Our route, from google maps
Come Wednesday, we will be spending roughly thirteen hours in the car on our way to Tennessee. That's a lot of time in the car. I usually read on long trips, but it makes me feel guilty to ignore my husband while he drives. Plus, I will probably do some of the driving since this is such a long trip.
So, this is where I need your help. What do you do during long car rides? Do you have any recommendations for road trip tunes? For the record, I already have Mumford and Sons cued up and ready, since Brian needs to know their music when we go see them in February.
Anyone else being crazy and driving far distances for the holidays this year?
Oof, 13 hours is a TREK. I like to pester Billy with random hypothetical questions (kind of like table topics) like what you would do if someone gave you $10k right now and made you spend it on frivolous material goods, etc. Also, a great road trip game is 20 questions with movies instead of people/places/things!
ReplyDeleteWe're heading up from Birmingham to Nashville to do Thanksgiving with my Mom's side of the family. It's a much shorter drive for us, but we entertain ourselves with random conversation, wedding stuff (since ours isn't until January) and entertaining playlists on the iPod, complete with a selection or two guaranteed to make Andrew roll his eyes. Also, podcasts from NPR. And be warned! Tennessee doesn't allow wine sales in groceries, so if you'd like a bottle, bring one with you or get to a liquor store in town before they close!
ReplyDeleteNot married nor have a significant other, so my road trip experience is with family and girlfriends. With girlfriends, we talk the whole time with the ipod in the background. And if Spice Girls or Celine Dion comes on, we'll totally rock out. But growing up, my mum and I would sleep while my dad just cruised. Otherwise, they'd listen to NPR and talk while I'd still sleep.
ReplyDeleteSo I say bring a pillow :P
My college roommate and I used to drive from Oklahoma to Colorado every year for spring break (about 12 hours, I think), and unfortunately I get motion sick so I can't read in the car. I would bring magazines so I could flip through them so it's not so much "reading." And of course any good old music that is good for sing-yelling to.
ReplyDeleteHubs and I once took a roadtrip where we spent the whole time playing celebrity seven degrees (or whatever it's called) when you pick two actors and have to figure out how they're linked together through other celebrities. Sometimes it's hard!
Books on tape! We had a weekend trip from Ohio to NYC this past summer- and listend to a book on tape almost the entire way there and back. It helps time go by so quick. You can get them at almost all libraries or you can download them and load them up on an ipod.
ReplyDeleteI try to sleep, haha I'm the worst wife sometimes. We only have a 4 hour trip, but with holiday traffic god knows what's in store for us. I wish I could read in a car without wanting to puke, but I can barely check facebook without getting car sick. I also, oddly, like to hit the radio scan button and hear what kind of radio stations different places get.
ReplyDeleteI second the plan for a book on tape (or iPod!). Also, have you thought about downloading back episodes of NPR shows like "this american life" or "radio lab?" I could listen to NPR for days on end...plus the shows are smart so they are frequently a conversation starter.
ReplyDeleteWe usually alternate between talking about anything and everything (we're so busy in our normal lives that we don't get to talk as much as we'd like, so it's refreshing to have time to just talk for fun instead of out of necessity), sleeping, and listening to music (though the music is on non-stop). We like to listen to peppy and/or mellow music, like Jack Johnson, or Shiny Toy Guns. Once we exhaust the albums we have on our iPods, we also put those artists on Pandora so we get a mix of the same types of music. That's our drill for hour-long drives, or 7-hour long drives. We haven't road-tripped 13 hours, though, but I'm sure it'd be more of the same! Good luck! Happy Thanksgiving!
ReplyDeleteI've done what feels like a googleplex of 13 (and similar) hour road trips in my life. I'm usually the driver for these situations, so we rock out to music or talk about random things. We do a lot of what other commenters suggested and play silly 'What would you do if you won $10,000, no strings attached?' games. The rare times my fiance has driven, he has no problem with me reading (he likes to 'focus'). I hope your trek went well!
ReplyDelete