We’re getting ready for a road trip this weekend! When we plan a trip like this I relish in the ability to prepare a couple of days before I leave. Although I never have a problem with impromptu travel, there’s something satisfying about gathering everything together and seeing it packed and ready to go.
When I’m a day or two out, I start checking the 10 day forecast- now we all know that weather predicting is not an exact science, but at least it gives me a general idea of what to get together. In this case, it looks like it’s going to be a nice few days, but I’ll throw in a couple of items (like a light rain jacket and a hoodie) just in case.
We plan to leave at the crack of dawn and we’ll be traveling approximately 300 miles in the car- two adults and two teens. We’re hoping the teens are sleepy enough to nap for a while and by leaving super early we’re hoping to avoid traffic. There are many schools of thought on this. Some people like to get up in the middle of the night, some people like to start in the evening and drive through the night, and some people like to leave mid-day. I’ve tried it all. In this case, we want to have a good day of exploring when we arrive, so we’re getting up early and driving fresh after a good night’s sleep.
The cool thing about road trips that you don’t get with air travel is the ability to have spontaneous experiences along the way. As we all know, when we book a flight, we drive to the airport and once we get in a plane, we arrive at our destination at approximately the appointed time (barring delays) and that’s it. Driving gives us more possibilities for sure. Of course some of those possibilities may not be good (i.e. delays, traffic, construction, etc…), but some of them may end up being wonderful. And that’s the thing of it- possibility- the chance that something wonderful may happen.
When it comes down to it, why do we travel? I guess if I were to ask ten people, I’d probably get ten different answers. So when I thought about this, and I mean really thought about it in preparation to even start this blog, I came up with this: There is going to be a point in time when the only traveling I will have the ability to do will be in my own head. Let’s face it, we’re all getting older, right? Our bodies can’t last forever- that’s a fact. Therefore, when that happens to me, I don’t want to have any regrets about the things I could have seen and experienced. There’s something so powerful about standing in the middle of Pompeii, the sun beating down on you, as you imagine it before the lava buried it in 79 AD or being inches away from a viking ship circa the year 820. For me, that feeling cannot be duplicated when I see a picture on TV, phone, or computer screen.
That doesn’t mean that I’m saying toss all your money into a vacation if you don’t have it to spend- that wouldn’t be sound advice. However, I will say that if the opportunity arises, and you have the means. Do it. I’ve done plenty of vacations on the cheap (even Europe) and with a little research, you can too. That’s another beauty of the road trip- they can be done pretty inexpensively (depending on the price of gas and how far you want to go).
I’m all for being fiscally sound and saving for a rainy day, but in the end (as Hamlet teaches us) all we get is six feet of dirt. So bring on the experiences! I’m excited for this road trip and its many possibilities. Curious about where I’m going? Stay tuned…
