Recorded in the beautiful home office, Chateau' Relaxo, FL.
One trip since our last episode, and it came in the form of a road trip which is the topic for this episode.
This trip was four days on the road with three nights in three different hotels, which is never desirable, and to add to the madness Hurricane Nicole made landfall halfway through the trip.
It’s safe to say that none of the hotels offered any reminder of COVID. No plexiglass riot shields, only a few remnants of Hilton’s “CleanStay” stickers, and most of the hand cleaner stations were empty.
One hotel was undergoing a remodel six years after its last remodel. One hotel had a Peleton bike in the fitness center. And the last one offered a firepit where I enjoyed the fall evening.
On to tonight's topic - the road trip show
We survived summer travel. Flights were expensive and packed. Rental cars were expensive and if you rented from Hertz you ran the risk of being arrested. Hotels were plentiful and expensive. Notice a pattern?
With fall travel here I see no reversal in any cost associated with travel. There is a hotel close to my parents, it’s a normal Hampton Inn, nothing special. Typically it’s $100.00 per night, occasionally $130.00 if there’s a softball tournament taking place. Lately, it’s been $180.00 per night even with all my secret squirrel discount codes.
So with the upcoming holiday travel season, it might be time to consider a good old-fashioned road trip. We’ve talked about road trips several times over the years, but it’s worthy of a revisit.
What are some common road trip mistakes? Glad you asked.
When it comes to a road trip it is important to follow the 7 P’s - Proper Planning and Preparation Prevents Piss Poor Performance.
Let's concentrate on the first three P’s - Proper Planning and Preparation.
Not planning. You have to have a plan and start that plan well in advance of your departure.
So where do you want to go - it’s fall and in the southeast that means fall colors and there’s no better way to see the changing leaves than through the windshield of a car. The weather is still mild enough for a bourbon or winery road trip. So a road trip doesn’t always mean an over the river, and through the woods, To Grandmother's house.
You need to plan for frequent stops and roadside billboard suggestions can help. Want to see a 15” gator? There’s a billboard to tell you how. Same with the Bigfoot museum, and the desire to shoot a real machine gun there are billboards that point you in the direction to do just those things
Don’t assume your car is road trip worthy just because you drive it every day. Make sure you’re car is equipped and serviced for the trip. Make sure there’s a copy of your license and registration handy. Consider an EDC roadside kit. Things like jumper cables, a flashlight, and something to clean your hands with in case you have to change a flat tire. Make sure your spare tire is roadworthy as well.
If you don’t have AAA it might be worth the investment and while you’re at it throw an old-school paper map, in the glove box….. You never know.
Some road trip essentials that you might not think to pack.
* First aid kit and include -
* Heartburn meds
* Aspirin
* Benadryl
* Allergy Pills
* Zip Lock Bags
* A can of fix-a-flat
* Plastic shopping bags
* A handful of zip ties, paracords, and bungee cords
While you’re in prep mode, make sure you have some travel-related apps installed on your phone.
Plan your wardrobe. It’s fall and this time of year there can be a 40-degree swing in temperature between the morning and mid-day. Don’t forget the umbrella either.
What apps will help? At least install Google maps and Waze. If you have no idea how valuable either one of those is, please stay off the road.
* iExithelps with the latest gas prices.
* Roadtripperswith their tagline of “Turn your road trip into an adventure” is a great addition if you need road trip guidance. Enter your starting point and destination and Roadtrippers will help to fill in the stops along the way.
* Roadside Americaoffers over 15,000 offbeat attractions, some of which no one is familiar with, well beyond what you’ll find on Google maps. I advise installingYelpas it will give you insights on food, hotels as well as attractions.
* And don’t forgetGoogle reviews as it will also give you the lowdown. TripAdvisor is another one, I don’t personally use it, but I have heard good things about it.
It seems that there’s an app for everything, including road trips - There’s Dyrt which will help you find places where you can camp. You can install Flush, think of it as Yelp reviews but for public toilets.
