why is travelling (moving from one place to another) so tiring?
 

I'm not talking necessarily about flying. But taking a train/bus/car is all tiring. Why?
We're sitting, not standing. If we aren't driving we don't have to pay any attention to the road. It should technically be comfortable. We are moving, but many times cannot feel it (trains and planes are usually pretty smooth).
Is it somewhat psychological, physically moving from one place to another, that hasn't gotten easier over centuries?
Is it because there is some magical about going from one place to another (not psychological but real) that makes it exhausting?

The amount of walking while carrying a weight load is greater than many normally do. In addition, sometimes early rising is needed.

I'm intrigued by this post. I don't find any modes of traveling (except lengthy bicycling and walking) tiring except for (1) train or bus rides where I'm lurching a lot and have to hold on, (2) rides on a crowded subway where I have to keep moving around to accommodate the flow of passengers, and (3) long drives where I'm at the wheel and traffic is intense.

There is travel that I find stressful (the rush for unassigned seats, late trains, all taxi rides), but I don't think that's the same thing.

Seth

If you drive 8 hours a day, in rural areas without much traffic, are you tired at the end of the day? I am, even though I literally did nothing other than turn a wheel and push on a pedal.

If you could take a nap, which most people do on an 8 hour flight or train or bus ride, you wouldn't be tired. In order to nap and drive, stop every two hours and take an hour nap, and while your trip will now be 11 hours, you won't be tired. I've done that once or twice, stopping to take a nap several times on a 1000 mile drive, and it is less tiring.

Like the OP, I have often wondered the same thing. A five hour drive even as a passenger for most of it seems tiring, as does even the most comfortable train journey. I think it may simply be a reflection of the fact that these things are out of the normal routine.

To me, it's not tiring as in exertion, it it tired as in boredom. Cars and trains put me to sleep. So I'm not falling asleep because I'm exhausted but rocked to sleep.

This is my experience.

My brain doesn’t have to do anything. So it gets bored and then sort of shuts down.

I fall asleep on all those transport methods because it’s soothing motion, noises and lack of any cognitive work required to survive.

Same as symphony or MRI machine. Just fall asleep with nothing to don

I drove 10 hours last Friday, then 9 on Monday to return. I don't think I was particularly physically tired after either. Air travel does take a bit out of me - I think it's the environment in the plane. But I've taken Amtrak up and down the east coast without noticeable effects.

If you think driving is literally "nothing other than turn[ing] a wheel and push[ing] a pedal," I don't want to share the road with you.

For me, I only get tired when it disturbs my sleep patterns. Having to be at an airport at 6 AM is terrible. I'm pretty excited for my flight later this week that departs at 11 AM and arrives at 1:30 PM.

When I used to drive AKL-WLG, WLG-PMR, and various combos regularly, I found the later I started, the more tired I got.
5am departures would get my in Auckland around lunchtime and I'd be absolutely fine. Leaving later would feel 100x more draining.

I do find any air travel tiring; i think it's the fact you're in a stressful, time constrained environment with security, scanners, luggage etc to deal with

I'm not sure that humans were designed to hop around the globe as we do now just because we can. There's no way I could do it with the naps. Even relatively short trips.

Simply boredom for me. I can do 10 hours of hard physical activity each day and be fine. Throw me on an airplane and I’m tired. Not at all stressed, as I enjoy airports and airplanes, have every tool to make it easy, but out of boredom I get tired. Same happens at home if I do nothing productive.

Roadtrips involve peaks and valleys of tiredness and alertness. I always stop when I'm started to feel tired, get out of the car and walk for 5 minutes, and usually feel pretty good. I'm often weariest in the late afternoon and then most alert during the evening hours, although I get tired after about 2 hours of night driving.

Roadtrips often involve abnormal food/bev intake. Throwing caffeine and processed carbs into your body in unusual quantities and at weird times probably messes with you a bit. But what else are you going to do when your dietary choices are the Flying J and Travel America?