Nostalgia does not select for comfort. What survives is whatever you did repeatedly with the same people, and the discomfort is usually part of what made it specific. Bad seats, long journeys, somebody’s speaker, the cold on the way back. None of it was pleasant and all of it is what you will describe later in detail.

Since the misery is going to be the memory anyway, you might as well be in it. Talk to the person next to you instead of putting headphones on for the whole trip, and play the stupid game. The ride is not the boring part before the event.