Taking a road trip is my favorite way to put “things” back into perspective. It’s easy to let yourself get caught up in the trivialities of daily life and forget that this is bigger than the individual. A road trip can be just the thing to spark some creativity, break out of the mundane with some spontaneity or even deal with pain. There’s comfort in seeing new things and the best way to challenge yourself and your views is by meeting new people who do just that. A good way to miss out on all of this amazing introspection and culturing is to forego the drive and instead travel by plane.
Sure it’s quicker… but it also has a way of taking the fun out of traveling! For me, most of the fun of traveling is the actual journey. Here are 5 reasons why I pick traveling by car over airplanes every time:
- You can own your route. There are so many cool sights and cities to see and visit in the United States and traveling by plane just means you’re going to miss pretty much all of them. Road tripping around the United States is the perfect opportunity to visit a city you’ve always wanted to and see some amazing sights along the way. I myself have made the coast to coast trip twice and have taken two completely different routes both times, one through more northern states like Illinois, Kansas and Colorado and the other through southern states like Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. Some of my favorite drives have been through areas of the country I would have never visited otherwise. The diverse geography in North America is truly eye-opening and experiencing it has definitely changed my world view. Maybe a week long road trip could do the same for you!
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- Highway 191, AZ
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- Mountain View
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- Scenic View on 191
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- No naked pictures for TSA. Let’s save the naked pictures for flings, alright? New security measures at the airport make traveling by plane extremely annoying… especially in the United States. Traveling the country by car means disrobing, plastic baggying and naked picture taking are all done completely on your own terms! Feels good to have control, eh?
- Bring what you want. It’s not uncommon to be slapped with a fee for checking a bag on your flight from A to B. This means you’re going to have to leave a lot behind and be super selective about what you’re traveling with… and really, it’s not even guaranteed your bag will be at your destination when you are! Packing up the car means you can be a little more liberal with what you’re bringing (though I’d still advise to keep it as simple as possible) AND you’ll have the peace of mind knowing that your clothes won’t be left in some connecting city 500 miles away. Have you ever been stranded in a strange city without any underwear or clean shirts? Not fun!
- Forget gross airline food. If you find yourself eating meals on airplanes when you travel, I truly feel bad for you. Airline food is some of the grossest stuff on the planet and if you don’t believe me, just do a quick Google search for “things found in airline meals”. The United States has a bevy of diners and other restaurants that beat the snot out of airline food. Heck, you can even make an entire road trip around visiting notable American diners!
- There’s no getting stuck in a middle seat! Seasoned plane travelers can all relate to the distress associated with being stuck in-between two strangers. Sometimes it turns out alright if they are personable, but other times it can immediately make the traveling miserable. I always have a hard time appreciating the journey on a plane but when I’m stuck in the middle seat, it’s impossible. Not a problem with road tripping!
In the end, just getting out and seeing a new place is a notable feat in itself. If you have the time though, I would highly suggest choosing to travel by car instead of plane on your next vacation. You might just come back home with a new perspective or two!
Totally agree on the introspection aspect of a road trip 🙂 I love taking road trips north of SF for the day but over the years…a road trip down south to San Diego or LA means over a 3 day weekend and that always resulted in horrifying traffic since everyone had the same idea. I’d love to do a week long trip to Oregon some day – that means finding more paid time off or trading an international destination for that!
Yea – I’m all for road trips anywhere warm – which is why I often find myself in LA! I live about 8-10 mins from a local airport which has nonstop to LAX. Its ideal for those weekend getaways – although the drive isn’t bad either esp when you can make it in between 5:30 and 6:00 …which is really moving btw from where I live!
Thanks for posting this. I always love the sense of freedom that one has on long road trips. You can go at your own leisure – I especially like not having anything scripted – we don’t know where we are going to stay – sometimes we just camp 🙂