The philosophy of the road

Been playing catch-up on movies and losing all sense of time today. Here are some random thoughts I had these last two weeks regarding travel. If anything, these are tips I ought to remember for any future trips.

-Have everything ready to go the night before.

Being able to pick up and go first thing in the morning takes the stress out of trying to recall if you're forgetting something. This is also helpful if you're headed out early, which, by the way...

-Driving earlier in the day is better than driving later in the day.

As much as I dislike getting up before or as the sun rises, experience has taught me it's easier to grind out the miles at the beginning of the day. Traffic is lighter, especially if you can get outside of a city before rush hour.

-If stopping overnight at multiple locations, take each stop's needs from a big suitcase and pack them into a smaller bag. Leave the big luggage in the car.

I tend to overpack, so condensing the amount of clothes I needed for each destination into a small/medium bag and leaving the biggest bag in the car gave me the best of both worlds. I had more available to me if needed but wasn't lugging it all into every home or hotel.

-Set the cruise control on four to five miles per hour over the speed limit--or at the posted speed if that's more comfortable.

Not worrying about being pulled over for a ticket or being passed by more aggressive drivers made covering long distances a lot easier. That's not to say I never went faster than my guideline to pass other cars or developed a lead foot, but the less time spent making driving "work", the less stressful my time behind the wheel was.

-New Order's Singles makes excellent driving music.

Maybe it's because the music is generally up-tempo, but for whatever reason I turned to this 2-CD collection a couple times.