Some of the best memories I have from playing sports come from the road trips. You don't really get to know your teammates until a 5+ hour bus ride and late night "Never Have I Ever" in the hotel room.
Traveling with your team is definitely a great bonding experience that you will never forget. Friendships created through a shared love of the game are one of the greatest blessings of playing a sport, but it's not on the field that you make these friends. Straight from a collegiate athlete, here are 5 questions you might hear on a road trip.
1. What time is it?
My most recent road trip with my team was my first experience with the confusion of time zones. Our hotel honored the same time zone that we had come from, but the rest of the area switched. Needless to say, "What time actually is it?" was a popular question. Even within the same time zone, there are so many ways to lose track of time on a road trip. Team road trips consist of a mixed-up schedule of napping, eating, and bathroom stops. Time is relative and the longer you're on the road, the less it seems to matter.
2. Where are we?
I don't know where we are and I don't really care because I'm not the driver. I can't count the times my parents have asked me where we were and I couldn't even name the state. Just across the line, everything looks the same. When you travel through multiple places to get to your destination, chances are you're not paying to all the road signs and everything is a blur. There is an exception to this rule. When you get to an exciting place you've never been, everyone seems to wake up and start taking pictures. Driving through Atlanta, Georgia at night is an experience you don't want to sleep through.
3. Who took off their shoes?
As much as I would like to pretend that girls don't stink, a road trip with your teammates will make it abundantly clear that this is not true. The pregame smell of every bath and body works product ever owned by anyone existing together on a crowded bus (potentially just as bad as what follows), is quickly converted to dirt and sweat on the ride home. After a doubleheader in hot southern Georgia, the bus smells less than fresh. An angry, "Who took their shoes off?" or maybe an, "Okay who was it? Don't lie!" are relevant questions. Just kidding, Girl's don't fart.
4. When are we stopping next?
If your team is like mine, we cannot drive more than an hour without having to stop. As often as this is, it seems it still is not enough to please 22 women. This time can be cut down if there is a bathroom on a charter, but let's be honest, we bully everyone out of using it (for good reason). This is quite possibly the most common question asked on a team road trip. It's the college athlete equivalent of a child's "Are we there yet?"
5. Is she sleeping?
When you are on a bus for several hours, you find creative ways to fall asleep. When you hear this question, you're going to want to get that snap chat camera ready. Someone is about to get a sharpie mustache (or worse). No matter how old you get this never stops being funny, unless of course, you're the one asleep. The only difference is the older you get, the sharpie face tattoos start to contain more adult content. You better hope that washes off.
These are the days we will remember with the teammates we won't forget and we wouldn't trade it for anything.