Plan your route. Here in O-Town, we’re home to (2) of the worst traffic snarls in the United States.
From the Orlando Weekly -
Drivers in rush hour traffic on I-4 West between Beachline Expressway and FL-429 lost an average of 74 hours in traffic. Anyone taking US-17 South from 192 to The Oaks Blvd also suffered, losing 59 hours in traffic. Those roads were good enough for the third and seventh-worst congestion in the US, respectively.
Every major city has its share of traffic, Atlanta, Dallas Washington DC there’s no escaping traffic.
Plan for an alternate route. On my recent drives to Georgia, I’ve been bypassing the downtown Atlanta area by taking 441 out of Macon towards Athens and then Highway 29 to the office.
For my return trip from Georgia, I jump on 40 outside of Ocala and head down the middle of the state. Both routes are typically 15 minutes longer according to Waze, but both routes typically keep me from sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic.
So plan your route, and this includes places to stop for fuel. Fuel stops are important so make them more meaningful than 6 fuel pumps and the offering of boiled peanuts that have been cooking in a crock pot for the last 6 days.
One of my favorite fuel stops is one that I’ve done a 180 on in the past few years.
It’s Buc-ee’s and with their expansion into the southeast, it’s the perfect place to stop. Beyond the 40 or 50 gas pumps, they have a wall of jerky, a legit BBQ pit, and gifts galore.
If you’re rolling along I-95 around the North Carolina South Carolina state line, there’s South of the Border” with its Sombrero Tower, Reptile Lagoon & The Peddler Steakhouse it’s a great place to kill an hour or so. Besides Pedro says so.
When it comes to road trip nutrition there are two approaches.
First, take it with you. Why? Because eating on the road is expensive. Drop $20.00 or $30.00 on a soft-sided cooler. No need to spend $300.00 on a Yeti, we survived without them for decades.
You can freeze almost everything, my mom proved it by freezing a Burger King Big Mac.
Meal prep wraps, leftovers, veggies, and snacks, all of these travel well and can be consumed while driving.
I’ve talked about road food in the past, and all these years later I still stand by these foods for consumption while barreling westbound on I-20.
Beef Jerky and Slim Jims, actually make any processed meat product wrapped in plastic that doesn’t need refrigeration.
* Positives – High in protein, easy to eat, and little or no mess.
* Negatives – High in salt and the smell might offend passengers, which might be a good thing depending on who is riding with you. Beef jerky can be a tad expensive when purchased in a gas station.
Almost every gas station will have a rack filled full ofLittle Debbie snacks. From oatmeal pies to cosmic brownies, there’s a snack for everybody. My favorite is theNutty Buddy or anything from theirZebracollection.
* Positives – As tasty as it gets, inexpensive, easy to hold, and almost never expires. Don’t forget their seasonal offerings such asFall Party Cakes.
* Negatives – Loaded with sugar and not the most filling, so if you happen to eat four or five keep an eye on that calorie count.
Roller food, those tasty cylindrical tubes of nutrition and calories. Looking to snack on an egg roll, tamale, hotdog, or taquito while driving 75 MPH? If so, then grab those tongs and pluck a few of these rolling beauties.
* Positives – Cheap, usually $1.00 plus they taste good and are relatively filling. Where else can you eat food from three different ethnicities all in a single stop?
* Negatives – Be careful if you load any of these items up with salsa. ketchup or mustard, it’s very easy to end up with a goopy mess in your lap. Stay away from any item that’s not rolling, a sure sign that the bottom is more than likely over-cooked.
There’s a reason those foods are in heavy rotations during my road trips. They’re easy to hold with one hand, leaving your other hand free for texting.
When you make it to base camp, aka your destination, ask the hotel staff for some local food stops. They will almost be willing to offer you some local taste sensations. The backup food plan is Yelp or Google reviews
Road trip entertainment, since I’m the driver I rely on a couple of things audiobooks and podcasts. I still have my old standby music playlist, Dave Matthews Band, Toto, and almost every artist that charted in the 1980s…. You can call me a renaissance man.
