Why time feels slower in new places
Something I keep noticing when we travel: when we arrive somewhere new, time suddenly feels slower.
The first two or three days are full.
Where do we shop?
Where's the good coffee?
How does public transport work?
Where can we work?
Where can we exercise?
Which street leads where?
Everything is new.
New people. New smells. New sounds. New routes. New impressions.
And then something interesting happens.
After a few days, or maybe a week, we know the supermarket. We know which café we like. We don't need Google Maps for every walk. We have our first routines.
And suddenly time flies again. A week no longer feels like a week.
Why is that?
Our brain doesn't measure time like a clock
Of course, objectively the same amount of time always passes. But our brain doesn't experience or remember time evenly.
Interestingly, you have to distinguish two things: how long something feels in the moment, and how long a stretch of time feels in hindsight. Those are not the same.
When a lot of new things happen, our context keeps changing. The brain has to take in new information, tell things apart, and store them as memories.
Looking back, that means more distinct experiences and so-called context shifts are available. A period can then feel longer and richer in retrospect. Research on time perception distinguishes, among other things, between immediate time perception and the retrospective judgement of time.
In a new place, exactly that happens constantly.
- The first trip to the supermarket is a memory.
- The first walk through the neighbourhood is a memory.
- The first restaurant.
- The first beach.
- The first workday.
- The first sunset.
After two weeks, the fifth shop at the same supermarket is barely an event of its own. It blends into the others.
So should you try to experience as much new as possible?
This is where it gets interesting for me. If new experiences make time feel more intense and longer in hindsight, shouldn't you try to experience something new all the time?
Maybe. But I don't think that's the whole answer.
Because the opposite has a lot of value too: routine.
If every morning I first have to figure out where I can work, where I'll eat, how I'll get to the gym, and what my day should even look like, that costs energy.
Routines take decisions off your plate. They create structure. They enable focus. And they're probably one reason you become more productive again after some time in a place.
That leads to an interesting contrast.
Novelty makes life feel longer and fuller. Routine makes life easier and more productive.
And you probably need both.
Maybe the answer isn't less routine, but more deliberate interruptions
I don't think we need to move to a new city every other day just so life feels longer.
Maybe it's more about having a stable everyday life and interrupting it regularly.
- Take a different running route.
- Work from another café.
- Try a new sport.
- Have dinner with someone you don't know well yet.
- Spend a weekend somewhere you've never been.
- Learn something that has nothing to do with your work.
- Or sometimes just deliberately do things differently.
You could put it like this:
Routine for productivity. Novelty for memory.
I quite like that as a thought.
Maybe how fast time passes isn't the main thing
Because I don't actually want every single day to feel as slow as possible. Ten minutes waiting for a delayed train can feel very long too. That's not the kind of "more life" I'm looking for.
So maybe the better question is:
How do I create a life that feels good in the moment and rich in memories when I look back?
For me, the answer might sit somewhere between two extremes. Not complete chaos and something new every day. But also not the same routine for 365 days.
Enough routine to work on things and build something. And enough novelty so that three months don't pass and you wonder: what actually happened?
We're still figuring out what that balance looks like for us.
But on longer trips we keep noticing it: arrive. Explore. Settle in. Build routine. And at some point, something new again.
Maybe that shift isn't a bad thing at all.