The Art of the Road Trip: Consider the Journey as Well as the Destination

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RISMEDIA, April 5, 2007-(MSN.com)-Nothing is more freeing than the open road. Americans have taken road trips for decades-crisscrossing the nation, cruising up and down the coasts, dipping into the Mexican outback and winding through the Canadian Rockies. Generations of motorists have journeyed across rolling plains and over towering mountains, seeking romance and adventure. Road-tripping is a rite of passage for many Americans, as traditional as football and apple pie.

If you've always dreamt of crossing the desert of Death Valley, leaf-peeping in New England or driving through a giant sequoia, now's the season for planning the journey. But if you've only driven your car to work and back, the road may seem daunting. Here's some common-sense advice to help you avoid typical mistakes and ensure that your trip on the open road stays as carefree as possible.

The long and winding road

The first step is to decide what kind of road trip you want to take. Do you want to end up in San Francisco or Mexico City? Take a weekend sojourn in the country or embark on a coast-to-coast odyssey? Most people pick a starting point and a final destination, but have some intermediate goals in mind: Maybe you live in Atlanta, you're planning to hang out with your uncle in Tucson, and you'll see some concerts at Graceland on the way.

Next, decide how long your road trip will take-days, weeks, months?-and give yourself some leeway. Road trips truly are a winding road-you may have a sudden yearning for mountains, and change your course by hundreds of miles, or you might find that flash floods in Pennsylvania have cut off major highways and are forcing you to take long detours. Maybe you just like driving, or perhaps you prefer parking the car and lying on the beach. You don't have to chart your every move, but ask yourself some important questions: What kind of traveler are you? What do you like to do? What have you always wanted to see?

Make a budget

Most people like to snack in the car. Then there's morning coffee, a sandwich at lunchtime, an afternoon can of Sprite. Tolls for roads and bridges. Tickets to the Four Corners Monument, entry fee to the Grand Canyon, souvenir key chains from South of the Border … you get the picture: These little expenses add up, big time. You'll also want to find out your car's gas mileage-fuel prices are once again soaring, and you'll have to fill up more often than you think. If you're dipping into your savings or getting a loan from your parents, that may not be a problem-but ordinary college students and those living paycheck to paycheck should probably draft a simple budget for the trip.
Then there are expenses that only you can predict. Do you like to put the pedal to the metal? Factor in money for speeding tickets. Do you spend long nights at the club? Nightlife doesn't come cheap. And always, always bring more money than you think you need-or at least a dependable credit card. All it takes is one flat tire to blow your entire vacation budget.

Where to stay

As you plan your road trip, it's useful to have an idea of where you want to stay. Do you prefer crashing with friends? Wandering the vineyards around an elegant bed and breakfast? Finding a backpackers' hostel where you can mingle with other travelers? Pitching a tent on the grounds of a KOA? Settling down in the back of your RV? Whatever your style, you have to sleep someplace, and figuring out where should be a top priority. Nothing is more frustrating (or even dangerous) than not knowing where to rest your head, and hotels are often jam-packed during tourist season. When the weather isn't as nice, you can expect to find vacant rooms and open campgrounds, and you might choose spontaneity over advance reservations. Like much of the road-trip experience, timing means everything.

Who to take

You may ogle the Grand Canyon Skywalk or go bungee-jumping in West Virginia-but if you're sharing your adventures with someone who'd rather be watching PBS, your road trip could be a disaster. Choose your traveling companion(s) carefully, because as the days pass, he or she will become more than just your cousin or your roommate. You and your friend will share meals, hotel rooms (and perhaps even beds), finances and long hours in the car.

Little differences can get tiresome, especially after hours of being stuck in gridlock and days of stultifying conversation. (Do you like your friend's CD collection? Would you listen to it for a week straight?) Your ideal traveling companion will help drive, split costs for room and board and balance enthusiasm with responsibility. You might share a hobby or passion-theme parks, diners, Civil War re-enactments-that can help punctuate your trip. Road trips can be stressful at times, so you need someone who can stay calm (or at least doesn't mind calming you). A week into your trip, your car should still feel like a gateway to freedom, not a prison.

Your wheels

By definition, a road trip requires a vehicle, and this is almost always a private automobile. If you're a responsible driver, you've probably had your car inspected, your oil changed, your insurance paid, your wiper-fluid refilled and your wheels rotated-and if you're not, now's as good a time as ever for you to visit the shop. If your car is old or stalls often, consider taking a different one. Breaking down on your way to work is bad. Breaking down on a Montana highway, 40 miles from the nearest gas station, is infinitely worse.

Getting lost

The one cardinal rule of road trips is that you will get lost (well, unless you invest in a fancy GPS). In spite of your road atlas and meticulously printed directions, a long drive through new terrain will always yield some kind of confusion. Street names change, county lines aren't always marked, new neighborhoods sprout overnight-and there you are, asking a truck-stop cashier how to find Smithson Road because you've been driving for hours and you just can't find it.

Your best bet is to embrace getting lost: You'll likely run into something unexpected, like a broad vista or an epic dam or an eccentric museum. You might make new friends-first you're asking a stranger for directions, then you're invited out to lunch, then you're grabbing drinks and singing karaoke together, and finally you're trading numbers and making plans to meet in Albuquerque. For travelers who tend to be outgoing, getting lost is a blessing in disguise-it usually leads to the most memorable stories from your trip.

By the end of your adventure, you'll no doubt be looking forward to reconnecting with your friends back home. You'll head down to your favorite pub, order a pint or two, tell your tales, and before you know it, you'll be planning your next road trip-the one where you'll remember to have the tires checked beforehand, and you won't have to put up with Phil humming in the morning, and you'll be sure to stop at that cool diner in Kansas City, and …

Robert Isenberg is a freelance writer and stage actor. He has traveled through 40 U.S. states and a number of Canadian provinces, but always loves coming home to Pittsburgh.

Source: http://travel.msn.com/Guides/article.aspx?cp-documentid=385726#

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