Things We Surprisingly Miss About Driving To Work

When the first lockdown hit and working from home was instated as a policy, most of us would have breathed a sigh of relief – no more commuting! Driving to work every day can become exhausting, with traffic, potholes, and parking issues. More than a year in, today, the daily chore of commuting to work by road has taken on a rose-tinted, nostalgia-infused hue.

Dreary as it may have seemed, our daily driving commute did have its moments. Here’s a look at five things that we’re missing:

Tuning In

Listening to the radio is an indispensable part of the routine of many daily drivers. If not the radio, you have your music playlist, audiobook, or podcast to enjoy. Your car becomes your media centre, especially if you drive a Ford. The SYNC® infotainment system allows you to easily tune in to your favourite station, music app, podcast player, or audiobook. Crucially, if you drive alone, the commute to work serves as valuable me-time. Most variants of Ford cars come with voice-enabled infotainment system to ensure you can play your favourite tunes on the go, without having the need to taking your eyes off the road or hands off the wheel.

Carpooling Capers

For those who carpool to work, the absence of a daily commute can leave something of a void in their social lives. Carpooling is a great way to spend some quality time with people. If your fellow carpoolers are colleagues, you get to know them on a personal level during these commutes. You get to discuss office dynamics in an informal ambience, away from the restrictive environment of the workplace. Carpool rides are great for ideas, discussions, debates, and for generally joking around. Telephonic or Zoom calls just can’t match up to the quality time spent in a car together.

The Sheer Joy Of Driving

Picture Courtesy: Amol Kondapure

While most commutes take drivers through slow-moving traffic, it can be cathartic to find occasional stretches of empty roads where you can floor the throttle and really let rip. We can all remember driving down an open stretch of road and feeling the frustration and exhaustion of a hard day at work melt away. Driving can serve as a stress-buster in the evenings and a wake-me-up in the mornings. Stuck at home for months on end, this joy of driving is something many of us might miss.

The Comfort Of Predictability

If there’s something that sets a commute apart from other drives, it’s the familiarity with the daily route. After having traversed it hundreds (perhaps thousands) of times, you tend to know it like the back of your hand. You know where the road becomes uneven, where a pothole is particularly jarring, which traffic lights are going to hold you up, the cafes and shops you pass on the way, the fuel pumps, the flyovers. This familiarity leaves you with a sense of comfort, an idea of your place in the world. Stuck at home, this familiarity might slowly fade away, leaving you longing for what you’re missing.

Kickstarting The Weekend

Lastly, there’s the reward of a week’s commute – enjoying the weekend! After five days of toiling away at work, your final commute of the week might involve picking up some friends and heading somewhere to cut loose. With the whole work-from-home situation, you don’t really get that; a week’s worth of online meetings and emails tends to end in a weekend’s worth of online hangouts and Netflix. The distinction between weekday and weekend is often blurred, making it difficult to reset your mind and tackle each new work week with renewed vitality.

It’s funny how something we used to complain about acquires the desirable patina of nostalgia once it’s gone. Driving to the office can feel tiring, but it certainly has an appeal. It’s a unique experience, one that is difficult to replace with another tradition. Sure, the traffic sucked. But if you were behind the wheel of a Ford, regular traffic updates from the SYNC®3 system would make it a lot more bearable. As the world opens up in the post-vaccination phase, you just might find yourself on the road again. Here’s to hope!