This is a compensated review from BlogHer and Sprint
Update: Thanks for everyone's participation and your great stories. The lucky winner is #63 "Miss" Anita! I will be emailing you with the details.
It sounds like something out of The Amazing Race. The mission: Put two harassed adults, two energetic young boys, and one dog in a car packed to the hilt with Christmas presents and vacation necessities. Then - and this is the kicker - send them off on an 18-hour road trip in the middle of winter. When it's put that way, I wonder why our families haven't arranged for straight-jackets and heavy medication. Despite the apparent insanity of the plan, we embark on one of these road trips at least once per year. It's kind of like labor: the pain is forgotten quickly and plans are enthusiastically made to do it all again.
So was the case when we packed the car on a cold December morning and set off from our Salt Lake City home, heading for Victoria, Canada. Not only did the trip involve a decidedly long drive, spanning 1000 miles, several treacherous mountain passes, and a 1 1/2 hour ferry ride, but it was done in a pummeling snowstorm. Snow doesn't make those treacherous mountain passes seem any more benevolent. Some jokester actually named one of them "Dead Man's Pass". Funny. To put the cherry on top of the proverbial sundae, our youngest son, who was 2 years old at the time, started making suspicious heaving sounds just south of Seattle, which lasted all the way to Victoria. I'll spare you the gory details, but suffice it to say that the heaving sounds transformed into something far less pleasant.
On the first night of this auspicious road trip, we stopped for the night somewhere in Oregon. The night was thankfully uneventful and we woke up at the crack of dawn to start on the final leg of the trip. As I was getting two bleary-eyed boys dressed for the day, my husband took our dog, a sweet black lab named Tiana, out of the hotel for her morning constitution.
It was a cold, dark winter's morning and the clouds from the passing snowstorm were still laying low to the ground. No one else was outside, except for one man who was bent over into the trunk of his car, diligently packing for his own road trip. Once Tiana had finished her business on the hotel's patch of grass, she enthusiastically bounded into the parking lot. Before my husband could stop her, Tiana ran over to greet the man who was still leaning into his trunk. Since there wasn't a hand available to rub against, Tiana vigorously goosed the unsuspecting man. Apparently, he jumped higher than an Enron executive at the sound of a whistle and let out a yelp that would have made Tarzan proud. My husband managed to hold in his laughter long enough to apologize to the very forgiving gentleman. How we needed that comic relief in the midst of our memorable journey!
And now it's your turn to tell your own funny holiday road trip tale for a chance to win a $200 Visa gift card. To enter, leave me a comment below and tell me your funniest road trip story - or you may leave a link to your post on your own blog in the comments below. The contest will begin at Tuesday, December 8, 2009 at 9 am and will end Thursday, December 31, 2009 at 5:00 pm. Make sure that the e-mail address you leave is correct.
Rules:
No duplicate comments.
You may receive an additional entry by linking on twitter and leaving a link in the comments.
You may receive an additional entry by blogging about this contest and leaving a link in the comments.
This giveaway is open to US Residents aged 18 and older
Winners will be selected via random draw, and will notified by e-mail.
You have 48 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected.
Please see the official rules here: Official rules
For more funny road trip stories, and 8 more chances to win, please check out the BlogHer review/giveaway round-up page.
Winners will be chosen using a random number generator.
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94 comments:
Oh man, it had to be when I was in 8th grade. We caravan-ed with another family to where we called ourselves "The Brady's"...we had a huge condo and it was just so much hilarious drama. I'll never forget it!
At the time, this trip was anything but amusing. Looking back, I laugh at my stupidity.... I was driving to my parents house (in upstate NY) from college (in western MA). Being "directionally challeneged," I asked my mom for directions. She told me to get on I-90...east. Unfortunately, the road was called 90 east wne it was being built, so that's just what she calls the road. I'd driven nearly and hour before I realized I was going the wrong way!!
My best holiday road trip story is when we went Christmas shopping, and for some reason, paid no attention to the weather forecast for the day. When we walked out of the mall later that afternoon, it had snowed several inches and counting! The problem was that we were two hours from home and when it snows here in Missouri, that's a big deal. It took us a few hours just to get out of the parking lot, and the 2 hour trip home ended up being 6 hours long. My poor Mom had to drive 30 mph on the snowy highway with my young brother and me in the backseat! Thankfully we made it home safe and sound, but it was scary at the time. Now we can look back and laugh at how clueless we were to the snow forecast that day!
mdmerenghi@gmail.com
I blogged about this giveaway:
http://grand-giveaways.blogspot.com/2009/12/holiday-road-trip-giveaways.html
mami2jcn at gmail dot com
My most memorable holiday road trip was traveling to Houston for Christmas to meet my mom's boyfriend's family when I was about 12. It was incredibly awkward. First of all there were cultural differences (the family was Filipino), then it was just weird for me to watch them have their Christmas while I was the outsider. After that trip my mother broke up with the guy, because she realized she liked his family more than she liked him!
