A solo road trip to New Jersey
On audiobooks, reading, and how to fill travel time
Dear reader,
I drafted Part 1 of this post from my bedroom in Massachusetts, side-eyeing the clock since I have to drive to New Jersey and it’s already after 2 PM.
Part 1: Anticipating the drive
I have a love-hate relationship with long trips, as I recently described my torturous flights to and from San Diego. I skew a little more towards hate when I have to drive. What is there to do when you’re stuck behind the wheel of a car for 5+ hours? I’ve been trying to figure that out.
My top tips from recovering from travel.
Dear reader, I’ve been MIA for the last few weeks on account of - well - travel. I mentioned a few weeks ago that I was planning for several upcoming trips, and the time away from home and all of the logistics finally got the best of me! The month has been a whirlwind, and I capped it off with a work trip that pushed the limits of my flexibility, beginnin…
I am deep into Iron Flame, which I’m listening to on audiobook as I did its prequel, Fourth Wing. I mostly only listen to audiobooks while driving, and since Iron Flame is a significantly longer tome, I wasn’t in the car long enough finish the audiobook within one checkout window. I was lucky enough to be able to renew it for this drive to and from New Jersey.
It turns out I’m not a podcast person. I used to be; when I was in grad school, I’d listen to podcasts when I was working in the lab. But after a few seasons of Invisibilia and Serial, I didn’t fall in love with any podcasts enough to blindly listen to every episode. Five years later, this is still true. I have podcasts stored in my Spotify library, but I want to pick individual episodes to listen to, and quite frankly, that takes a lot of mental overhead that I haven’t had lately.
Audiobooks, on the other hand, can be 15 or 25 or more hours long. Iron Flame is over 28! This means I only have to make a decision once every 20 hours, instead of every hour, about what to listen to. They also don’t break up my attention every 4 minutes like music does. I love a good bop for a short drive to work or around town, but for long drives, music subconsciously reminds me quite how long I’ve been on the road. It’s like a timer in my head that I don’t want to be there.
I have about 11 hours of Iron Flame left - almost the exact amount of time I expect to be in the car to and from New Jersey. This wasn’t on purpose, as I’ve continued to listen to the book every time I get into the car even if it’s just for a short errand, but this has the possibility of working out quite perfectly! (And I have two other audiobooks, from Brandon Sanderson’s Secret Projects, on queue if I do finish Iron Flame.)
Part 2: The drive
I’ve made it to my parents’ house, where I write Part 2 from my childhood bedroom.
It’s nice to find a book so captivating that I can indeed listen to it for the entirety of a 5-hour drive. Because I listen to audiobooks at 1.25x, I also got through more than half of the remainder and only have 4 hours of regular-time audiobook left for my drive home. Goal accomplished, I guess - I’ll finish the book before it’s due back to the library for the second time, and finally get into the Sanderson books I acquired a year ago towards the tail end of my drive home later in the week.
I like to think I will listen to audiobooks on other modes of transportation, but I really only listen to them while driving. I’ve tried on flights and on the train, but there’s so many other distractions, whether that’s looking out the window or being distracted by other passengers or sleeping. I checked Iron Flame out before my trip to San Diego a few weeks ago and never put it on the entire trip, not while riding in the Uber or while waiting at the airport or on any of my flights. I never listen to more than a few minutes of an audiobook before zoning out and missing important plot points!
I find this fascinating as I enjoy books, and my last few choices1 have been especially captivating. But similar to how I only read physical books in certain settings (mostly while eating alone at a restaurant), audiobooks seem to fit one particular need as well.
In 2020, one of my pandemic hobbies was driving. I’d put an audiobook on and drive around eastern Massachusetts for hours. We have a lot of beautiful state and national parks within a 30 minute drive from my house, and this became my way of getting out of the house while staying isolated. It was the beginning of my love of audiobooks.
Now, they’re still strictly a car habit, and I’ve realized that a lot of my hobbies are strictly compartmentalized in this kind of way. But rather than try to change anything, this gives me something to look forward to. How else would I manage long road trips? I can’t imagine any other way to fill driving time!
P.S.: Did you know I am available to plan your next trip? I specialize in travel planning for busy young professionals. Learn more!
Before Iron Flame, I read The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin. I can’t wait to get back to that trilogy soon! Before that, it was Leigh Bardugo’s Ninth House trilogy.