Road trips are an inherently terrible way to travel and are romanticized way too much. Pop culture has completely brainwashed people into thinking that spending 10+ hours trapped in a metal box staring at asphalt is the ultimate form of freedom. In reality, road trips are exhausting, inefficient, and ruin the actual vacation. Driving is an active chore, not a relaxing experience. You are constantly on edge dealing with highway traffic, erratic drivers, construction delays, and navigating unfamiliar roads. By the time you actually reach your destination, you’ve wasted an entire day of your limited time off, your lower back hurts, and you’re too drained to actually enjoy the evening. If you fly or take a high-speed train, you can read a book, watch a movie, sleep, or get work done, and arrive completely refreshed and ready to explore. Forcing yourself through a grueling marathon of highway driving just to say you did the "classic journey" is a massive waste of vacation time.