Flights are overrated. Sure they get you to where you are going but do they really put you where you need to be? I've been on over a dozen flights and the only things I've learned on them are airports suck, if you are talking to the hot girl a row behind you for your whole five hour flight, your neck will hurt pretty badly the next day, and that while crossing the Pacific there is enough time to get drunk on free booze, pass out and get a hangover all on the same flight. Now, these are all very valuable pieces of information and I arrived at my destinations way quicker by flying, but I still think there are many reasons why you should trade in your plane tickets for a road map and some car keys.
- Serendipity
Yes, road trips need some planning, but the key word is "some." You need to have some set times and destinations to you make sure you get to see the reason you went on your road trip in the first place, but you want to make sure they are extremely reachable deadlines, so you have as much free time as possible to explore along the way. On my week long Australian road trip, we had three days to drive roughly 7 hours. In those three days, our two camper vans got separated about a hundred times, we swam in random rivers, beaches and streams, went to clubs, lost Chad a few times, got pulled over, had a three hour conversation about "what if the Harry Potter world did actually exist", lost Chad a few more times, and ran out of gas and made camp at a closed petrol station; all without having a care in the world. We finished our 7 hours of driving when we were supposed to, then had another 5 days to finish about twenty more total hours of driving. I wouldn't trade any experiences on that road trip for a million dollars and sure as hell wouldn't trade any of those first three days for the hour and five minute flight.
Also, don't worry about changing your set plans or arriving late, sometimes exploring is more important. There is a hostel manager in the middle of New Zealand who probably still hates us because we checked in a few hours late to our hostel because we found a glacier. The old guy gave us a stern talking to for getting there at 10pm instead of by 8pm. But we saw a glacier. I did not have "drink water from a glacier" on my bucket list until earlier that day when I found out it was possible, but you can bet I was able to cross it off before we got to that hostel late that night. If we were worried about making our reservation, we would have never saw that glacier and I would have never drank the glacier water. I personally think getting yelled at by an old man who I will never see ever again is a small price to pay, since I was able to see something so majestic. If you are somehow reading this, old New Zealand hostel manager guy: Again, we are sorry we were late.
- Closeness
When you are taking a flight with a group of friends, yeah you are flying together but you still see yourself as an individual. You buy your own tickets, you sit in your own seat, which is sometimes on the opposite side of the plane from any of your friends, you are listening to your music with your own headphones, not really talking to anybody. So you are all still alone, you just happen to be alone in a group. On a road trip you are all one unit, everyone is sitting together, everyone is listening to the same music, everyone is rotating driving, everyone is paying gas money. You feel like you are a part of something on a long road trip, and when you feel like you are a part of something, it makes bonding even easier.
On my New Zealand road trip of the whole South Island, we took the word "closeness" to a whole new meaning. We had one mini van and 8 people--yes, you read that right. I am 6'2" and wide so being in a car for 8-10 hours a day with seven other fully grown people, it seemed like a recipe for disaster. But we all had the right attitudes and were too busy exploring to get too annoyed with anything or anyone. If you go with the right 8 people, driving 8-10 hours everyday for a week in a cramped mini van can be one of the best weeks of your life. The bonds you create exploring the world are unbreakable and every person I went on a road trip with while studying abroad holds a special place in my heart.
- Getting Lost
When you don't land at your destination on time at an airport, you get really angry and you create a story where you make a minor inconvenience like sitting at an airport for a few more hours sound like the worst thing that has ever happen to you. But when you are on a road trip and you are late, it usually leads to a great story and awesome memories. I already told you about how we took an off-road detour to see a glacier, or how we ran out of gas at a closed petrol station, but you don't need to visit a foreign country to go on a road trip of a life time, you don't even need a long period of time because weekend road trips are just as great. I could tell you so many road trip stories that are memories that I will cherish for the rest of my life. I could tell you about how my Dad always seemed to accidentally take us through the ghettos of EVERY big city we have ever tried driving through. I could tell you about one of my greatest high school memories, when me and four of my closest friends on our way back from a Pittsburgh Penguin's hockey game in a sleep-deprived state missed one turn that then took us on a 3 hour detour through Amish Country. I could even tell you a story about this summer, driving from New York City back to central Pennsylvania, we somehow ended up in the suburbs of Philadelphia and how we then ate a restaurant called "Rock Bottom" in King of Prussia because after the weekend we had, it just felt right. The point is getting lost on a road trip is half the fun and that can be where the best memories are created. It can truly suck sometimes being lost and all you want to do is be home already, but once the trip is finally over, you will be able to look back and laugh. You probably have so many of your own stories from your past of road trips that you didn't even realize where such great times until you look back at them now.
Road trips are fun vacations that start the second you leave your driveway and you never know what could happen while on one. You get to have great conversations with the people you love, you can see and do things that you would never expect, and you get to learn more about yourself and the world around you. Summer 2015 isn't slowing down, The Fourth of July has already passed and before you know it classes will be starting again. It may be too late to organize a long road trip for this summer, but there are still some weekends where you can pick a place and just go. You're not going to remember spending the weekend on the couch and you are probably getting tired of doing the same old things you do every weekend, so you just need to ask yourself one question: "Why not?"
