How to be good company on a road trip
May 14, 2015 How To 10 comments lrossi15
When going on a road trip it is important to have someone who is going to be good company while you take the long drive. It is very easy to be a good companion there are only a few tasks! Aside from the obvious conversation and being enjoyable for hours on end, there are some important things you should do that you may not think of. If you are someone who is not going to be helpful in the passenger seat then arguments will be likely to stir up. Being a good passenger would include the following:
- Keeping a good music selection
This is very easy to do you just need to make a playlist add some variety and make sure the driver is always happy with what is playing.
- Navigating
Being in the passenger seat requires that person to give the driver directions and figure out which way to go. This is a hard task for some people with no sense of direction but very helpful to the driver.
- Take turns driving
A good passenger will let the driver take and break and switch off with them. Making one person drive the entire time would just be mean.
- Finding food
Road trips could go downhill when people get hungry. It is important for the passenger to find places to eat. This is very easy now with all the maps and apps on phones. Google is a huge help when you want to get something to eat, it can bring you right to the restaurant.
When taking a road trip with someone remember to not get annoyed with them. Cars are usually very small spaces and to be with someone for so long in one it is very easy to get on each other’s nerves. Remember that you started this trip with your friend and thats who you are (hopefully) ending it with.
10 Comments
So you’re saying you should be doing all of this just to make other people enjoy the road trip? You shouldn’t have to do anything extra to entertain others who may be in the car with you. When you say “finding food” doesn’t that mean you didn’t bring any food? If you know your going on a road trip you should at least bring some food, and a bunch of money….
This is very interesting. You’d think that people would just normally think of these things, but clearly they don’t. Did you come up with these ideas by yourself, or did you look them up.
These are really good tips, next time I go on a road trip I’ll have to try them!
@acyr15 I think what @Lrossi15 is trying to do here is give us an information piece on the certain things we can do in car ride to make things less boring and make the car ride more exciting because I know I don’t like quit long car rides maybe what Lrossi15 should do is make clear that she is trying to write an informational piece.
As someone who went on plenty of road trips (planned and impromptu) before cellphones and GPS navigation, I can tell you that planning ahead doesn’t feel like it is the must it once was. It used to feel like an adventure when all I had was a full tank of gas and my copy of the Maine Gazatteer. Now as long as I have my cell phone (and a charger) I feel like I can solve any problems that arise. (This became more complicated though once I had children; they can’t always wait 5 minutes until the next exit or next corner store.) The difference between the list offered above and my way of “dealing” with problems as they arise today is comfort and fun. I know my family and I will be more comfortable with a plan. We won’t fight over the radio (or our phone playlists), we won’t get lost (which always causes someone stress–usually my wife), and we’ll know when and where we’re stopping for meals. Snacking in the car seems to work for a while, but eventually it starts to feel pretty gross. I wish I would’ve thought through my trip to Buffalo better. I’ll spare you the details…
I will be taking many trips this summer and next year when going back and forth from college! As a passenger, I think I will try to be more entertaining next time. Even if it’s just a short drive to the mall. Thanks for the tips! 🙂
The tips are very helpful and work very well! I went on a roadtrip with my dad to college tour in Boston, New York, and New Jersey. All of these tips helped us make it through the trip. We ended up not staying in New Jersey because the nearast hotel to Seton College (where I was supposed to tour the next day) was in a rough part of town. We were able to get to New Jersey and back without stopping to sleep. We left Saturday morning at 9am and got back at 4am on Sunday. We would have never made it if we hadn’t switched drivers. I know from personal experience your tips work great. Thanks for the advice!
Never thought that there would actually be tips on how to be a “good” passenger! This is very interesting and helpful! I’ll make sure the next time I go on a road trip I keep this tips in mind. Are you one to go on a lot of road trips? What prompted this topic idea?
I never really thought about that before, that was very cool :). I will seriously take this information to heart next time I go on a road trip with someone. Some of the things that you said I could really relate to (and I kind of noticed before but I didn’t really look into it and relate those together before). I can definitely understand the having a good music selection because when I’m in a car and hear songs that I don’t like on a road trip, the trip feels a LOT longer. I also have noticed the finding food one but I had never connected it before so I’m glad I know that now.
I can so agree with you on the, as I have taken many road trips, and some may not have been as planned as they should have. I also agree with @sgoulet15, this post will be very helpful as I will be traveling back and forth for college next year. It was very informative, and I will definitely remember these in the upcoming months!