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I used to make frequent 4.5 hour drives between Austin and S.E. Texas. The drive home always feels twice as long, not shorter. There's an excitement about the place I'm visiting and so the trip there feels quick. The drive home is after the fun has been had and now I just want to be home as quickly as possible. As a result that trip feels so much longer. My experience has always been the opposite than demonstrated in the article.

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I think there is another effect at play during a return trip, at least for me. I used to regularly tackle a 900 mile (1,800 mile roundtrip) haul between home and college and it felt longer with each trip.

The trip felt longer as my familiarity with the route increased. I reached a point where I knew exactly how far I still had to travel at any point and the close I got to my destination, the more frustrating it became. I'd feel like I was on the home stretch as I knew my surroundings intimately but I'd still have 1-2 hours left to go.

Yeah, driving into Austin at night after being on the road for hours was like this. We would see the lights of the city spread out across the horizon. It would feel so close, yet we still had an hour drive ahead of us.

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