mami2jcn at gmail dot com
My most memorable Christmas was the year that my mom and step-dad got married. Between the two of them there were 5 children and thus we had huge extended family Christmas. Any way, on the way to my Grandma and Grandpa’s house my step-dad decided to turn on some Christmas music in the vehicle. Of course the only station he could tune in was one playing newer songs, and so on the 2 1/2 hour trip to their house we heard the “Grandma Got Ran Over By a Reindeer” song about 3 times. Needless to say all 5 of us kids remembered those exact words from that song and only those words. So, when we finally arrived at the grandparents house we were eager to recite some “carols” for them in true Christmas fashion. Our parents were mortified to hear that the first song of our choice was the “Grandma Got Ran Over By A Reindeer” one which we sang over and over again and only that line. Thank goodness Grandma just thought that that was hilarious and laughed it off.
catrisha{underscore}tittle{at}yahoo{dot}com
We travel every year and stay with my in-laws for about a week after Christmas. Christmas day, we visit 2 or 4 family Christmas parties. One year, we didn't get very far...ok, we didn't get out of the driveway, before we got my wife's car buried in a 3 foot snow drift. It took an hour to dig it out. Needless to say, the rest of the day was quite stressful for me because of the way it started.
Every two years on Labor Day weekend, my mom's side of the family gets together at Camp Ton-a Wanda in Hendersonville, SC. We usually fill the camp for the weekend and it is packed with good food and fun since we are so spread out thru the USA and rarely see each other in between.
About 6 years ago, I rented a van and drove 7 other family members to the reunion. Not having GPS, I got a Trip Ticket from AAA and we set out on our way from Ohio, about a 14 hour drive.
We think we are close and stop to get directions to the camp because the trip ticket only got us to the city. A kind trucker informs us that we are about 6 hours drive west of our destination? Confused I check the trip ticket and suddenly realize that it took us to Henderson NC, not Hendersonville, NC.
That was the lst time I was allowed to plan a long trip for awhile. We got to the reunion a little late but had a great time and still laugh about the long drive...
My most memorable Christmas road trip was quite a few years ago. We were in Leavenworth KS and decided to go home to MD for the holidays since my husband and children had such a long Christmas Break. Unfortunately, the children still believed in Santa but were old enough to be aware of their surrondings. We travel the 1100+ miles with 2 cartop carriers on a Toyota Van (one had santa gifts, one had everything else) 2 children, 2 dogs, and 2 rabbits. Everytime the wind hit the van (we were not very aerodymanic) I would scream, the kids would cry and the dogs would bark. How my husband survived the trip I will never know, especially since we had to turn around a week later and do it all over again, laden down with many more gifts, but luckily no more pets!
Thanks for the inspiration!
I wrote about a road trip I took with my Mom in New Zealand.
It wasn't really a holiday trip, but it took place during Thanksgiving.
http://dustbathladies.blogspot.com/2009/12/best-road-trip.html
It was the best trip ever. I would love to do it again!
catalinagrey at hotmail dot com
When I was little we were traveling home from a trip to Disneyland and my mom said we went through Needles on the way there, so we took the wrong road home and had to spend the night in the desert at a rest stop. When we went to the bathroom there was a sign that said beware of rattlesnakes. So all night we were scared rattlesnakes were going to climb up the sides of the van and attack!
http://bit.ly/737lSH
kc@mominthecity.com
This is a hard one because we didn't road trip too much, but there was a time where someone was left behind at a Wawa. Didn't take too long to realize it though. :)
My most memorable holiday road trip was from Texas to North Carolina with our son when he was just a month old. We never imagined that you would have to take so much stuff for a baby! We had to stop every hour or so because I was breastfeeding and to feed him we had to take him out of the car seat. To top it all off it snowed and we had to drive in a blizzard! What a trip!
jedoggett@embarqmail.com
My eventful holiday road trip was a road trip to Disney World, Florida from Louisiana with three small kids. Just know, that we stopped a lot for bathroom time. It was a long 10 hour trip that we settled for flying the next time we take a trip there.
brownatural @ gmail dot com
tweeted
http://twitter.com/unluckymrsmom/status/6579360327
My funniest road trip story was when I was younger my family and I lived in the Midwest and traveled to CT to visit family one summer. The family we were visiting thought it would be funny to leave seafood tucked away under the seat before we left. The whole drive home everyone was blaming everyone for the smell. We searched and searched but they hid it well. Eventually we decided it must just be in the carpet. It was a few days after we got home that it was finally discovered! Funny for them.... :)
brownfamilyfive at verizon dot net
My most memorable holiday trip was when I was in school in Germany and a group of us decided to go to Berlin for Christmas. We went to the famous Berlin Zoo on Christmas day, and as the zoo was closing, we came upon some VERY large foxes who were looking a little hungry. They approached the fence, and as we were making the calculations of how tall the foxes were to how high the fence was, one of them put his front paws up on the top of the fence, like he was about to leap over! We turned and ran, not looking back once. Several months later, on a flight back to the states, I read a story in the Int'l Herald-Tribune that said the foxes in the Berlin Zoo were getting out at night and causing trouble- and I was not at all surprised!
