I had been driving for nearly 3 hours when my phone reminded me of the flight I had cancelled from Wellington to Hamilton. I mused at the fact that sometime in the next hour an Air New Zealand Q300 would fly unnoticed above me and deliver its passengers to my destination a full 2 hours before I hoped to arrive.
The sun had gone and darkness ensued, as cruise control limits my climb up to the Central Plateau. Then as I round a corner and head onto the Desert Road I see light. My increased altitude and wide-open spaces, allows me to catch the final stages of the setting sun, for the second time in a day.
I regret not having my real camera and wonder if it is even worth pulling over and taking a photo with my iPhone. Finally, the predisposition driven into me by taking photos everyday for a year, kicks in. I pull over (allowing a car that I had passed to get the better of me) and take this shot.
My drive home from Wellington on a Friday evening reminded me that:
I love driving. The 528 km drive home is still along way short of the 750km I used to drive everyday as a bank courier. I barely notice the 6 hours journey, but put me in a plane 3 hours and I go stir-crazy.
I love taking photos. And I miss the 365 project. I need to carry my real camera more often. This shot of the mountains would have been immeasurably better with my SLR.
I value time too much. At work I make a lot of decisions based on the value of my time. I literally, mentally value an hour at a dollar amount and plan travel based on that. Generally it is good for helping make decisions, but sometimes I need to get over it. Sometimes I value time the wrong way.
To conclude…
Sometimes I need to trade the value of my time for cruise control, wide-open spaces, photos with real cameras and second sun-sets.
Sometimes I need to choose the long journey … just because I can.