With spring break around the corner, you may be making plans or have already made plans. In fact, you may even be considering taking a road trip with some of your closest friends. A four-day drive out west with your buddies sounds like an amazing adventure. But before you cram yourselves into your dad’s old 2003 Sedan that is now your college car, think about the personalities of your friends. Everyone is a different type of road-tripper and it’s important to know who is who before you start. This will help when you are at the end of your trip and can’t think of anything else but the need to get away from these people. Here are the five most common road-trippers.
1. The Tourist
There’s always that one person who wants to stop. They plan to take every country road and stop at every little town. They say it’s for the experience and plan to make memories by taking pictures of every storefront that looks half antique. However, you know it’s because they have an insatiable curiosity. They say there’s only one more town that you must stop at because it’s where some obscure author you’ve never heard of grew up or some almost famous bakery started. You know, though, that the list of “small towns” is endless.
2. The Singer
While the tourist is busy convincing you to turn down the next dirt road, the singer is blowing out your eardrums with their never-ending melody. It starts out with them asking to DJ, which you happily oblige because driving and controlling the music simultaneously can be difficult. The ride continues with a few short hours of infrequent humming. Until suddenly they’re blasting the soundtrack to "Mulan" and shouting, “I’ll make a man out of you.” Or worse, they’re starting a rap battle with the other road-trippers while you grudgingly concentrate on driving instead of laying down the next rhymes.
3. The Commander
Next, we have the commander. This is the person who claims to be the leader. They come with a written plan and a bossy attitude. They never want to stop or go with the flow, which puts them in constant disagreement with the tourist. If it’s not their way, it’s the highway. It’s important to appease the commander or else you will have a full rebellion on your hands halfway through the trip. While appeasing them is important, you must also retain control or have everyone on the trip feel like they’re years old on a guided tour of SeaWorld.
4. The Complainer
While the commander can be a lot to deal with, the complainer is on a whole new level. The commander can be appeased. The complainer will never be appeased. The constant “Are we there yet?” will continue from destination to destination. It is an abyss of unhappiness from one point on the map to the other. Have no fear, though, because the complainer usually just needs something to draw their attention. In this case, it can be advantageous to have a singer along for the ride.
5. The Napper
Finally, we have the napper. The napper claims to be extremely excited for the trip. They come prepared with books to read, food to snack on and ideas for games to play while in the car. In spite of this, a few hours into the drive, they will be sound asleep. It’s not something they can really control, so don’t be too mad when you think you're having a conversation with someone just to discover that they’ve been sleeping through half of it.
This list is not all-inclusive and you may find that there are road-trippers who don’t fit any of these descriptions. Don’t let this dissuade you from going on a road trip. Road trips can be some of the best bonding experiences and include the most exciting adventures. Just remember—you’re probably going to hate your friends at the end of it, so why not just go for it?
