Road Trips Please!

One of my goals for this year was to write more creative blog posts. I love writing about my trips to keep my family updated, and as my own personal account of what I’m doing while I’m traveling. So I wrote the boring blog post about horse back riding, and now for the creative, more personal one.

I love road trips. I always thought there was something so American about them. Moving out west, following the American dream, that entire completely clichéd thing. Then I moved to Albania and figured I wouldn’t be riding in a car for a long time, and as it turns out the best, quickest, cheapest way to travel was by car. When I moved here I for sure thought that the road trips were done, but I just took a road trip to another big city, with a new group of friends. I love road trips! So here is a blog all about road trips.

American road trips: I never got to do my great American cross country road trip, but I plan on doing it some day. I love hearing stories about people who traveled out to California, camping along the way, and to be honest it is a dream I have. My American road trips have been incredible in their own way. Of course there was the road trip to Canada freshman year. 8 kick ass college students pilled into two vans with the sole purpose of being somewhere we could legally drink. I will never ever forget that great trip of coloring pictures and singing songs, crossing the boarder, experiencing 5 pin bowling, enjoying an Irish pub on St. Patricks day, and walking around playing Zumie Zumie. 

breakfast stop!

But, the majority of the road trips in America were with my brother and his friends. I’m not talking about long road trips, I’m talking about our 3 hour trips home or our 5 hour trips up north to hike and camp. The best part of these road trips? Coffee, beer, and music. Freshman year Daryn would always make a new mix for our trip home. I was always homesick and I’d spend Fridays in class and work looking forward to hearing some new music and talking about life with my brother. Sophomore year I went home less as my friends were all gone and I grew insanely bored. I realized the weirdness of my hometown and the music switched to Randy Newman and the Thank God I’m a Country Boy mixes. Junior year we got the Roses, and it changed everything. Then I turned 21 and the road trips home got even better, as I knew that what was to come was many cheap beers and many cheap whiskeys, followed by midnight bloodies. When I went to visit  America in June we spent so much time on the road and I loved it, though I wish I would have been able to drive without falling asleep. My poor brother must have driven at least 24 hours in one week.

typical weekend at home: dancing with a whiskey in my hand against Mike's girlfriend.

Balkans road trips: Holy shit! Could road trips get any better? These ones were all about the views and random findings along the way. I have to say I was a little nervous about all of the mountain driving, but Scott and Robert are kick ass drivers. Though I almost died about 10 times by nearly flying off the edge of the earth, the views were perfectly beautiful, and never have I felt more at peace with the world then when I was sitting, drinking a beer, espresso, and eating a pomegranate freshly picked off a tree overlooking the mountains. Or when I was listening to Robert’s blasting music while slipping through the snowy Balkan Alps, or when I was attempting to find a city called Vishni by asking with facial features and hand gestures. Nothing can beat these experiences.

Typical Albanian road side 10:00am stop.

and again.

Oh you know...just another unplanned stop with a gorgeous view.

Indonesian road trips: I was crammed into a van with 6 other people and a hired driver. We made a few stops at crazy road-side areas with far too many fast food restaurants and coffee shops. I drank a total of 3 super sweet sugary coffees (yuck!) and got punch drunk crazy from not sleeping much the night before, and having too much sugar. I attempted to cuddle with Angie to make a comfy bed and we failed miserably. We had random discussions about blood lines, and sports. I didn’t drink a single beer the whole day, but wanted one on more than one occasion. The trip from the outskirts of the city to my house took the same amount of time as the trip from one city to Jakarta, and I ended up finally homesick beyond belief. I’m not sure how I’m going to get along with Indonesian road trips yet.

way to CITED for the day.

This blog post did not go where I intended for it to go at all. It was meant to be about the great music I listened to on this last road trip. Whoops! That’s creative writing for you. Looks like I’ll just have to write another one. The moral of the story: I love road trips! And the Balkans way gorgeous. Seriously!