Favorite Things Friday: Road Trips!

Hello, Favorite Things Friday! is a weekly blog theme at HelloJiggles.com.  Every Friday one, two or all of the HelloJiggles bloggers will post some of their favorite things!
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The wind in your hair, the music blaring, missed exits, gas station food and the open road. All things involved with a road trip. Today I am headed to Chicago, for a short little road trip.  I figured what better a topic for FTF!

1. Break away from the 9 to 5

    For the majority of us work takes up a large part of our lives, weather it's 9 to 5, or the midnight shift. Working becomes a thing of routine. Five days a week it's the same thing go to work, put in your time and come home. It's a quick recipe for "all work and no play, makes ______ a dull boy" -minus the creepy hotel and murder.

Come play with us....

 A road trip is a quick and spontaneous way to liven things up. It could be a short 2 hour jaunt to a different part of the state, or an interstate meander taking up a couple of days. It offers us a reprieve from the everyday, a break from the monotony of the rat race. Road trips work because they are easy and less intense than a vacation, allowing us to fit a great experience into a small amount of time. The risk is minimal and the pay off is phenomenal!

2. The fun is in getting there. 

     There are many types of road trips but the the two biggest ones are destination driven and non destination driven. For instance my trip to Chicago today is to offer some moral support for a friend starting a new music project. Chicago is one of the first stops on the tour and coincidentally one of my favorite American cities. 

 Destinations for road trips is often secondary. It's the act of driving away and getting away that entices us. The destination is like a sweet finish, the cherry on top of the sundae.  Picking up on a moments notice, throwing a roll of quarters for tolls and skipping town is an exciting adventure in itself the destination can often not matter or better yet finding a new and exciting place along the way!

3. Come away with me.

  Solo road trips can be relaxing and a much needed break from social interaction. Turn off your phone, leave your WiFi radius and just zen out. No facebook, no e-mail, or texts. Turn the music up because it's just you and your thoughts. 

However adding friends to the mix works as well. Not only do you get the company of a trusted confidant(s), but it can cut down on costs by splitting gas, tolls and lodging dpending on where you are going. You get to share the road with some of your best friends and some of the driving too!

4. Mix Tapes

   Well maybe mix tapes are bit outdated but the message still rings true - MUSIC! Music is an essential part of any road trip, short or long. Due to the fact that radio stations often change frequently on your way to your destination. Mix tapes/cds/playlists allow you to create your own radio (commerical free at that!) Windows down and the stereo up! Making your own custom mixes is an amazing way to customize the experience  Blasting music to level 11 and having your friends join in on a sing along is all part of the road trip magic. 

These days I mostly stream music through my phone. Gone are the days of endless mix cds and a visor filled with CD-Rs. It's bittersweet really, each one had it's own theme and a road trip was certainly an occasion for a new mix. While it's not the same with streaming music, the sentiment still remains with creating playlists that are also themed. 



  5. Coming Home
   Oddly enough one of the best parts of a road trip is coming home. Paradoxical right? We take road trips to breakaway from everyday life, or things that we feel are bringing us down.  The new places, and people, the feeling of being somewhere foreign is all much needed and amazing but somewhere along the way, we realize that the place we fled from is exactly where we want to be. This is not always the case but more often than not I find myself looking forward to returning home. 

Happy Road Tripping!

-Brandon