Actuallythe well-travelled road effect（熟路效应） is a specific example of thefact that we tend to underestimate how long routine activitiestake. Or, put the other way around: time seems to fly when we’reengaged in automatic, routine tasks. Thismeans that people often find the last part of their holiday tendsto go quicker than the first part. That’s because as the holidaygoes on, we settle into a routine, so time seems to go quickertowards the end.

The samehappens at work, where people report routine activities as takingproportionately less time than those that require more deliberate,conscious attention. Familiarity,then, with routes travelled, holidays and work activities, tends tospeed up our perception of time.

    Maybethis all helps explain why the latter parts of our lives–which aremore likely to be filled with routine, predictable events–seem toskip by much quicker than our earlieryears.