Why does it take so much longer the first time?

[MrCoffee]

Have you ever noticed that it seems to take much longer to get somewhere you've never been the first time you go, and that the next trip to that same place seems so much quicker?


Or is it just me?

[Dr. Strange]

1. Did you mean to post this here?

I really think this should be in LBN.

[MrCoffee]

2. i'm gonna nominate you for moderator of GDP

you'd be great.

[Dr. Strange]

3. Damn straight I would.

For an extra fifty bucks, you slip me your Ignore list, and then sit back and watch the tombstones sprout!

[hisownpetard]

4. It just does.

I made a fresh pot of coffee.
Ask me anything.

[rug]

5. Damn straight. Took me almost 20 years.

[Ediacara]

6. I think it's because you're paying much more attention the first time

The second time you're starting to drive by rote, and can start to enjoy the radio, etc.

[quip]

7. Fascinating. My observations are exactly the opposite...

Oh, you were talking about traveling. :blush:

[CreekDog]

8. I thought it went a lot faster the first time

:yoiks:

[Fox Mulder]

9. It was over in like 30 seconds my first time.

Are we talking about the same thing?

[Bucky]

11. Shit, it took me years to learn to ride a bike.

[Bucky]

10. The lingering sweetness of anticipation, how it dwells in your eye and on your fingertips

Going to a new place is like falling off your bike. Every new intersection you wonder Here? here? So exquisite! You're more alert, your senses are bombarded with new stimuli ever second of the drive, every step of the walk. Contrast that, now, with driving to a familiar spot. Your mind knows to edit out the familiar scenery, it can read the shorthand your brain gives it. Less stimuli = less attention = less sense of time elapsing while you go from point A to point 2.

It doesn't just seem to take longer... if you're following directions carefully instead of going to a spot you want to get to and know the way, it actually will take longer. You go slower when you're not sure where you're at.

[billyskank]

12. It takes me longer the first time because I always fucking get lost.

Seriously, it's my ambition to go somewhere for the first time in my life and go straight there without fucking up. Just once.

But I have perceived the effect you noticed. Also, I have noticed that the journey home often seems to take less time than the outbound trip.