What Is A Road Trip You Would Love To Take?
From the age of 4, I went to several concerts every year, up until my last concert when I was 17. Over the years, I went with my Mum and my sisters. I’ve also been with my best friend and my then-boyfriend.
You’re probably wondering why I’ve mentioned that. Well, it wasn’t only the concerts which were the fun part, but it was the road trips to the venues that were fun too.
Concerts, most of the time, fell on a school night and I would sometimes leave school early so that we could get to the venue on time. Bearing in mind that we were in Norfolk and the two main venues we travelled to were in Nottingham and Sheffield, so 2 or 3 hours away.
We always tried to beat the rush hour at 5pm, with the concert starting at 7pm usually, thankfully we only got caught in it a couple of times.
Back when SatNavs were starting to come out, Mum always relied on the AA Route Planner, either printing the directions off or writing them down. They’d then be sellotaped to the passenger side so that whoever was sitting in the passenger seat could help, and often get the blame if Mum took a wrong turn.
While I was too young to have a mobile phone, the journeys were spent doing homework, eating McDonald’s or KFC, and singing along to whoever it was we were going to see that night.
9 times out of ten, I always went to school the next morning even though we didn’t get back until 2 in the morning. Still makes me smile…
How times have changed…
A decade later, and those memories will stay as that – memories. I now have hearing loss so I can’t sing along. I’m a full-time wheelchair user, which means everything needs to be planned, nothing can be spontaneous.
I no longer enjoy road trips, they stress me out. I haven’t eaten fast food in almost 4 years, and I’m not keen on eating when travelling long journeys.
The reality is that I, along with many other disabled people, can’t enjoy road trips on a whim. As much as we love our wheelchairs or powerchairs, it can be draining being stuck in one position for several hours.
Plus, we need to think about accessible facilities on the journey, what if we can’t find a disabled toilet or a Changing Places? Some of us can’t hold it in, and we limit our fluid intake to prevent this.
So the road trip I would love to take would be from years ago. Now, not so much…
What road trip would you love to take?
