A key to understanding Perl is that the sigils ($, @, %, ...) tell you the type of the thing that an expression returns. $route[1..10] returns a scalar value. @route[1..10] returns a list.

The $route[1..10] case is particularly interesting because with strictures (you do always use warnings and strict, use strict; use warnings;, don't you?) you get a message like:

Use of uninitialized value $. in range (or flip) at ...
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See Flipin good, or a total flop? for why that is.