What's the fun in taking a road trip if you know exactly where you are going? In order to use a map you must have a destination and want to know exactly how to get there - point A to point B in the shortest distance. Sounds to me like a great way to have a nice, uneventful, everyday drive. Maps are for people trying to find uncle Jim's house out in the middle of nowhere for grandma Edna's 112th birthday party. BORING. If your trusty road map is the first thing you reach for when you get ready for a road trip then we need to have a serious discussion here.
What is the point of a road trip? Great question, thanks for asking. For many, the point of a road trip is to get away from the uneventful everyday grind that bores many to tears. For other, a road trip is a way to see new things (which is pretty much the same reason, except this one is used by folks who enjoy their everyday life). Either way, a map won't get you where you want to go. In a true road trip the TRIP is the destination.
How are you going to enjoy the trip when you are spending all your time fumbling with your map and scanning road signs for the next turn? You can't. So throw it away. Now when you first hop in the car you may have a city in mind you haven't seen that you would like to explore, or perhaps a new state you haven't experienced. Great. I have no problem with that. Now go there without a map.
Let's say you live in Chicago, Illinois; and you would love to lay on a warm beach on the gulf for a few hours. You know the beach is south and that's all you need to know at this point. Hop in the car and find a road that goes south. Interstates are fine, especially if you are driving through an area that you don't know very well or if you have to be back in Chicago for work in 4 days.
So you are in your car driving south on some interstate, just outside Chicago and you are ready for a bathroom break. You stop at the nearest rest area and on your way back to the car you spot a great big map on the wall with a bright red arrow in the middle that says "YOU ARE HERE" (Yes it is ok to look at the big maps on the walls of rest areas). Take a quick glance at where you are and where the interstate will be going. If it looks like it will be going toward a beach for a while, then great, get back in the car and keep heading south. Next time you get the urge to stop at a rest area, do the same thing. Eventually you will find that the interstate you are on is about to end or is about to go in the wrong direction. Scan the map for a few seconds and find a new interstate down the road that goes where you want to go. It's that simple. Eventually you will find yourself in a gas station or rest area looking at a big map and you will realize that it is getting warm and you are almost to the beach. Congratulations, you just learned how to navigate like a real road tripper. Wasn't it nice to be able to drive without messing with your map every 5 minutes trying to find the next turn? Granted it may have taken you a bit longer and there was probably a shorter route, but who cares? You enjoyed the trip and that is what counts.
