There comes a point in October when you can feel it.
The mornings are a little cooler. The light starts to change. The calendar may still say summer, but fall is clearly on its way.
And suddenly, staying home all weekend seems like a terrible idea.
This is road-trip season.
Not necessarily the epic, cross-country, quit-your-job-and-find-yourself kind of road trip. We’re talking about throwing a bag in the car, grabbing someone you love, or going gloriously alone, and heading somewhere that feels just far enough away from ordinary life.
Maybe it’s a mountain town, a great restaurant two hours away, a football weekend or a cabin in the woods. Maybe it’s an antique-shopping expedition, a winery, a hiking trail or a destination you’ve driven past a hundred times and never actually stopped to explore.
We spend so much of our lives trying to get places faster.
Maybe this fall, we should take the scenic route.
1. You Get to See What Everyone Else Flies Over
Air travel is wonderfully efficient when the destination is the point.
A road trip is different.
Getting there is part of the trip.
It’s the little downtown you didn’t know existed. The roadside produce stand. The spectacular overlook. The diner where everyone seems to know one another. The antique store you absolutely did not need to enter and somehow leave 45 minutes later carrying a lamp.
Those are often the things we remember.
You don’t have to travel thousands of miles to experience somewhere new.
Sometimes what’s missing isn’t distance.
It’s curiosity.
2. Fall Makes Everything Better
Summer gets most of the vacation attention, but fall may be the road trip’s best season.
The oppressive heat begins to ease. Trees start putting on a show. Mountain towns come alive. Outdoor patios become appealing again. Hiking sounds considerably more attractive when you’re not doing it in 95-degree weather.
And depending on where you’re headed, traveling outside the peak summer season can sometimes mean a different pace than the busiest vacation months.
For those of us in Georgia, we’re particularly spoiled.
North Georgia alone gives us mountains, waterfalls, wineries, hiking trails, cabins and wonderful little towns within a relatively easy drive of Atlanta. Head in another direction and you can build a weekend around history, food, music, art, the coast or a college football game.
Sometimes a change of scenery is much closer than we think.
3. You Can Change Your Mind
Here’s one of the great luxuries of traveling by car:
You can turn left.
See an interesting sign? Stop.
Someone tells you about an incredible restaurant 15 miles away? Go.
Love where you are? Stay longer.
Not impressed? Keep driving.
Our everyday lives are scheduled within an inch of their existence. Meetings, appointments, practices, deadlines, dinner reservations and flights that will absolutely leave without us.
A road trip gives us something increasingly rare: a little room to improvise.
That’s not to say you shouldn’t have a plan. Book the hotel you really want. Know your general route. Make the reservation at the restaurant you’ve been dying to try.
Then leave some white space.
The best road-trip itinerary has room for something you didn’t know existed when you planned it.
4. You Actually Have Time to Talk
Think about how much time you spend with the people you love while simultaneously doing something else.
Making dinner. Checking email. Watching television. Driving children somewhere. Scrolling. Running errands.
Now put two people in a car for three hours.
There’s something about looking through a windshield instead of directly at each other that makes conversation happen differently.
Take your mother, your daughter, your sister, your best friend, your husband or partner. Take the friend you keep saying you need to spend more time with.
Put on a great playlist. Stop for lunch. Talk.
Or go alone.
There’s an entirely different luxury in driving for a few hours when nobody needs anything from you. Listen to the audiobook. Play your music too loudly. Call nobody. Think.
Both versions can be pretty wonderful.
5. You Can Make It Exactly Your Kind of Trip
A road trip doesn’t have to mean an RV, camping equipment and beef jerky at a gas station.
Unless that’s your thing.
Then have at it.
Your road trip can include a fabulous hotel, dinner reservations and a spa appointment. Or it can mean hiking boots and a cabin.
It can be built around SEC football, live music, architecture, bookstores, barbecue, art galleries, golf, wineries, vintage shopping or finding the best biscuit in the state.
Go for one night or a week. Drive two hours or 2,000 miles.
There isn’t a correct way to road-trip.
That’s sort of the beauty of it.
6. A Little Planning Makes Spontaneity Much More Fun
Romantic as it sounds to simply get in the car and drive, a little preparation prevents the adventure from becoming memorable for all the wrong reasons.
Before you leave, check the basics on your vehicle, including tires, fuel or charge, fluids and anything else that may need attention. Map the general route and download directions if you’re headed somewhere with questionable cell service.
Reserve the things you’d genuinely be disappointed to miss. Pack a phone charger, water, any medications you need and a few basic emergency supplies. If you’re traveling solo, let someone know your general itinerary and where you’re staying.
Then stop planning.
Seriously.
You don’t need a color-coded spreadsheet scheduling every biscuit between Atlanta and Asheville.
Leave room for the trip to surprise you.
7. You’ll Probably Remember What You Didn’t Plan
Ask someone about her favorite trip and eventually she’ll tell you about something that wasn’t on the itinerary.
The restaurant the hotel clerk insisted they try. The spectacular sunset that made everyone pull over. The tiny town where they decided to stop for coffee. The ridiculous roadside attraction.
The wrong turn.
The conversation that happened somewhere around hour four.
The unexpected place they loved so much they stayed another night.
We spend an enormous amount of energy trying to make our lives predictable.
Travel gives us permission not to.
Maybe that’s why road trips still feel a little romantic.
You know approximately where you’re going.
You just don’t know everything that’s going to happen between here and there.
So Where Are You Going?
Here’s your assignment.
Look at your calendar and find a weekend this fall.
Then draw a circle around your house representing approximately three hours of driving.
What’s inside it that you’ve never explored?
Or better yet, where have you been saying you’d love to go “sometime”?
Sometime is notoriously difficult to find on a calendar.
Pick the weekend. Make the reservation. Text the friend. Build the playlist. Fill the tank or charge the car.
And go.
Pink POV
Maybe we’ve gotten a little too good at getting there.
Fastest route. Nonstop flight. Mobile boarding pass. Carry-on only. Efficiency everywhere.
Useful? Absolutely.
But every once in a while, choose the inefficient trip.
Drive 20 minutes out of the way because somebody said the pie is incredible. Pull over for the view. Play the song twice. Stop in the town you’ve always driven through.
Have the conversation you never seem to have at home.
And if you get a little lost?
Even better.
Not every trip needs to get you somewhere as quickly as possible. Sometimes the best part is everything you find along the way.