our craziest road trip was when my sister took over a car trip when she and my mom and brother were moving me up to school a week after the New Year and instead of taking us to my college accidentally drove us back home because she everyone was asleep and she was too proud to use GPS. not funny (esp. in snow) then but hilarious now! :)
dreamzz12{at}aol{dot}com
blogged!
http://the-prestigiator.xanga.com/718159313/visa-giveaway-sponsored-by-sprint-and-blogher/
dreamzz12{at}aol{dot}com
My most memorable holiday trip wwas one where my dad had decided to take us ice skating and sledding on the property he owned out in the middle of nowhere on the side of a mountain. We took two cars--an old minivan with no snow tires, and my dad's new Jeep. The access road is on the side of a mountain, crosses a bridge, and is frozen solid from October-March every year. We got about 50 feet down the road when the van started skidding. We were on a sheet of solid ice, and the van jacknifed. We were skidding sideways down the mountain, and we were right along the edge of an embankment. It was a straight drop down into the creek, with nothing but a few trees to break the fall. All the kids were crying, my mom was panicking and yelling at us to be quiet, and my dad was standing at the top of the road yelling for her to let off the brakes and steer. The car eventually stopped when a tire hit a rock, and my mom had everyone crawl out the front passenger door (she didn't want us below the car, in case it should begin sliding downhill again.)
We got out and stood on the ice, and my dad hooked the front of the van to his jeep and tried to striaghten it out. He got about halfway there, and the cable broke. The van ended up over the cliff and in the creek! No one was hurt, thank god, but what a day!
Trying to get down the hill in kiddie snowboats was yet another challenge. I was a chubby kid and not exactly a graceful one; I landed on my bottom every 3 steps! I eventually got frustrated and crawled down the rest of the road on my hands and knees. There are pictures of me crawling aross the ice that I still--more than 15 years later--have not lived down!
We did end up having a blast snowtubing/sledding down the mountains for a few hours while waiting for a tow truck. We even made a campfire and had hot cocoa (from melted snow!) and toasted marhsmallows. It was one of the best, scariest, and most memorable holidays of my life. Definitely one the grandkids will be hearing about someday!
Our most craziest trip was the year we went to Florida! My dad was in this low rider faze (and yes he cranked the song low rider EVERY time it came on the radio)so we were in this long two door boat of a car low rider it was so ugly! It was me my mom and dad in the front my brother sister and grandma in the back (probally not a very safe 18hr trip). My dad was the kind of guy that wont stop you just keep on going. So my brother started hollering from the back that he was getting car sick and of course they told him he would be fine and next thing we know he was vomiting all over my grandma and sister it was so disgusting and it stunk so bad! My dad finally pulled over and we got it as clean as we could but I had to switch spots with him and sit back where he just vomited and there are no windows just in the front, for the next like 6 hrs of the trip it was awful! But hey we do get to still make fun of him!!
haydensmommy05@hotmail.com
I tweeted!
http://twitter.com/Haydensmommy05/statuses/6619439607
haydensmommy05@hotmail.com
We never had to travel much because our family lives so close. I will never forget the car rides home from church on Christmas Eve though. We always knew that Santa had come while we were at church and we'd have presents waiting for us. My brother and I would crane our necks looking out the window for his sleigh and always swore to each other that we could hear the sleigh bells. I still don't know how my Grandpa managed to get those presents set up while we were on our way home from church but, he always did it!
robin@lolidots.com
Ok, my best holiday road trip story isn't my own, but it's so good I have to tell it! A good friend of mine drove with her family from Memphis to Salt Lake for Christmas with her, her husband, and her 3 boys. They had a big suburban at the time. On the trip they made various stops and she kept thinking that it was odd that they weren't complaining about needing to stop to go to the bathroom, but she didn't think much of it. When they finally got to SLC and unloaded the car at her parents' house, she found about 10 bottles that were filled with a suspiciously yellow substance. That's when she figured out why they hadn't been complaining about needing to stop!
2 years ago, my inlaws payed for our vacation to go to be with the in new york for Christmas. since we are a family of 8, they bought us stand by tickets from a relative that works for the airline.
well we took 3 days to pack and like always a couple of hours before we had to be at the airport, everyone remembered they were missing important things that were unpacked without me knowing.
