Life: Road Trips On A Rainy Day Are A-Okay

Are you into road trips? I am, but I kind of convince myself that I am too busy or too tired or too disorganised to get out on the road a lot of the time.  Of course this simply isn’t true. A bit of shuffling and I jaunty ‘dive in’ attitude is really all you need to get road tripping. And some traveling companions. And a packet of Minties. And the Best of The BeeGees loaded onto your iPod (paying homage to the late Robin, of course.)

On Saturday, we took a trip. It wasn’t a big trip. It wasn’t even an overnight trip. It was a day trip, a mini-road trip of sorts, from Melbourne to Daylesford. Determined to bust out of the usual routine we got up early with a steely determination to get amongst it and get away.  The day was rainy, to be sure, extremely rainy… muddy even, but we didn’t let that deter us. We packed one kid and two adults into the car, coats, umbrellas, some back seat blankets and pillows for maximum comfort, some mobile internet (because we are tragically connected and this was the only way we could feel that we could safely ‘escape’ for the day!), an iPad and warm socks.  We drove off into the drizzle with hot coffees and the promise of warm pies for lunch and a bit of vintage shopping too.

We hummed along, out of suburbia and on to the highway amidst the traffic.  Then everyone kind of sighed as the usual things drifted away, the traffic thinned and we followed the road, the trees, the clouds, The BeeGees. Nice.  The  occasional outburst ‘Cow!’ ‘Horse!’ ‘Plane!’ ‘Potatoes!’ punctuated the journey as we wove our way off the freeway and onto country roads. There’s something about a car trip like that that transports you to other times and places. Maybe you were five years old, or fifteen, but memories thread themselves together across years and into now.  You sort of remember where you’ve been as you go where you are going.

In Daylesford we drove from vintage shop to bazaar to bakery to bookstore.  We tried a cafe, ate a counter meal, raided a sweet shop and avoided some ducks.  We looked for things we hadn’t seen, we ate things we’d always liked and we drove around the town noticing buildings and people and dogs and shops.  It was really pretty great to notice lots of other people out and about too, in family groups or hanging with their friends or just going about their day to day business if they were locals.

After all that ducking and sweeting and dogging and shopping and fresh air, we were a bit tuckered out. We headed home in the late afternoon, so we could eat leftovers for dinner in front of the heater and make plans for a Sunday on the couch with soup and DVDs.  The good thing about getting out (especially in drizzly weather) is that home seems SO MUCH more cosy and welcoming.  We’re going to give Daylesford another run on a sunny day, just to be fair to her.  Stay tuned for the Sunny Day Daylesford trip on JustB!

Top Ten Tips For A Quick Rainy Day Day Trip
1. Leave home early with coffee and a full stomach
2. Take some healthy snacks so you don’t have to stop at service stations on the way
3. Plan for wet weather and take coats and umbrellas
4. Do some research before you go, so you can have a nice lunch
5. Put the slow cooker on at home, if you plan to be home for dinner (and pick up some bread in the town you visit!)
6. Shop for mementos. It’s really nice to have a little souvenir of your journey
7. Always visit the local bakery or cake shop, because small town cake shops are THE BEST!
8. Sling an esky in the car if you plan to buy cheese or meat or small goods on your mini trip
9. Make sure you have really good music, like The BeeGees, for instance to listen to in the car!
10. Take heaps of photos so you can remember how nice your trip was.

Do you want to do a mini-road trip? Where will you go? Do you have any favourite road trip memories? Do you want to share them in the comments?!  Yes?!

This post is part of the Going places story sponsored by Nissan X-TRAIL. Road trip inspiration to get you moving.