Summer's coming up, and you know what that means? The annual family road trip to [insert traditional place here], whether that be the lake house, Disneyworld or Grandma’s! Whether it's four hours or 20 hours in the car, you know it'll be full of excitement, adventure and bathroom breaks. I've become quite the traveler this past year, and have become quite adjusted to driving alone and enjoying the time to myself. Now as graduations, weddings, packing up and driving back home, and family vacations approach, I'll be taking my fair share of driving turns to get where we’re going. Of course, there are some differences in traveling alone and with the family, and let’s be honest, I’m sure some of these relate to road trips with your friends, as well. While both come with pros and cons, I'm about 93 percent sure I’ll still enjoy driving alone once this is all said and done.
1. Leaving.
Alone: Wake up, make some coffee, get ready to go, load the car and you're out of the house and on the road when you want.
With family: Someone overslept, the other won't get out of the bathroom and you stopped three times before even making it out of the driveway because someone forgot to grab their blanket, headphones, book, etc. This also implies that the trunk is a strategic Tetris game of luggage.
2. The radio and AUX cord.
Alone: You get to have your own personal concert in the car! Blasting your choice of music or listening to podcasts if you want. The music will always be good because you'll always be choosing it.
With family: The music is too loud. Someone can’t hear their movie. The kid in the back you thought was asleep actually despises this song and demands you stop singing. This, of course, means the family sing-along you hoped for is out of the question.
3. Bathroom stops.
Alone: Your bladder, your call. You can probably hold it until the next stop for gas. If not, the sign just read “Next rest stop: 30 miles.”
With family: Doesn’t matter if you stopped 30 minutes ago, your sister HAS to go potty and CANNOT hold it or she WILL die. May as well look at that same sign as your indicator of how soon it will be until you stop yet again for the fifth bathroom break in four hours.
4. Seating.
Alone: I am the driver. I will sit in the driver's seat, I suppose.
With family: There’s a good chance the “I’m getting car sick” card was played several times in order to upgrade from the backseat to captain's’ quarters, and someone burst into tears simply because the youngest got to sit in the window seat for the past three hours. Not fair, right?
5. Snacks and food.
Alone: You have your chips and some sunflower seeds to munch on. You might stop at a gas station or a drive-thru to grab a meal.
With family: Of course, the oldest ate the last cookie and I’m sure they’re not sharing their chips because they do, in fact, want you to starve, and why would we make it easy on ourselves by just going to one drive-thru when clearly we all have different places were in the mood for?
6. Chargers.
Alone: Plug phone in. That’s the end of it.
With family: The kid with 42 percent left clearly needs the charger more than the phone that’s being used as the GPS. Makes sense. Of course, the portable DVD player has to be plugged in at all times, too.
7. Estimated time of arrival.
Alone: Oh, the GPS says I'll get there at 4:52 p.m. Nice.
With family: Are we there yet? Are we there yet? How much longer? Are we close? Are we there yet? How many more minutes?
8. Stops and breaks.
Alone: Oh, three hours left? I can make it just fine.
With family: We NEED to stretch our legs! Of course, we should take a break when we only have an hour and a half left.
9. Gas stations.
Alone: Quick fill up, used the restroom, picked up a snack to hold me over and was out of there in less than 10 minutes.
With family: It takes 30 minutes to use the one bathroom and pick out “one small” snack, which takes the extra effort of someone moving the car from the gas pump to a parking spot because we take so long.
10. Getting to our destination.
Alone: Parks car, grabs the minimal trash you have and brings luggage in.
With Family: Everyone piles out of the messy car with their phones and all walk in different directions of each other.
May you all have safe travels, whether you're alone or have the presence of your lovely family.