2 hr countdown begins, everyone is screaming to everyone else, looking for things, i cant find my camera that keeps dissapearing out of my purse, and coats are missing. the 9 and 7 yr old girls vote they dont need coats, "hello!!! we are going where there's snow!!!" so 2 hrs later everyone is getting last minute things to put in their carry on bags for the flight entertainment. husb decides its time to check all the fluids in the car. i scream at him and remind him were flying to new york from california, not driving!!! so we make it to the airport late, as always, not to mention that it took us an hour to find a free extended stay parking lot for military, we made it to the desk and we get lectured that since we have stand by tickets we should have been there 2 hours earlier. really!?!?! after all of the bags are weighed we shifted some items around from bag to bag because some bags were over the weight limit and some were way under.
our bags finally get through that ordeal, time to go through security check point.
i strongly believe there should be a line for mommys and kids, keep in mind i have a lot of little kids to help take shoes off and coats and empty pockets and open carry on bags for. people behind us complain loudly about how long its taking, mind u im rushing the whole time flippin kids on bottom and pulling out shoes faster than i can throw them. we finally go one by one through the metal detector thingy, then security gets called to the x ray machine. seems our 5 year old thought it was a great idea to bring his metal cap gun with him in case someone tries to steal the airplane while were on it. many many explanations and apologies later, we are allowed to go through. so obviously we missed the flight we wanted so we had to wait for the next one. omg in a packed holiday airport with a bunch of hyper kids!!!!!!!!!!
part 1 of 2 militaryfamof8@yahoo.com
part 2 of 2
we kept making bathroom trips because they clamied to "have" to go, but i know that its because for some unknown reason my kids are fascinated with going in public bathrooms! yuk!!
people would keep staring from all angles at how many we were, and i would hear the remarks and laughs when i would count"1,2,3,4,5,6" ok were all here lets go!"
next flight was readt to take in some stand by flyers, we had choices of sending some of us ahead or waiting for another flight or seperating us all throughout the plane. who in their right mind suggests i let a 2 and 4 year old sit together without a parent near by?!??! kids would come up with new snacks constantly, and i would get answers like "that stranger gave it to me" or "a man said it was ok to have candy" or "that guy with the coat called me over and gave it to me" so more crying from me feeling like i failed as a parent because all of my kids were getting food from strangers. i could have lost 1 or 2 or 3 kids that night. i had many older couples smile and pat our kids on the heads, telling us it would be okay, and that they had been through that many years ago. i was just a ball of tears that night. we finally got a whole row for ourselves and we played hand games, patty cake, rock paper sicssors, made up jokes and stories. we had a lot of fun. after a lot of planning, a lot more praying, plenty of crying, from me, not the kids, after 6 hours, we finally all were able to board the plane, as long as daddy took half of the little ones and i took the other half on different ends of the plane. we then sat on the plane for 3 hours because we didnt have clearance to leave since new york was having snow, go figure!
so me and the kids decided to play phone games by calling daddy and the group, we were playing "guess who" and i spy back and forth with our cells phones.
finally we got the notice and we were off!
this was such a hectic and hard time, but it gave us memories for a lifetime, it has been the most adventourus and fun trip we have had, exept for the flight home where we split up into 3 flight,s but thats another one, lol
militaryfamof8@yahoo.com
I think my most memorable holiday trip is a toss up between the time my parents, little sister, and me spent Christmas in Paris (cue the Anastasia music in the background right after she exclaims "Can you imagine? Christmas in Paris!") and the time we went to Tahoe, there was a huge spontaneous blizzard, and we were forced to camp down in a small hotel in the middle of nowhere for a week or so.
I remember I got a gorgeous green taffeta dress in Paris. But then again, I got to miss school because of the snowstorm, and I got bragging rights for being in a blizzard.
So, like I said, toss up!
Ugh - most memorable holiday road trip had to be just a couple of years ago. We (that is myself and my husband-to-be at the time) thought it'd be a great idea to carpool with my parents from MA to VA. My dad and I didn't get along great when I was a teen (always butting heads), but things have gotten better as I've gotten older, so I figured it'd be fine. Turns out, we get along better because we're not around each other for very long. 11 hours stuck in the same car together turned into a migraine for me and pouting for my dad. (Yes, pouting on a 250-pound, 6' 4", 55 year old man!)
Now I can laugh about the silliness of it all. Fortunately, my husband still agreed to marry me!
My first holiday trip with my husband (then boyfriend) we went to my timeshare in Florida. I set the whole trip up and when we picked up the rental car he asked me, "ok, which way do I go?". I just about died! I didn't know and I never thought to print off directions. We just decided to "wing-it" and I said if I could find the big bridge I could get us there. There are a lot of big bridges in West Palm Beach but we eventually found it and made it there. He never got iritated with me and we laughed it off. That was my most memerable trip and the day I knew I wanted to marry him!