For me, audiobooks are mostly non-fiction. Recently I finished Rob Lowe’s, “Stories I only tell my friends” and Dave Grohl’s “The storyteller”. The key to audiobooks, listen to them at 1.5 speed. It’ll take your brain a few minutes to adapt but after that, it’s smooth sailing.
With podcasts, I’m all over the road - Smartless, The Upside, Literally from Rob Lowe, Tim Ferris, Mike O’Meara, and my two travel podcasts, Travel Commons and Travel Wins.
Do you subscribe to Spotify? If so hit up one of their One Hit Wonder channels and you’ll be amazed. If you’re a Joe Rogan fan you can listen to his podcast here.
Time to discuss lodging, more specifically hotels, can be a bit dicey. I admit I’m spoiled as Hilton & Marriott are my go-to’s and have been for two decades. That being said most traditional chain hotels will suit almost anyone. However, you need to plan to spend some money. Hotels are one of those things in life where you truly get what you pay for, and two of those things you pay for are safety and cleanliness.
Here is a hotel strategy to consider when choosing a location. While it’s nice to stay on Disney property, and this makes sense you can shuttle into the park each day and not worry, or paying for parking. You can sleep in since you’re already on Disney property. However, there are two deterrents to staying on the property, it’s expensive and you will find yourself waiting in lines just like you were in the park.
Years ago one of my first business trips to Orlando was a project at Reedy Creek Improvement District. Reedy Creek is the governing jurisdiction and special taxing district for the land of Walt Disney World Resort. It acts with the same authority and responsibility as a county complete with its own fire department headquartered out of the Dalmation Station. Reedy Creek’s main office is just down the street from what was Downtown Disney and is now Disney Springs. So I booked my hotel on the north side of I4 just outside Disney Springs. The next morning I go downstairs for breakfast and the dining area was packed. Lines for cereal, lines for eggs, and lines for coffee. It was packed with families waiting to go to Disney.
There’s another advantage to staying off-site, especially if you have young kids. Being forced to find parking and then taking a trolley or the monorail to the park entrance can easily remove an hour or two of park time. Why this is important is that it removes one to two hours of time that your small child will be getting frustrated waiting in lines, and getting sunburnt. Plus the off-property or not near-property hotels will be cheaper and less crowded.
But, you will come across locally owned and operated hotels that provide a wonderful experience. Years ago I had a project in Smithfield, VA, yes that Smithfield, bacon, ham, bacon, sausage, and bacon. At the time there were no hotels in Smithfield to speak of so I booked my room at the Mansion on main which was a bed & breakfast. Every morning we woke to the smell of bacon and fresh biscuits and each afternoon we’d come back from Smithfield to a plate of fresh warm cookies and a cold glass of mile. My favorite part while in Smithfield was one of the executives was giving us a tour of the facility and as we were walking from one building to the next he asked, “Do you smell that?” of course, we could smell the smokey order from the smokehouses, he went on to tell us “that’s the smell of money!”
In the past I’d often book hotels close to my favorite dining establishments with Uber Eats and Door Dash this is no longer the case…. And Uber Eats will deliver liquor.
There’s alsoHotelTonight as well that offers up a “day of deals” in case you need a last-minute place to crash. The one piece of advice that I offer up to Baby Road Warriors is to make sure you have that night’s hotel reservation before you head out in the morning.
If you’ve got kids in tow one of your major jobs is to keep them from getting bored.
Make sure to pack charging cables etc. If you’ve got an extra $50.00 or so purchase an extra Amazon Fire tablet just in case someone breaks something. When I was a rugrat my parents gave us two Dramamines and put us in the back seat.
This is also where the aforementioned snacks can buy you a few additional minutes of peace as well as silencing those “Are we there yet”.
There you have it episode 179, the road trip revisited.
Thanks for listening.
Leave me a message on Anchor, or shoot me an email at TravelFrick@gmail.com.
Check us out on the web at PodPage or Instagram.
