Travel Tips

About every three months, I find myself taking a five hour drive somewhere.
Whether it’s to Michigan, or back home to Kentucky, or on an unexpected trip to Iowa, my Buick Rendezvous and I have become all too familiarly acquainted.

Tomorrow we take a five hour drive to Louisville, KY. Here are a few tricks I’ve picked up that make the drive that much easier.

OFF TIME DEPARTURE

The time we leave Chicago really makes or breaks the trip. Unfortunately, we often hit the road at 3:30 on a Friday, when the city traffic is bumper to bumper. Leaving before 3 pm knocks a whole hour off of our journey!

AN EXTRA PILLOW

Unless you have a luxury car (lucky you!) you’ll find that the comfy, adjustable drivers seat becomes as hard as rocks after a few hour’s car ride. Sometimes I substitute my winter coat for back support. A good feather pillow can be squished to put pressure and support on all my back’s sore spots.

FULL TANK

Sam and I fill up Rhonda the Rendezvous with discounted Kroger gas the day before our trip so we can hit that highway real fast, and coast through the gas desert that stretches for 1 hour through the wasteland of Indiana.

EXTRA LARGE WATER BOTTLE

Snacks are good too, but I’m all about a giant water bottle. We get cranky around hour 4, and it’s always because we haven’t drank enough water during the journey! The car’s air conditioning/heat system sucks all the moisture out of my skin and hair, leaving my curly hair stick straight after the drive!

HUMOR

We usually start the drive with a little Toto jamming, because we are overtired, giddy with excitement, and over-hyper from a lack of sleep the night before when we frantically packed last minute items.

PODCASTS

Currently on our mix is How I built this, The Liturgist, and Terrible, thanks for asking. There’s only so many songs you can listen to.

Here’s to feeling the good travel vibes tomorrow.

What do you rely on to get through a tough day of travel?

More travel stories from Kissin the Keys found here.