A funny trip we took was for a wedding, not a holiday. But my husband decided to take a little nap in the back seat which is not typical for him--he loves to be the driver. But he told us (his sister was with us) to keep driving until we ended up in Pennsylvania. OK, easy enough. He woke up a while later and asked where we were. I read the mile marker to him, and he knew we'd gone too far. As it turned out, we weren't supposed to go until PA, we were supposed to have found an exit that took us the right direction to PA. Oops! He got mixed up on directions, I felt terrible thinking I'd gotten us lost, but we all kept good attitudes and didn't mess up our time too badly anyway! joyful{dot}too{at}gmail{dot}com
Imagine driving what's supposed to be about a 7 hr trip with 4 month old quadruplets....... It turned into a 9 hour drive btwn the MULTIPLE diaper changes, stopping to feed bottles,( 2 babies had bad reflux so you can only imagine the baby puke....) checking on the kids since they were rear facing and i'm a first time mom. It was a crazy trip. But they are great travelers now at 2.5 yrs. We're starting potty training now so i'm SURE we'll have some fun traveling times ahead!
Jenny
jennyhasquads (at) yahoodotcom
On our way to visit family in Texas when I was young, my dad had to drive fast to stay in front of tornadoes. We didn’t stop, we just kept driving to beat them -it worked, luckily, but I won’t ever forget it! It made the normally 16 hour drive go a bit quicker though!
blogged here: http://contestsandgiveaways.blogspot.com/2009/12/9-chances-to-win-200-visa-gift-card.html
thanks!
tweet, thanks! http://twitter.com/idahojill/status/6866443611
We dont travel a lot for the holidays as our families are close by. One year we were in Florida and went to a Jags/Patriots football game (he's a jag fan, I'm a pats fan). The Pats won and I enjoyed the win for the rest of the day. We flew home early the next morning. Everyone was so friendly traveling on christmas morning!
wearehappy(at)comcast(dot)net
When I graduated from Boot Camp in the USMC I was so ready to get out of Paris Island South Carolina. I was walking on egg shells. No one thought I would actually graduate. I didn't think I would make it either.
My family greeted me on graduation day with a diet coke and a snickers. It was a feast for someone who spent 3 months without anything slightly edible. Then we were gone. We stopped by Disney World on the way back home to Texas. It was just me, my parents, and Joey. Joey was my younger brother who is now in The Marine Corps.
I paid for everything seeing how I had three months of paydays saved up. We had a blast. We stopped by the beach.
We got home for Christmas. We live in a really small town. Most people are born there, grow up there, and end up spending their whole lives there. So when I came home the treated me like a hero. My whole family was there. I didn't feel like a hero but everyone seemed so proud that I made it.
It was a special Christmas. I was never so happy to see home. It is hard to believe that was 11 years ago. Now it is almost impossible to get everyone back together for the holidays. I will never forget the holiday I came back from boot camp;-)
chewysmum79@yahoo.com
Jeanette Huston
http://mommyblessingsinsmallbundles.blogspot.com/
I blogged this giveaway here
http://mommyblessingsinsmallbundles.blogspot.com/2009/12/1-of-9-chances-to-win-200.html
Jeanette Huston
chewysmum79@yahoo.com
I tweeted this giveaway here
http://twitter.com/gijeanie/status/6911669112
Jeanette Huston
chewysmum79@yahoo.com
My friends and I decided to take a road trip from OK to Dallas and since none of us ever drove there before we got a GPS system to guide us. Little did we know that when we stopped to re-fuel a car we also had to enter our destination again. Our GPS didnt reroute for us and a pleasant lady's voice instructed us to "keep going straight". After about an hour of driving straight we suspected something might be wrong. We consulted a map instead of listening to GPS and found out we were going east the whole time - instead of going south. We almost ended up by the Arkansas border and a trip that was supposed to take 5 hours took nearly 8!!! Thanks GPS!
ann.altima at gmail dot com
My best road trip was when our family drove from Los Angeles to Costa RIca. I remember it took over a week and we traveled through the Southwestern US States, Mexico and all of Central America. It was so much fun and we got to see so many cool places and things. THe best thing I remember is the Mayan Ruins we saw in Mexico.
tweeted http://twitter.com/carogonza/status/6920572524
My husband and I traveled to Niagara Falls (Canada) last summer and drove back to Buffalo, NY to catch our flight home. We thought we had plenty of time to spend in Buffalo, for my husband explained that our flight didn't leave until 5 pm. We were at an outlet mall leisurely shopping and were even planning on having a late lunch eating some "genuine" Buffalo wings before coming home. On our way to lunch, I happened to glance at our itinerary to find that the flight LEFT at 3 pm and not 5 pm. It was currently 2:30 and we weren't even sure where the airport was! I freaked out and as we were driving down the highway, I was hanging out the car, yelling at a passing UPS driver to give us directions. People on the freeway were looking at us in disbelief! We finally made it to the airport and got our bags checked in at 3:30! Lucky for us, our flight was delayed due to bad weather in Cleveland and we still made it home safely! From now on, I ALWAYS make sure to look at the itinerary too and not just listen to my husband!
http://twitter.com/melissaaggie98/status/6920742441
I once was driving from Oregon to Phoenix, through death valley in my 1985 nissan sentra, and the car overheated and the engine got so hot that it actually cracked the engine. Needless to say we were stuck out there for a few hours until a motorist called the police, who called AAA and towed us to the nearest town. I got the worst sunburn of my life and had to say goodbye to the car that day. At least a friend of mine was willing to come pick us up and take us to Phoenix after all!
