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We often talk about the fun and exciting road trips.
The ones where we had so much fun and we wished that they didn’t have to end. But what about the not-so-great road trips? The ones where we were having a terrible time and just wish they would end already. They aren’t always fun to remember but I bet that that awful road trip taught you something or at least made you appreciate the good trips you’ve taken. You aren’t alone in your bad road trip experience. I’ve had them too and I’m going to share with you my personal experience with one. Here’s the story of my worst road trip experience.
In August 2015, my husband and I drove from North Carolina, where we live, to Virginia, where our immediate family lives.
From there my husband, brother-in-law, niece, nephew, mother-in-law, and I all packed our luggage into a Ford Explorer and then also crammed our selves into the vehicle. There we were, all six of us, squeezing into a Ford Explorer and beginning our 14+ hour road trip to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, also known as, The UP. My brother-in-law and husband were in the front seats, my mother-in-law, niece, and I were in the middle row of seats, and our nephew and cooler of food and drinks were in the back row. Our niece was between me and my mother-in-law so that meant that I had to sit beside a car seat and let’s just say, it wasn’t the most comfortable ride.
For having two small children with us (our niece was five and our nephew was three at the time), we actually didn’t make many stops.
We did have to stop for bathroom breaks, some food, and gas though. We also had to travel a bit out of our way in lower Michigan to pick up a cousin’s motorcycle. That detour led us to having a bit more room in the Explorer because my brother-in-law followed us on the motorcycle the rest of the way to The UP while my husband drove. That also meant that I actually got to sit up front and would not be smashed up against the door anymore! Other than those stops though, we were putting in a lot of hours riding/driving.
My butt hurt.
There’s just no elegant way to put it. I can usually travel around five to six hours before my body starts hurting from sitting too long but 14+ hours is just miserable. My body ached. Finally, after over 14 hours of riding/driving, we arrived at my husband’s grandmother’s house.
Once we got there however, we had to figure out sleeping arrangements.
This is something I dreaded because there were going to be eight of us in basically a 2-bedroom house with a semi-finished attic space. Since my husband’s grandmother slept in one of those rooms and his uncle slept in the other, that meant that the rest of us (six of us) had to try to sleep in the attic. My husband’s uncle had a large cabin a few miles away from the grandmother’s house though which opened up another sleeping option for us.
I wanted all six of us to stay together
but the uncle didn’t want the children in his cabin much and wouldn’t let our niece and nephew stay out there over night. I will say, that he did allow our niece to stay one night with us during our stay up there and unsurprisingly, nothing happened and his cabin still stood the next day. Anyways, my husband and I ultimately ended up deciding to sleep out at the cabin but that meant that my brother-in-law, niece, nephew, and mother-in-law had to sleep in the attic. Luckily, they aren’t very picky people and thankfully they were okay with staying up there.
I was thankful my husband and I could sleep out at his uncle’s cabin but we then ran into another problem.
My husband and I didn’t have a vehicle to drive out there. Thankfully, my husband’s uncle had an old Chevy Blazer that he let us borrow to get to and from the cabin. It wasn’t ideal, but it worked. I have to admit, it was nice to not be stuffed in an attic with five other people the whole time.
The rest of the trip was filled with family time and lots of fishing.
Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy fishing just not to the level that my husband and brother-in-law do so I got bored quickly. I also just wasn’t in the best mood while up there. I think it was that I couldn’t do what I wanted, I was having a hard time being around certain people, and I felt sort of out of place. Overall, the time spent up there wasn’t bad but I would have liked to have done things differently. I will note here that my husband and I went back up to The UP this year (2018) for his grandmother’s funeral and while it was a time of grief, we had the best time up there getting to do what we wanted and exploring the area. I loved that trip.
Finally, it was time to head back to Virginia.
Another 14+ hours in the vehicle with my husband, brother-in-law, mother-in-law, five-year-old niece, and three-year-old nephew. I was dreading the ride back but I knew that the trip would finally be over so I was ready to get going. On the way back, we didn’t have to make any trips out of the way so all six of us were in the vehicle for the entire duration of the trip. Again, my butt hurt and my whole body ached.
The trip home however, was especially fun.
Can you sense the sarcasm? I’ll explain. Our niece tends to randomly get nauseous…and vomit. So, as fate would have it, our niece, who, if you remember from earlier, I was sitting by during the trip, quietly says, “I think I’m going to puke” as we are driving through the West Virginia mountains. I quickly try to register what she says in my head and I turn to her and say, “What?! You’re going to puke?!”.
Let me just say, it’s been three years since this happened
so I don’t remember if I managed to grab a bag for her to vomit in or if she ended up puking everywhere. This is because she proceeded to vomit about two more times that trip home and since then, she’s done this multiple times a vehicle. After a while, all of the vomit incidents just run together. I do know though that for a lot of the ride back home that day, the vehicle smelled of vomit and urine. Wait, urine, you say? Yes, that is another part of this road trip that made it especially fun. Again, sense the sarcasm?
Our nephew was three years old at the time and almost finished with potty training but still hadn’t perfected the concept yet.
So, on top of our niece getting sick and vomiting several times in the vehicle, our nephew was peeing in his pull-ups. Or was it underwear? I can’t remember what he was wearing but whatever it was wasn’t working well because urine was leaking into his car seat. All I know for sure is that the smell of urine was beginning to mix with the smell of vomit. It was terrible and we still had hours left of being crammed into that Ford Explorer basking in those smells. I’m not sure if I have ever been happier to see Virginia and to get out of a vehicle as I was that day.
I tell you this story of my worst road trip experience to show you that traveling is not always fun.
There are going to be times when you wish you had just stayed home. But if you don’t experience the bad then you wouldn’t appreciate the good travel experiences as much. For example, I mentioned earlier about the fun trip we took back to The UP this year. The 2015 trip to The UP wasn’t very fun to me but I learned from it.
My husband and I realized that we should travel alone,
without the rest of the family and have our own vehicle so we can explore and do what we want. By experiencing the 2015 trip, we made the 2018 trip to The UP a lot better and so much more enjoyable! If I hadn’t gone through the bad road trip, I may not have appreciated the trip we took back to The UP this year as much.
Have you ever had a bad road trip experience or just a bad travel experience in general? I want to hear about them! Leave your experience in the comment section below, or feel free to email me. I love connecting with you all!
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