Were you ever really excited about a road trip in the preparation phase, only to find the actual time on the road left a lot to be desired? Maybe your traveling companion(s) annoyed you. Maybe the food you ate left you feeling sick. Maybe the roadside attractions were boring and not worth the money. Maybe you couldn’t wait for the entire “adventure” to end.
As an adult, I always had high expectations for road trips. I wanted my travels with friends to be so much better than the boring trips full of bickering I was forced to go on with my family when I was a kid. (Dad often got lost, then tried to pass it off as taking the scenic route.) As an adult, I wanted my road trips to be full of singing along to the radio and stops for ice cream. Other than “Take It Easy” with Mr. Carolina, I don’t recall much singing during road trips as an adult.
I remember a journey to a women’s gathering when I was in my late 20s. I was riding with two other women, and only the owner of the car knew how to drive. I thought the other non-driver and I would take turns napping so someone would always be awake to keep the driver company, but after the first couple of high excitement hours on the road, the other non-driver passed out and was pretty much comatose for the rest of the trip. The only time I remember her awake was when we stopped at a diner for breakfast, and an old man in the parking lot insisted on telling us a joke about a “polecat.” We couldn’t decide if he were actually trying to be funny or if he were trying to offend us.
We got lost in a large city in the wee hours of the night, and a man approached the car while we were stopped at a red light. He didn’t seem to want to give us directions. The driver and I were terrified, but the other non-driver—of course—slept through it all.
The trip took hours and hours and hours longer than it should have, and once we were close to our destination, the driver nearly fell asleep at the wheel, then got caught in a speed trap to the tune of a $300 ticket. The old man cop then asked the driver if the pressed leaf in glass hanging from her rearview mirror were marijuana.
When we finally arrived on women’s land, I was exhausted and overly emotional. I cried when I had to cross a rain-swollen creek to get to the main gathering spot. I do not remember singing at any point on the trip.
Now that I live in a van, road trips aren’t the big deal they once were. I usually travel alone, and time on the road is a means to an end, the way I get from point A to point B. Sometimes I eat ice cream, and I always sing at the top of my lungs, at least for a little while.
In one of her books (which I must no longer own, since I couldn’t find the exact quote), SARK writes about managing expectations about parties, but the same could be said about road trips. SARK says we often go into parties (and road trips) feeling pressure to have a good time. If we don’t have a good time at a party (or on a road trip), we feel disappointed, maybe even as if we have failed somehow. SARK suggests that instead of pressuring ourselves to have a good time, at a party (or on a road trip), we simply expect to have a time. Expecting only to have a time removes the pressure we may feel if we think we are obligated to have fun. Expecting only to have a time allows us to feel whatever we are authentically feeling, whether that is happiness, irritation, joy, exhaustion, boredom, sadness, elation, or some other emotion.
So if you are traveling this vacation season—whether alone, with your children, with strangers, with your parents or your partner or your friends—I wish you a time. And I hope there is singing.
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I always love the road trip but hate the preparation stage. I hate the packing and unpacking that I have to do. It is almost enough to make me stay home instead. I leave most things in the van but the food, clothes, dog’s stuff has to be moved out. For some reason, I always feel I have to have a spic and span van before I go. Vacuum everything before I go. I am also finding that I don’t want to drive too far anymore. Last weekend I drove 3.5 hours on Thursday night and 2 hours on Friday morning to get to my destination. Too much driving. I think my next trip next weekend will be just an hours drive away to the mountains. I definitely sing to my travel tunes both now and as a kid. I loved traveling with my parents, those are some of the best memories of my childhood.
We could take a shopping bag of stuff to amuse us and my Mom would draw an artificial line down the back seat so my older brother and I had our own space. My younger brother always sat up front and we would still argue and fight. I think my parents were the ones the instilled my love of travel.
Cheers,
Our expectations are always higher than what really happens.
Road trips are just like Real Life: acres and acres of blooming wildflowers, flat tires, seeing the Rockies for the first time, 300 miles of exceptionally boring desert, looking down into the Grand Canyon, having gypsy kids steal your cat (got her back), meeting someone interesting and having a nice conversation, having the water pump go out, etc.
We just can’t have it the way we want, all the time.