Ah! The memories! So many funny and wonderful and sometimes scary moments. But the one that comes to mind right now is the time my little sister napped nearly all the way from Chicago to New Orleans. We pulled over to gas up and use the restroom and she was still asleep. Mom shook her and said if you need to go, better go now. She shook her head. Fine. Some time later we were on the road again and suddenly noticed that my little sis was no longer in the back asleep! We doubled back and found her sipping soda waiting calmly for us at the gas station. Not very funny then, but boy we've laughed about it a lot since!
tweet
http://twitter.com/tnshadylady/status/6955159373
BLOG LINK
http://tnshadylady.blogspot.com/2009/12/points-of-review-holiday-road-trip.html
We once tried to set out for my parents' house, 300 miles away, in a big snowstorm. With my 1 year old son in the back seat. We figured if we could just make it to northern Virginia, we'd be out of the weather. That was dumb.
We didn't even make it down our driveway! We lived on top of a mountain (still do, but a different mountain) and the driveway was very long and curvy. We slid off the edge of the second curve, had to walk back up to the top of the hill lugging the little one and our suitcases. Sad Christmas, that year. Missed my folks. That was one long trip, huh? Thankfully, we are older and wiser now, and would never attempt such a thing.
Tweeted: http://twitter.com/Getalonghome/status/6963285370
Blogged here: http://getalonghome.com/2009/12/sprint-giveaway/
When my brothers and I were young and we went on family vacations our dad would always bribe us into being good by giving the most quiet and well behaved one leftover change whenever we went somewhere. Well, I was usually the most well behaved and one vacation my brothers were so bad that I ended up with so much money I had to give some back to my dad to pay for things.
Here's a tweet for the giveaway:
http://twitter.com/courtenay27/statuses/6975479609
Thanks!
One of my road trips story- A few years ago on the way to Germany, we ended up spending Christmas Eve at the airport thanks to severe weather. It was a chaos in the airport and totally crazy. The funny part was people (strangers) exchanged gifts on the spot to celebrate the unforgettable holiday.
tweet.http://twitter.com/tcarolinep/status/7054179831
Blogged.http://tcarolinep.blogspot.com/2009/12/giveaway-points-of-review.html
A few years ago we went to visit my brother for Chanukah. They live about 5 hours from us. The trip to them was rather uneventful. The trip home, well it was interesting to say the least. The trip took us 7 hours! We started off and almost immediately realized that we had to get gas for the car. So we stopped at the first rest area to tank it up. While there we heard a rumble coming from the back seat. My then 7 month old son filled up his diaper. Oy! I took him out and noticed he was a little wet. Sure, you betcha. . . diaper blow out. I managed to find a place to change him amid screams and protests of new clothing. We get back on the road and my newly potty trained older son proclaims that he needs to GO! So he chants this the entire way to the next stop. We get there and he refuses to go. He gets inside howls about the blowers in the bathroom and comes back out. We start back up...about 10 minutes later my son says he needs to go potty again. This time I take him in and he says he does not have to go, but is hungry. I take him back to the car for snacks. We go back on the road. Suddenly we realize a pattern. Each time my oldest sees restaurant signs on the highway = a request for a potty break. By the time we were almost home my parents called us. Hubby and I were in hysterics. We could not stop laughing because we must have made at least 6 pit stops for potty, eating, nursing and diapers.
I used to live in Hawaii. My Step Brother was a surfer. He wanted to go surfing at Waipio Valley on Christms day, so off we went. To get into the valley, the road is so steep that you must have a 4 wheel drive to make it. Once you get into the valley, the road is basically nothing more than dirt roads throughout. We headed towards the beach, set up camp & were awoken at about 2am with a huge storm moving in. We decided to pack up and get out while we could. However, the dirt road that we followed to the beach was now turning into a river from the heavy rains. We pursued on any way until we got stuck in a large pool of water. We were stuck for awhile and the car was fairly submerged and we were soaked. Eventually a large tour vehicle came by and towed us out. We made it up the steep road and then we made it about 1 mile outside of Kailua and our vehicle completed shut down. I guess all that water from being stuck in the river messed with the electrical system and caused the car to just die. It is amazing that we made it as far as we did. At the time none of this was very funny, but now that I look back it is Hillarous.
