I live in a fifteen-passenger van. Where do you live?
10 Rules of Constant Travel:
- You can never have too many pillows.
- Put the loudest kids in the back-back-back seat. They’ll distract each other.
- While the loudest kids are distracting each other (loudly), take a moment to enjoy your earbuds.
- Forget that old “keep your feet off the seats” rule.
- Never underestimate the power of sleep.
- Be flexible. Mold yourself to the shape of the seat, and deal with the subsequent falling asleep of arms and legs.
- Don’t let your mom pick the CD unless you want to listen to sermon tapes.
- On that note, bring plenty of good music.
- Avoid sitting in the middle front bench seat. You will be doomed to pass food and other items back and forth for the rest of the trip.
- Start the day in a good mood. That way you’ve got a better chance of retaining it.


Grace on 16 Aug 2009 at 1:24 pm #
I learned pretty much all of those whilst traveling to and from Regionals. heehee. The good times are always so good.
<3
benjc91 on 16 Aug 2009 at 5:48 pm #
Hahaha!! SOO true!! wow… that really brings back lots of memories. I wish someone had given me this list before I ever made any trips to visit my grandparents in Tennessee…
Seriously though, next time we take a long trip, I’m going to be lik, handing out this list to everyone. (in order to, ya know, enSURE a pleasant trip.)
JoyH on 17 Aug 2009 at 1:39 am #
Haha! I agree!
I learned a few of those on the plenty of long road trips we take.
Like, the pillow one…
Miss Eyebright on 17 Aug 2009 at 2:59 pm #
Boy, all of that sounds SO familiar! I completely understand ALL of those rules!
Christina on 17 Aug 2009 at 3:09 pm #
Oh my goodness, YES to all of these. Especially number 6. and 5. and 7. And…well, all of them. (Although I’ve never had to sit in the middle front bench seat, thank goodness. Probably because my dad stows his briefcase (or, on long road trips, a cooler) in the space between the two front seats and my legs are too long for me to sit behind it. Phew!)
Does your family assign seats to people, and make them stay in those seats forevermore? Because that’s what my family does. I leave it up to you to figure out the pros and cons of this arrangement. For the most part, I’m happy with it…probably because I get a window seat with another row in front of me. Perfect for sleeping. -grin-
Your blog always brings a smile to my face. Keep being awesome!
Beth on 17 Aug 2009 at 4:05 pm #
Haha! Too funny…we keep a cooler in between those seats too. Hence all the passing-back-and-forth of various food items. And just recently my mom started assigning seats, much to everyone’s dismay. Ah, well.
Aw, your comment totally made my day. Thanks.
Taylor on 17 Aug 2009 at 7:27 pm #
Haha, very good rules, if I do say so myself. Yah, passing out food is a big pain, that’s why I don’t like sitting in the pasaanger seat when we’re going through a drive-thru. I hope you’re having a good week!
Blessings,
Taylor
PS Did you ever get the e-mail I sent you?
AlexB on 18 Aug 2009 at 2:04 am #
I don’t mined passing out food that much. Because I normally charge a fee like taking out a hand full of chips first.
We don’t normally assign seats, but we do say in the seats after we take them but only for 1 or 2 trips not *FOREVER*!
God bless,
Alex
Taylor on 19 Aug 2009 at 11:50 am #
Okay, I’m glad you got it! Life after FASA…hm…I’m still winding down from it, like you. I haven’t really been practicing, because school has already started, and now that I’m in 9th grade, the school has gotten longer and harder. My lessons start in September, so I will really start practicing more then.
Haha, I wrote that one entry about the hobbits when I was very hyper, but all of it was true.
Pippin’s great!
Blessings,
Taylor
Nathan Harris on 20 Aug 2009 at 7:48 pm #
!Brilliant!
1 Put the loudest kids in the back-back-back seat. They’ll distract each other.
2 While the loudest kids are distracting each other (loudly), take a moment to enjoy your earbuds.
If you can have find peace in a fifteen passenger van that it carrying loud kids, you’re amazing. Some friends took my brother, Andrew, and I to the Highland Games in Houston this summer, and I was assigned the passenger seat.
Despite the significant distance from the back seat choir, the volume and energy that they emitted as they sang “She’ll be Comin’ Round the Mountain” was so great that I couldn’t think-literally!
Fortunately, we didn’t stop at a drive-through: their were eleven passengers.
7 Don’t let your mom pick the CD unless you want to listen to sermon tapes.
8 On that note, bring plenty of good music.
In my case, it’s my Dad-we listened to Sting (who I can’t stand) all the way to regionals last year. Ugh. And I didn’t have any other music with me.
These rules must be remembered for posterity.
-Nathan Harris
Dunvegan Highlander
Hannah on 28 Aug 2009 at 3:38 pm #
*Laughs* Ha, that’s funny and so true. My sister and I are going on a ten day road trip with our grandparents on Sunday, so your list was very fun to read!
Blessings & Love,
Hannah
Hannah on 28 Aug 2009 at 3:39 pm #
Nathan, I read your comment, and I gotta say, I LOVE Sting.
Hannah
Hannah on 28 Aug 2009 at 3:40 pm #
Beth, I was wondering, could you add a feed to your blog, so I could subscribe to it?
Blessings & Love,
Hannah
Dunvegan Highlander on 28 Aug 2009 at 3:45 pm #
I’m sorry.
One song…something about rain…tears from the sun, tears from a star…has an annoying, melancholy, but special feeling to it, because I had it running through my head for the first three nights of our stay in Arlington, during regionals. But otherwise, I really can’t take him…
-Nathan
musicmaiden on 01 Nov 2009 at 3:23 pm #
I found your blog by searching NaNoWriMo, and this post made me smile! Too funny! Good luck on your novel – I can’t believe you got 3,000 the first day!