I get what you are saying. But, yeah, stories that are authored and stories that emerge via a TTRPG are two very different beasts.
But, the result is the same. I get to do the first two or three chapters and no further, every time. Or, nearly every time. So, I know that any campaign that I start is a race against the clock. Because, again, sure, I'm having fun in the moment. Of course. I wouldn't do it if I wasn't. That's beside the point.
Ok, if authored stories don't float your boat, let's use a game analogy because RPG's very much are games.
Imagine you never actually finished a game. You only got to play one quarter of a basketball game. Every baseball game gets rained out in the third inning. Every board game you play, you set it up (which, let's be honest, can take a significant amount of time) play for two or three rounds and then it ends, usually half way through someone's turn.
If you know, because it's the experience you have, that every single game you play has a time limit of 1 hour, then you're not going to play Twilight Imperium. You're going to change to play games that can finish in one hour.
So, telling me that the "journey" should be enough, is just like telling me that playing one quarter of a basketball game should be enough. It's okay that we never finish a game. Playing is fun, so, it's great that you never actually finish a game.
No, it really isn't. It sucks.
Does that mean we skip over everything? No, of course not. And written medium like this often lacks considerable nuance. But, that does mean that I do want to skip over superfluous stuff. Shopping? Nope. Do that between sessions. Chatting in the bar? Nope. Don't care.
If it isn't forwarding towards the goal? I don't want to do it. Otherwise, there's point in having goals. What's the point of having a goal that can never be achieved? And the reason we can't achieve it is because the DM will insist on faffing about, wasting time with a pointless ravine that doesn't matter. Wasting time picking a boat that is going to take us to the location fo the adventure. Wasting time forcing the player to jump through hoops to satisfy the DM's sense of whatis plausible.
Bugger that. Pull the thumb out, step on the gas and get going.