ShawnaMichelle@ymail.com
Tweeted
http://twitter.com/ShawnaMichelle2/status/7085535063
ShawnaMichelle@ymail.com
My most memorable holiday road trip took place about 20 years ago. I was driving back to college after spending the holidays with my family. About 8 hours into the drive we stopped in at a gas station and I accidentally left my wallet in the bathroom. It had a lot of cash from gifts and the check for next quarter's tuition!! I didn't realize what I'd done until I was back at my apartment 3 hours later. I panicked and called every gas station in the town where we'd stopped. Of course, the wallet was no where to be found. To my amazement, I got a call in the morning from someone saying they'd found my wallet (they used my drivers license to look me up in the phonebook). Even more amazing was that they were just about a mile from my apartment. When I went to pick it up, everything was still in my wallet. To this day I cannot explain how my wallet got back to me! The people that found it sure had good Xmas spirit to track me down and return it. I will never forget it!
Well, since this happened on Thanksgiving Day 2001, I suppose it would be considered a holiday road trip. We were actually moving from Minnesota to Tennessee for my husband's job change. Unfortunately, we didn't even make it out of our small, rural Minnesota town before having to stop and delay for several hours. The reason? Someone forgot and left the emergency brake "engaged" on our manual transmission pick-up which was being towed by the U-Haul. Had to get two new tires... after finding someone to help us on Thanksgiving day in a town of 3,000. :)
roseinthemorning [at] gmail [dot] com
I blogged about this...
http://anitamartin.wordpress.com/2009/12/27/sprint-joins-blogher/
roseinthemorning [at] gmail [dot] com
I tweeted about this, too...
http://twitter.com/HSBSuzanne/status/7110896664
Thank you!
roseinthemorning [at] gmail [dot] com
Here's my story:
http://www.halfpastkissintime.com/2009/12/travel-gods-are-trying-to-tell-me.html
Thanks for the opportunity :)
I've added your contest link to my post.
http://www.halfpastkissintime.com/2009/12/travel-gods-are-trying-to-tell-me.html
For me, it was on a business trip I took that took me and my coworkers to Las Vegas. I'd just bought some new luggage, and I picked it out in a light purple color so that it'd be easily distinguishable from the mass of black luggages on the carousel. We were standing in line at the luggage carousel and I was keeping a watchful eye out for my purple suitcase. Some of my coworkers were making fun of me because it was so bright that they asked how could I possibly miss it? About that time, I saw it pop over the carousel at the other end. Relief! But I didn't see it come around the bend. I kept looking, waiting, watching. No sign. I decided to go toward the other end and as I walked down that way, I saw my luggage being pulled away...by a little girl! Evidently she had the exact same suitcase as me (in the light purple shade!) and thought this was hers. Thankfully I caught up with her and her chaperon to correct the discrepancy but could you imagine--being stuck with a 10 year old's suitcase of clothes?!
carmensechristjunk at gmail dot com
It all started with a bad haircut, a shirt even a circus clown would burn, and a pair of hot pink Umbro shorts. It was Christmas 1992 and...
Read More
http://theadventureofmotherhood.blogspot.com/2009/12/blog-post.html
One of my most memorable road trips would have to be from this year. We headed out of state to visit family and it is a 4 hour drive. Our two small boys had been sick with a stomach bug and after they started to feel better, we got on the road. Once we arrived at my parent’s home, everyone started to get sick. It hit me a day later and I can’t recall ever being that sick. All in all, 16 family members ended up getting sick. What a Christmas to remember. The ride home was uneventful though and the boys slept the entire way, they were so tired!
snedfam at gmail dot com
This wasn't funny at the time, but my most memorable holiday road trip was a trip back to college after Christmas break. My mother decided she didn’t want me making the 7 hour trip alone, so she would drive with me and fly back home. It sounded like a good idea at the time. Unfortunately my mom came down with food poisoning about 2 hours into the trip, and I had to drive the entire rest of the way, stopping every 30 minutes so she could vomit or use the bathroom. It took forever, and she was miserable. It has been over 20 years and we still joke about that nightmare road trip. After that she always let me drive by myself, and never offered to come “help” again.
ajolly1456 at gmail dot com
I tweeted
http://twitter.com/lunaj1456/status/7179860032
http://twitter.com/melissaaggie98/status/7180278040
The funniest thing I can think of that ever happened traveling during the holidays is the time my dad decided to move us 600 miles from PA to Virginia. We had an early Christmas at Grandma's & left Christmas Eve day. Crammed into this vehicle with boxes of stuff(and a rocking chair tied to the top, can you say Beverly Hillbillies?) was 6 people, including a newborn and a chihuahua puppy.
The truly hilarious part was the startled looks on the faces of the holiday travelers when they saw 3 little faces peering at them from the back windows of an AMBULANCE on the interstate on Christmas Eve.
tweet
http://twitter.com/pixie13sweeps/status/7183065529
I just remembered one year where my brother decided to cross the DMZ of the middle line in the back seat, and sprawl out to sleep.
