I am 41 and still have no driving license. But I can relate to cycling alone outside the cities. There is just something about just moving forward outside the cities without a clear goal.
It seems to me that people who started driving as teenagers have a fundamentally different relationship to the activity. They presumably went through a phase where the license was a manifest symbol of adult freedom and they had fun experimenting with the car. With that fundamental mindset, you can probably enjoy just driving around.
Whereas myself, I don’t find any pleasure in driving. It’s just a necessary chore to get somewhere out of reach by train. It requires a constant level of attention that I’m not used to, and I’m always too conscious of the potential of catastrophic consequences beyond my own control if anyone in traffic makes a mistake or happens to be feeling suicidal. There’s no joy at this age in wrangling these big machines.
i do notice the pull towards resting on ny existing skills as being less work than learning new skills (in software, in my 50s) but i can't be sure that hour for hour the rate is much lower. i do have less energy and more enjoyable leisure alternatives than 30 years ago.
I’ve been driving since I was 15 (almost 30) and have driven hundreds of thousands of miles at this point. I’ve also ridden motorcycles about 30k miles. Driving is what i do when i get upset or stressed and need to clear my head.
The worst part about it is the monetary cost. I moved to Europe and fuel is way more expensive here. I’m trying to get better at coping with long walks but sometimes i just need to drive!
biking will have times like that, and you can't read while biking, but there are always big periods of safety and silence while biking, and you can stop and stretch and take a pic and and sip your water so much more easily than from a car. and you can't avoid the touch of the breeze on your cheek or the smells of the tree sap and the meals being prepared and the garbage. So alive.
I really enjoy driving now. The best decision I've made is to NOT own a car, since I can very easily rent and it makes a lot more sense on every single dimension (finance and operations). I drove a lot of different cars on various trips and every time I rent a new car, I feel like I treated myself with a shiny new toy and everyone seems to enjoy the moment a bit more.
My experience can't compare with a daily commute, of course, but the occasions I have to drive, it is mostly towards a nice outcome, so it's easier to appreciate.
Actually... I'm even training to obtain a motorbike license this year \o/
I do want to point out that learning to drive, but not driving regularly, can be a little dangerous. Unfortunately, like with any skill, a lot of driving ability/safety comes from a ton of practice. By not owning a car and only driving less frequently you are getting a lot less practice and in turn will be a less safe driver when you do drive. And constantly changing cars with different rentals all the time will only compound the unfamiliarity. Simply put someone with 100,000 miles of driving experience will tend to be a better driver than someone with 10,000 miles of driving experience. It's one of the reasons why a teenager, despite their excellent reflexes, is not necessarily a good driver (but also impulse control and other things from being young).
If the trade-off is worth it to you, that's cool. But you are what used to be called a "Sunday driver." My grandmother was one who learned later in life and then only drove very occasionally. It's a great life skill but you need to be extra careful. Experience does not come with age, but with miles.