I hope you remember me mentioning in my last topic on this series about how we as a family get excited about road trips. Having said that, planning to drive during a vacation comes with its own share of huge responsibilities. If you have booked a tour operator, you will have nothing to worry about the planning. But the moment you decide to take the wheel yourself, there are a whole lot of aspects involved that need to be considered.
It all starts with a simple
decision of what is the origin and destination of your road trip. Where would
you like to start the drive where do you want to end it. Everything else in
between are just pit stops, some short ones and others longer. We call this
route planning. We usually avoid driving through cities, if feasible, and plan
the trip through more scenic routes to enjoy the best what nature has to offer
us.
Let us not forget the fact
that while on a vacation, especially to a location you had never been before,
everything is new for you. Every single bit is an experience. The question that
begs to be answered is what is important for you or your family to include in
the route you planned.
Obviously, there will be
numerous choices, and it is easy to get lost. Here is where you apply the
delicate balancing act of considering the wishes of each one of the family
members so that you don’t end up disappointing someone. One of the recent road
trips we did from London to Scotland, we combined a mix of beautiful villages
which Ruby and I adored along with castles and other attractions, many of which
were shooting locations for Harry Potter movies. Kids went wild with that!
You can start with making a
list of well-known attractions on your route. It is so easy these days with
tonnes of information available on internet. Travel blogs, websites such as
Trip Advisor and various other sources give you lot of details and make it easy
for you to come up with an initial list. The challenge will be to short list
the attractions and align it as closely as possible to the route you planned.
Else you will end up in too much of deviations costing you time and money.
Just make sure that you take
the advice from various sources with a pinch of salt, since people usually
write based on their personal experiences which may or may not apply to you.
Some of the best examples are hotel reviews where what could be a perfect
experience for you may be totally unacceptable for another traveller. Hence
your decisions based on another person’s experience may not always be correct.
The value attributed to attractions are another classic case. What could be an
out-of-the-world experience for you could just be another tick in the box for
someone. Choose wisely.
Remember to have a Plan B
ready to respond to any changes while you are on the trip. Anything can go
wrong in an unplanned trip. Weather changes, road closures, incorrect
understanding of the information you obtained, accidental route deviations and
what not? During our last trip in Scotland, we planned to reach the beautiful
Isle of Skye by crossing a bridge from the mainland but were stupefied as we
drove into a small port town of Mallaig which was the dead-end. The only option
was to take a ferry to the island from the port which unfortunately we could
not, since the ferry was full by the time our turn reached. We got the amount
refunded, but Plan A did not work out that day. Instead, we explored the lovely
town of Mallaig where we could even experience ‘The Jacobite Steam Train’
better known as Hogwarts Express!
Vacations should be all about
fun. There will always be unknowns. All what we need to remind ourselves is not
to fret if something goes wrong, instead be prepared and adapt accordingly.
The elf has many more stories
to tell you. Until next time, drive safe and have fun!