I come from a traveling famil–road trips, holidays, summer vacations–you name it, my family and I travel for it.
I’ve spent more time in the back of my mom’s hybrid than I have out of it, and I know the struggles of being a girl on the road. For all of you that know the same struggle, and all of you that don’t, here are a few of the WORST things about coming from a traveling family.
Packing for the road
Honestly, there’s nothing worse than packing for the road. How many outfits do I need? Are we going out once we get there? Will I exercise? What am I going to sleep in? What do I own that’s comfortable enough to sit in for eight hours in a car? The questions are endless when it comes to packing, and that’s all before you finish packing clothes. You still have to pack shoes, jewelry, makeup, bathroom products, entertainment, snacks, and everything else you could possibly need! It makes me anxious just thinking about all the struggles of packing (or…overpacking.)
Carsickness
Don’t even get me started on carsickness. I am a due paying member of the carsickness club, and I hate it. If you’re even slightly prone to carsickness, traveling is the WORST. Having to position the air vent to hit your face but not your body, being wrapped in a blanket in the middle of summer, never being able to find a comfortable position to lay down, not being able to lay down, not being able to eat without feeling sick…I could go on forever. Being carsick is pretty much the suckiest thing in the world, no questions asked.
Sharing the backseat
If you thought sharing the backseat was bad when you were ten, it’s much worse as an adult. I’m still force to share the backseat with my sister when my family takes trips. We still fight over who gets to lay down, whose stuff goes where, and who has to sit with the cooler between their feet. Only now, there’s a LOT less room to fight over. I swear the backseat shrinks every time I get in the car. The only thing worse than that? Getting stuck behind the shotgun rider that has legs for DAYS.
The radio battle
I am blessed to have been born in the era of iPods and noise cancelling headphones, but my family still throws down for the radio every time we get in the car. Will we be subject to dad’s favorite talk radio station, or mom’s country music? Will my brother blare his rap, or will my dad insist that he “can’t hear the radio” when it’s cranked to 32? Are my headphones and indie music any match for the car speakers? What you listen to can, and will, make or break the car trip, and I KNOW nobody wants to listen to Rush Limbaugh for the next eight hours.
Breaks
Breaks are crucial during a long car ride. However, when you’re just along for the ride, you are completely at the mercy of the driver. If your family is anything like mine, dad is always the driver. You had better hope you run out of gas or someone is about to wet their pants, because if it’s not an absolute emergency, the car isn’t stopping. If it’s that time of the month, just forget it. You’ve just committed to sitting on a towel for the whole trip just in case. Being in the car for eight hours straight with no breaks and “You SAID you didn’t have to go to the bathroom last time, so we aren’t stopping!” being yelled every five minutes is a form of torture I didn’t know of until I lived it.
Traffic
Hell hath no fury like my parents stuck in road trip traffic. There is nothing worse than being on the seventh hour of your trip and hitting stand still traffic. I’ve seen my mom physically get out of the car on the freeway and ask other people why we’re still stuck in this traffic. If the traffic wasn’t bad enough, everyone’s attitudes are somehow worse. If you thought your family was bad in normal traffic, you won’t survive the road trip traffic stop. There’s just something about having been stuck with these people for the last few hours that makes you hate your family until the car starts moving again.
Food
Trying to find a place to eat on a road trip is the worst kind of struggle. My parents like to eat cheap, but my siblings and I do our best to not eat radioactive garbage from sketchy gas stations. Nobody wants to go to a sit in restaurant, so we’re usually stuck with dollar menu items from McDonald’s. I’ve eaten so many McChicken’s out of pure car ride desperation that I can taste it in my nightmares.
As bad as the car trip is, the destination and time spent with family is always worth it. Just make it through the trip without killing your sister or jumping out of the car, okay?