The two simple words "road trip" can bring to mind a wide variety of feelings. These could be anything from absolute dread to sheer excitement, depending on how you feel about sitting in a cramped car listening to bad radio for hours upon hours. Personally, I fall somewhere in the middle of dread and excitement, but regardless of how I feel about it, there are a few ways I have learned to deal with a long road trip to avoid going completely stir crazy.
First of all, decide on some quality background noise. Whether it is the same genre of music the whole way, your IPod on shuffle, or an audio book, make sure you enter the car prepared, or you will end up irritated before you are even halfway there. Along with deciding what the bulk of your trip will sound like, it is usually a good idea to appoint a DJ. Having someone to skip past the bad songs and switch the disks over for the mystery book you have playing will make the driver infinitely easier. However, choosing the DJ is an incredibly important task, because you have to have confidence in their taste in music. Nothing is worse than being stuck with a controlling DJ who has an obsession with the worst kind of pop music.
The second step of having a successful road trip is finding the perfect way to position all of the passengers and the luggage in the car. It may take a great deal of strategizing to fit bags, snacks, and your quick-to-complain friends comfortably into a beat up car that can hardly handle you and your backpack at the same time. Believe me, listening to the guy in the back complaining about not having enough leg room is not a fun way to spend the day.
The third part of a good road trip is the food. Even if you have mapped pit stops at a few restaurants into your route, snack food is a necessity for any road trip. But choose carefully, if you know one of your friends knows nothing about basic hygiene and you don't want your car stained orange, try to avoid any kind of puffed cheese snack that is covered in bright orange powder. If you know the smell of teriyaki makes you sick, make sure everyone sticks to original jerky. If you are clumsy, maybe get a pop with a straw, not the one that requires you to unscrew the top every time you feel a bit parched. Overall, keep it simple and everyone will be happier.
The final, and most important part of a road trip is deciding to go with people who's company you love. This can probably go without saying, but if you can't stand a particular acquaintance for a few hours on the weekend, it is most likely a bad idea to invite them on your road trip. A trip like this is about enjoying you friend's company and making memories, not worrying about all the little problems that could occur. No matter how you plan it out, a road trip with good people will be an amazing experience.
