Road Trip

Growing up in America, family vacations always equated into many hours being spent on the road in the family minivan. Visiting grandparents (12 hours), driving to New York (10 hours), and that one legendary time we drove from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean! Fortunately our family road trips were always truly enjoyable, however, spending countless hours in tight spaces with others can sometimes have perilous effects. 

Keys to a Successful Road Trip: 

1. Choose Your Company Wisely. Nothing worse than a few hours into a road trip then you realize that the person next to you is driving you crazy, and more than likely will continue to do so for the remainder of the trip. Don't invite a person that you wouldn't enjoy a 2 hour dinner with to do a 10 hour road trip. There is something about confined spaces that will either bring out the best or worse qualities in a person. Know your friends before they become your travel partners!



2. Stay Entertained. With one of my best friends and his cousin, we drove from San Diego to New York (2,800 miles/4,500km). Due to time constraints we decided to do the trip non-stop and figured that it would take about 48 hours. Three people, in a small Honda, for 48 hours, traversing the US of A turned out to be an amazing road trip! The first few hours were spent talking about everything and listening to all of our favorite songs. Eventually we discussed EVERY subject under the sun and that Green Day song which started out as our "Trip Theme Song" was now getting tiresome. How did we keep from going stir-crazy? Movies! We had a portable DVD player and agreed only to watch movies that the driver didn't want to see, this way he wasn't too distracted. Possibly not the best idea for all, but it made the trip that much more phenomenal.

3. Proper Planning. Just like with any trip, before leaving, plan out the essentials. Find out if along the route there is anything interesting to visit. This could help break up a long monotonous drive. If you plan on sharing the expenses, tally up the tolls and gas beforehand so all in the car know what they are expected to pay before your adventure starts. Being the driver doesn't mean that you control everything, however, Keep the Driver Happy!