{"id":637,"date":"2015-11-12T00:00:31","date_gmt":"2015-11-12T05:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adventurousretirementofficialsite.wordpress.com\/?p=558"},"modified":"2019-01-05T09:26:13","modified_gmt":"2019-01-05T14:26:13","slug":"top-4-things-to-do-on-long-driving-trips","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adventurousretirement.com\/blog\/top-4-things-to-do-on-long-driving-trips\/","title":{"rendered":"Top\u00a04 Things to Do on Long Driving Trips"},"content":{"rendered":"

My good friend Laura suggested that everyone taking long driving trips with their spouse needs ideas on how to make the ride more pleasant and the travel time go by faster.  I actually planned several things for our long driving trip to Florida, engaging my husband in some of the technical issues and gaining his buy-in for how we would pass the time.  It generally doesn’t work unless he is bought in in advance, and it is even better if he has a role in the planning.<\/p>\n

What we did on our drive from PA to FL:<\/em><\/p>\n

1. We listened to some books<\/strong>.  Although we could not physically check them out of the library since we were planning to be away for 10 weeks, since I have ‘Overdrive’ set up on my tablet, I can download audio books from my library from anywhere as long as I have WiFi.  The next hurdle was to make sure we could hear the audio without straining during our long driving trip.  This is where my husband got involved with his technical skills; he set up the tablet so the audio would play through the car’s audio system.  Voila!  We had audio books on our car speaker for our long driving trip.<\/p>\n

If you do this, make sure you have a car charger for your tablet!<\/p>\n

2. Since we were scheduled to complete our Advanced Diver Certification <\/a>and neither of us had completed the reading<\/strong> or taken the practice tests<\/strong>, I brought the book in the car.  We took turns reading to each other and answering the test questions (the reader was the passenger of course :~).  It gave us the opportunity to discuss underwater situations and how we could effectively handle them.  It also brought back memories of other dives that we could discuss and re-bond on.  I loved the way we did this together.<\/p>\n

3. We planned to drive no more than 8 hours each day, and enjoyed some interesting stops,<\/strong> even staying a couple of nights <\/strong>in some places like Charleston, Myrtle Beach and Savannah.  I had identified several potential interesting towns to stop in depending on the route we took and the timing.  I researched each stop the night before once we got WiFi, and booked each stay as we traveled.<\/p>\n

4. Take advantage of potentially interesting places<\/strong> that you see as you travel. Stop and stretch your legs in a state park, a flea market, a farm, a gallery or a place that grabs your interest.  We stopped at Santee State Park<\/a>, a place we had never heard of before we saw the sign.  We loved the nature center, the lake and the park, as well as the lovely volunteers and clean bathrooms.<\/p>\n

For more tips on making the drive fun<\/strong>, contact me.<\/em>  Or share yours with us in comments.<\/p>\n

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