Solo Road Trip: 4 navigation necessities
Crossing the Narrows on way to Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park. (I snapped this as I drove across the bridge.)
What would I have done without Jane?
Jane is my GPS, christened so by my friend Tracey on our recent road trip to New York City.
Traveling to NYC with two friends was easy. However, I left New York on my own. Taking a road trip solo has challenges. The greatest is getting to your destination without making too many wrong turns along the way.
Truly, I would love to have the person who decides where to put the road signs do a ride-along with me as I cover new territory. They would learn just how inadequate the signage is. On my trip from New York to Cape Cod, Bar Harbor and Saint John, New Brunswick, there were many times that I felt uncertain of my course. Without a real live navigator on hand, what is a nice-to-have on a road trip becomes a necessity. So here you are…
The navigation necessities for a solo road trip:
- GPS – Jane wasn’t always right on the highways between cities. There were occasions when I disregarded her instructions completely and chose my own route. But, in the city (and especially leaving New York) Jane excelled at her job.
- A Good Map – As I said, I didn’t agree with all Jane’s decisions so I planned my route on a map first. I simply turned her off when we hada disagreement. You can’t do that with a travel partner!
- A compass – I found that, despite having a pretty good sense of direction and even when I was on the right track, I would get nervous that I had gone too far, missed an exit or simply took the wrong ramp. A compass is useful as it let’s you know that you’re at least going in the right direction.
- A tongue in your mouth – Whenever I was late with a lame excuse such as getting lost or losing track of the time, my mother would say “you have a tongue in your mouth, don’t you”. The ability to ask questions is essential on any road trip.
Non-navigational necessities:
- Almonds for fast, easy protein
- Water
- Audio book or two for entertainment.
- The radio to help discover a culture or cultivate a new language. On this last trip I discovered how great NPR (National Public Radio) is and I also spent a lot of time listening to French radio in the New Brunswick.
I'm known as the solo traveler. I traveled solo in my twenties and I'm doing so again. Here's the backstory...Continue Reading >>
