You know that old, trite saying that sometimes the journey is worth more than the destination. Imagine, then, some endeavor with a challenging but meaningful and rewarding process, the end product of which is something you really want. Some examples would be: the multiple-year-long process of getting into a good college, the mastering of a sport, instrument, or art, or the attainment of a first-place prize for some long-term competition.

If you were given the choice to either skip the "journey" of your endeavor, with no memories of the experience nor benefits from it but with the guarantee of full benefits of the end result, or to have the experience of fighting your way through the endeavor with no guarantee of success, which would you choose?

Destination, pretty much.

8/x hours in an airplane/bus/something doesn't make an exciting journey.

Too hard! It depends on the journey. If I'm going to learn something and maybe have a bit of fun on the journey, I might pick it, but if it's a sucky journey with no destination, well...

(And long car and airplane rides suck)

In examples like the one you gave, the journey is the most important part to me. I'd hate to have lost all of that time and experience.

For things like walking home after a party, it's the destination

Journey is everything. There is no destination.

doing **** is hassle, having **** is awesome.

I put destination, in hopes that destination == money

Destination. No point going through hell for nothing.
Except of course of when you happen to stumble upon ultra hot babes who want to make love with you, then it becomes a side quest in which case it's fifty, fifty in that you either remember making love and remember how poor of a job you did in not providing the goods but hey you remember making love, or you provided the goods but can't remember a damn thing about the love making but you provided the goods, or of course you can be like me and just think about godzilla rampaging through mexico with a sombrero singing A LA CHA LA LA T00T T00T WRAAR boom boom BA Arigato Mr. Roboto.

I stopped reading about 1/3 of the way through that post, Caveman, and I don't think I missed anything... :p

I say journey.

I never try to live by one single ideal like this. I try to be as flexible as possible. Flexibility is a good lover's trait.

It's not choosing a single ideal to live with, it's an "impossible choice" in classic terms, but not really so impossible (that is, two sub-optimal choices or extremes and a choice of only one or the other and not something else or both)

You're asking this question the same way people ask if a glass is half empty or half full. The simple answer is that the journey is indeed important, but the destination determinds the journey.

Not to get too deep, but just my two cents.