If you are a part of the select group of people who live out of state and are driving cross-country this holiday season--I am so sorry. I am one of you, and I know that the days leading up to this treacherous journey are full of an anxious dread that no one else quite understands. No one else besides those of us who experience the same dread. Through our dread, we can stand united in experiencing these same seven things:
1. A good playlist is key
When making road trips this long, you go out and splurge on Spotify Premium because, in situations like this, that app is literal gold. The key to a good playlist is a mix of current music you love, new music you find on your Daily Mix or Discover Weekly, old music you haven't listened to in a while, throwbacks that you haven't listened to in a really long while, and suggestions from good friends. Make it last at least three-fourths of the way through your trip with that much variety, and it (hopefully) won't get old.
2. You beg everyone you know to call you sometime during the trip
Getting phone calls during long road trips is the best. Not only do you get to actually talk to someone that day other than the person at the gas station, but they make the time fly by as you get closer to your destination.
3. When nobody does call, you have nothing but time to think
Sometimes, but only very rarely, it is nice for people not to be calling you. With the music playing in the background and the cornfields flying by, you have a perfect environment to think about anything and everything. Sometimes you turn the music up even louder to avoid such times of thought, but other times it's sweet to reminisce on the memories from the past semester.
4. Really weird eating habits begin to develop
When it comes to long road trips, you either eat the whole way there or lose your appetite altogether. Either way, long road trips mess you up when it comes to eating.
5. Pretty soon you feel like you're almost doing yoga in the driver's seat
It is too easy to get uncomfortable in a car after sitting for so long, so you do what you can to keep your limbs from feeling like they're going to fall off. Eventually, your knee ends up by your face and you hope and pray that there aren't any sudden stops.
6. You have a fear of being stranded
For me, this fear of being stranded is what creates that anxious feeling days before the trip. There's this point in all long road trips in which it would be awful for anything to happen. You're too far from your starting point and too far from your destination for anyone to be able to rescue you in a reasonable amount of time.
7. The last bit of your trip is the longest
Once you reach past the point of being stranded, the excitement of reaching your destination makes those final moments of your trip drag. You feel so close but so far all at once, and begin to relax and feel thankful for another (homework-free) break at home.