I complained, I whined, I moaned, FINALLY drove my mother crazy enough to turn around and she saw I was wedged into a tiny corned of the seat, with my big brother (8 years my senior)'s legs and feet clear over on my side of the car, up against my door.
I still laugh at his reaction when he woke up to being hit by my mother's magazine. HA! ;)
com gmail. @ leighbra (only you know...reversed lol)
funniest memory would be my honeymoon...we were at a waterpark and my wife lost her top...like lost it...gone...she had to run out of the pool and wrap a towel around her and go to one of the park's shops to get a new top!!! LOL
Scott
nynekats at aol dot com
tweeted http://twitter.com/RePurrPussed/status/7195407818
Scott
nynekats at aol dot com
I think the funnest road trip I ever took was to FL. We had a 3 week old kitten in the car with us and he was just a brown fuzzy ball. We had to stop at rest areas to feed him with the bottle and people were SO curious. Some people just came right up and were like "what is that?" LOL it was funny to see people's reactions.
Angie
one 4 earth at aol dot com
I tweeted this giveaway here: http://twitter.com/FotoMacro/status/7195491950
Angie
one 4 earth at aol dot com
I remember that once my extended family went with us to kings dominion. There were children in the care and we stopped almost every 10 minutes because they had to pee. we were so annoyed. shopgurl101@gmail.com
blogged blogged: http://sweetqt.wordpress.com/2009/12/31/sprint-giveaways/
shopgurl101@gmail.com
http://twitter.com/shopgurl/status/7222423943 tweet
shopgurl101@gmail.com
We just went on an 8 hour road trip with my 16 year old neice. She entertained herself and other drivers by making "art" out of gummy bears stuck to my windows. By the time we got home the windows on her side were covered with goo. Uck!!
http://twitter.com/Shelliclickedit/status/7226627952
Probably the craziest was when our car caught fire outside of Grass Valley, California, in the middle of August for our big summer road trip to Disneyland. OMG the heat. When we got a tow to the service station, it was like out of a horror movie…a dozen old men on a coffee date stared at us without speaking the entire time we were there. I kept thinking we were done for lol I’m sure it’s a lovely town, but I’m not going back.
homeschooledyear at g mail
Twittered here: http://twitter.com/Leighbra/status/7226996038
homeschooledyear at g mail
We had a fun road trip to San Antonio Sea World last Independence Day. It was my baby's first long trip in a car, but to my delight, he didn't give me any hard time at all. At my husband's request, I started telling stories to keep him awake while driving. Funnily but not surprisingly, my baby fell fast asleep while hearing my stories, haha.
I have a crazy road trip story! My friend had just found out that his father was getting married the next day to a woman he had met a few weeks ago online (but never in person!). The first time the couple would see each other was at their wedding! My friend wanted desperately to try to get to his father and talk him out of what he thought was a bad idea so we drove all night to try to "stop the wedding", like they do in movies! Our trip was ridiculous, exhilarating, but serious at the same time. We got there too late though! (The woman later ran off with all of the husband's money and it wasn't her first time doing this to someone!) It was crazy!
tweeted: http://twitter.com/princessla66/status/7231623516
Think they'll let you out to pee if you're stuck in the holiday traffic line at the US Canada border for hours and hours? Think again. And then plan your pregnancies accordingly.
kathleenpoling (@) gmail (dot) com
My most eventful holiday road trip began December 26, 2006. We drove from our home in North Platte, 4 hrs east to Omaha where we were to catch a flight to Burbank, CA the next day. To be truthful, the action started on Christmas Eve when I had both ears hurting. I knew I had an ear infection, but all of the doctor offices were closed. I suffered through and made it to the doctor on the 26th, barely in time to get out of town at a decent hour. So anyway, the drive down was fine. The next day we get up, head to the airport and board the plane. This was the first time I had ever flown. Yeah. Sick as a dog! Turns out, I’m not a great flyer! We had a layover in Las Vegas and as soon as we get into the airport, I lost my balance and fell on my hands and knees. Then, I got up and made it (in record time) to the restroom…which I got to know real well. Everyone in our party wanted to eat…that was just about the last thing I wanted to do and my husband coaxed me into eating. Then, on to Burbank. As it turns out, the Santa Ana winds were vicious, we had an extremely rough flight…and I cried the entire time. It was horrible. We did finally make it to Burbank, and on to our destination of Disneyland…and the entire trip I had motion-sickness. Car, plane, bus. Uggghh. It sucked.
It wasn’t until we got home that I realized why I was so sick. I was pregnant. After suffering from infertility for 6 years, we were finally adding another little one to our family. While being sick like that was bad…it ended up being a blessing. My daughter Paige is now a 2 year old who lights up my life!
seeryusfam@msn.com
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