Few things pair as naturally as travel and music. The right soundtrack can turn a dull commute into a private cinema, make the hours of a long drive melt away, or become so bound up with a trip that hearing it years later brings the whole place back. Whether the journey is five minutes or five hours, music is one of the simplest ways to shape how it feels.
Music and the mood of a journey
A large part of what we are doing when we choose travel music is managing our own mood. Research by Suvi Saarikallio, published in Psychology of Music in 2011, describes how people use music as a tool for emotional self-regulation throughout adult life — to lift themselves, to calm down, or simply to stay company with a feeling. A journey is a perfect setting for this: a stretch of in-between time where we can set the emotional tone rather than leave it to chance.
On the road
Driving is where this has been studied most directly. A 2012 study by van der Zwaag and colleagues in Ergonomics found that music could be used to shift a driver’s mood, and a related study the same year by Ünal and colleagues reported that listening to music did not necessarily harm driving on monotonous routes, and could help drivers stay engaged and in a better frame of mind. The sensible reading is that familiar, comfortable music can make a long or repetitive drive more pleasant — while anything so loud or absorbing that it pulls attention from the road is best avoided.
The long haul
On trains and planes, or in the limbo of a waiting room, music plays a different role: it becomes a portable bubble. A pair of headphones can turn a crowded carriage into a personal space, ease the boredom of delays, and take the edge off the low-grade stress that travel often brings. Slower, calmer music suits the moments when you want to arrive settled rather than frazzled, while something brighter can carry you through the tedious middle stretch of a journey.
Soundtracks that become memories
There is a lovely side effect to all this. Because music and memory are so tightly linked, the songs we play on a trip often become part of how we remember it — an album tied forever to a particular coastline, a track that instantly recalls a night in an unfamiliar city. Choosing a small soundtrack for a journey is, in a quiet way, choosing how you will remember it later. Our piece on music and memory explores why that link is so strong.
Packing your travel playlist
It helps to travel with a few different moods ready to go. For the excited start of a trip or a road-trip singalong, music for energy and motivation fits the moment, while music to lift a low mood is handy when delays test your patience. When travel gets stressful, music for stress relief helps you arrive calmer. Pack a little of each, and the journey becomes something to enjoy in its own right, not just the gap between where you were and where you are going.
For journey-ready listening, our Enjoy Life section keeps the mood bright, while Spiritual Awakening turns a long trip into a window onto immersive natural scenes.
Sources
- Saarikallio S. Music as emotional self-regulation throughout adulthood. Psychology of Music, 2011. Read the study
- van der Zwaag MD, et al. Using music to change mood while driving. Ergonomics, 2012. Read the study
- Ünal AB, Steg L, Epstude K. The influence of music on mental effort and driving performance. Ergonomics, 2012. Read the study
Image credit: Envato Elements.
Created with the help of artificial intelligence.
