30 years. That’s how long it’s been since I have taken a long road trip with my wife.
Sure, we’ve taken many road trips over the past decades, but they were with our children. So, those trips weren’t really a great opportunity to spend time with my wife or explore this country the way you do as a grown adult. We had a lot of fun with our children, and I'm so glad we traveled like that with them. But the experience is very different when it is just the two of you.
We have an empty nest now. All our children have jobs, significant others, and busy lives. We visit each other often, and we still take the occasional vacation together (e.g., vacations in Mexico, Alaska, etc.). Those trips are very much “destination travel.” We travel point to point and want to minimize the flight time.
Destination vacations are all about reaching your final destination and having adventures there. We set up a “base camp” (e.g., renting a house) and plan our daily outings for that area (e.g., backpacking, hikes, snorkeling, museums, art galleries, amazing restaurants).
Journey vacations are quite different. There is no single destination we are trying to reach as quickly as possible. Instead, we see the travel itself as the adventure. We don’t need to rush things! We can stop when we see something interesting and spend time exploring. Also, we plan a route that lets us meander through a series of stops along the way to visit family. We’ll stay a couple of days with each family member and have enough time to really catch up and do things together.
My youngest son recently took a journey vacation with his girlfriend, too. They drove up the coast to explore Northern California, Oregon, and Washington. They made several stops along the way to hike, see the sights, and have some fun experiences. They also set up in hotels in various cities and had time for exploring there, too.
We both rented cars for our trips. The savings from driving more fuel-efficient vehicles literally covered the cost of the rentals. In addition, we avoided the wear and tear on our personal vehicles that comes with thousands of miles of driving, which is another expense I’m happy to avoid later. Perhaps it isn’t always the case, but the current cost of renting is most definitely lower than what we would have spent on fuel and potential repairs.
The journey vacation experience was quite common when my wife and I were growing up. Our parents took us on trips multiple times a year, but definitely every summer. I have fond memories of that travel, the places we stayed, the food we enjoyed in other states, and visiting family.
It seems like this type of travel is fading away. I rarely hear of my friends going on road trips. This week, we noticed there weren’t many other people on the interstate (i.e., it was mostly large trucks hauling cargo). It seemed strange, and it was kind of sad.
Sure, destination vacations are a blast. But journey vacations are a unique experience, too.
You see more of the countryside, experience the small towns along the way, and can explore cool sights for longer. There are things we have seen and done that would never have happened if we had just hopped on a plane and flown over.
As I mentioned, we’ve also been using this trip to visit friends and family along the way. That simply would not have happened if we had chosen air travel. What would we do? Book a series of small-hop flights from city to city, rent a car multiple times, and deal with the hassle of air travel? No way.
While you’re planning your vacations every year, I hope you consider the concept of journey travel besides your usual destination travel. I know most people see that as some nuisance experience to avoid. But it doesn’t have to be that way. The journey itself can create wonderful memories you would never build otherwise.
Larry Cornett, Ph.D. | Empowerment coach, psychologist, nature lover, and fitness freak. I help you escape the “hustle trap” to create an empowered life that fits who you are and what you want most. From Silicon Valley exec to self-employed entrepreneur, I’ve also followed this path to freedom, so now I can help others find their way.
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