/richard\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.main-vision.com\/richard\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.main-vision.com\/richard\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.main-vision.com\/richard\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12567"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.main-vision.com\/richard\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12567\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12568,"href":"https:\/\/www.main-vision.com\/richard\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12567\/revisions\/12568"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.main-vision.com\/richard\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12565"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.main-vision.com\/richard\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.main-vision.com\/richard\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.main-vision.com\/richard\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}