Travel Anxiety – is this the GOOD LIFE?

At least once a year, Mr. S and I travel to New England to visit our friends and family. For some reason, this trip seems to create so much more anxiety around the mansion than going on a cruise, or any of my trips to Europe, etc. The reason? We DRIVE the 1500 or so miles from Florida to Rhode Island. Hence our little trip takes twice as long.

That means our “little prince” has to be put in the kennel (at the Vet) for two weeks (which adds worry ++ hundreds of dollars out of pocket), we have the BIG decision of WHICH car to take. I drive a hybrid Civic and hubby has a Grand Cherokee – so do we reduce our carbon footprint and save money, or go for comfort and spend twice as much on gas (not to mention more room for all of the stuff I buy on the trip -LOL). Oh and MOST importantly – which one will the Golf Clubs fit into?

We’ve taken care of our accommodations, by renting a cute house that I found when I was researching a post I wrote about Vacation Rentals back in January. So what’s the REAL problem?

Mr. S and I have VERY different styles.

• I’d LOVE to fly up & back and he can’t (health issues).

• He thinks that leaving at 3:00AM is totally reasonable

• I want to stop at every little historic city/town and go to museums & shopping (oh & every factory outlet center too while I’m at it) – he doesn’t even want to stop at rest areas

• He is the driver/I am the navigator (which means I look at the GPS to make SURE it’s giving us the right directions) – so ANY wrong move is my fault

The good part is

• We both like listening to the same radio stations – mostly NPR

• He always seems to need a coffee break when I do

• He drives (I HATE to drive) – when we say we’re splitting the driving, it means that I’ll drive the last hour from the CT border to our destination – that’s IT!

• OK, parts of it are actually a fun adventure

So, WHAT DO YOU DO ON A LONG ROAD TRIP THAT MAKES IT FUN? I’d love to read any ideas that you have. Do you have favorite restaurants that you stop at maybe you always go to the same hotels along the way if you’ve been taking the same trip over & over again?

If you have any suggestions or if you know of any great spots that we might be able to check out on our way up 95N from S. FL to New England or ANYWHERE while traveling in the US feel free to post them in the comments or e-mail them to champagneliving@gmail.com. I’d love to post them for everyone to see (your name and blog/site will be listed along with your tips).