Top 7 Things People Fight About on Road Trips

Ah, nothing signals the official start of summer like a road trip fight. The open road can be exciting to some. The anticipation of the destination…the photo ops…the places never seen…travel stop food…the constant “Are we there yet?” question… and the “Don’t make me pull this car over!” response…

Pack several people in a small confined space of a car, or even a mini van can be too small, and you’re guaranteed to fight…at least once. And there will be meltdowns…there are always meltdowns (and not just from the kids either)!

I have had my share of road trips over the years. Some of which we now laugh about, and some we would like to forget.

We Drove all the Way to Albuquerque to Sleep in the Truck Road Trip: Hubby (boyfriend at the time) and I got a wild hair to drive to Santa Fe, NM for a weekend. It was hot in the city…“So, why not?” we thought. Turns out there was a Harley Davidson convention in Santa Fe and there was not one vacate hotel room. We drove on to Albuquerque where we found no hotel rooms. We then drove East on I-40 where we were met at a motel by a family who had be driving West from Amarillo, Texas looking for a spare hotel room! We gave up, parked at a truck stop, reclined the front seats back and slept until about 5 a.m. We drove back to Denver the next day. This is why I do not go anywhere without a hotel reservation to this day! Ever.

Did She Just Leave us Road Trip: A group of us (6 teenage girls) went on a road trip/canoe/camping weekend that ended with one of the girls (who will remain nameless) driving home without us. There was a fight (among teenage girls, imagine that), some hurtful words were said. She threw the other girls’ stuff from her car into the parking lot. She left us in a fiery at a laundromat in Lebanon, Missouri. Fortunately we had my car, but that was 5 girls, and all our crap crammed into a Ford Escort. We did eventually forgive her.

And, then there was the infamous He Threw What Across the Interstate Road Trip: A lot of my road trip misery started as a teenager. One such family trip included my Mom’s boyfriend, let’s call him “Roger”. Roger pitched a toddler sized fit about the luggage rack that had been rented for the trip. (Actually it was a hillbilly luggage rack that consisted of two 2×4’s and suction cups stuck to the roof of the car and “secured” with rope.) After many attempts to keep this thing in place speeding down I-70 in Kansas, Roger had had enough. He pulled over and ripped the rack right off the car and threw it across I-70 into the median. Needless to say, we didn’t get our security deposit back on that one.

So, in honor of our road trip we are planning, here are the Top 7 Things People Fight About on Road Trips (drum roll, please)…

1. Driving skills, this includes driving too slow, tailgating, or changing lanes to often. I drive the speed limit, Hubby drives 5-8 miles per hour over it. Let’s just say I have never got a speeding ticket on vacation. Hubby has not been so lucky.
2. The temperature inside the car. Someone is always too hot, or too cold, or wants the windows down, or the windows up. Yep.
3. Directions. Don’t fight. Just do as I do, us Google Maps navigation system on your phone, with turn by turn directions. And if you get lost? You can blame Google!
   
4. Where to eat/get gas/stop for bathroom breaks. I like to get in, eat fast and get back on the road. Hubby hates eating fast food. But he loves his bathroom breaks.
   
5. Swearing at other drivers or flipping them off. Never.
6. The volume in the car. This includes the volume of the radio or the volume of the kids yelling at each other. Guilty.
7. Smoking. To smoke, or not to smoke in the car, or smoking breaks. Neither of us are smokers so that is an easy one.

Are you surprised at what people fight over on road trips? I thought #6 would have ranked higher on the list. Do you have a memorable road trip fight? I’d love to hear about it.

{List Source: YourTango. This post first appeared on Have Faith Everyday on August 2013.}