Responsibilities Barely Visible in the Rearview Mirror

Minivans are usually associated with soccer moms and families with an overwhelming number of screaming kids, but they are a brilliant car for group road trips. That’s why six friends and I copped Ian’s parent’s minivan at the beginning of October for a 10-hour drive to Carolina Beach from Cincinnati. We were prepared: a healthy balance of salty and sweet snacks, cups to distribute said snacks, plenty of hand sanitizer, a cooler filled with drinks, and a wide array of road trip tunes organized into playlists by mood. 

The driving itself wasn’t bad and we occupied ourselves with games like Cows (essentially claiming cows and person with the most wins) and lots of bumpy car naps through mountain roads. There are distinct differences between a road trip with close friends and a road trip with your family. Family members tend to have no qualms with expressing their exhaustion, irritability and annoyance. Friends are at least a little nicer about it. 

We arrived at the Airbnb at a crisp 3:30 am and immediately headed towards the siren-call of the black sea after unpacking. I was filled with an immense sense of freedom and belonging being close to the ocean again with the wind whipping my hair and my friends laughing as they splashed each other with the cold saltwater. This feeling is what would carry me through the rest of the trip. 

Our weekend was full of small adventures—like exploring the locally-owned shops of Wilmington to find the most ridiculous t-shirts possible, catching a giant grasshopper in an ice cream parlor, and getting demolished by waves body surfing. It was both an exhausting and rejuvenating trip. We spent long hours in the sun swimming, shopping and exploring. On our beach day we forgot to buy boogie boards, so we did our best to catch waves just using our bodies. This was great in theory, and worked about every eight attempts, but the majority of the time I was getting pummeled by waves. I would get flipped end-over-end under the water and hit all the shells on the sand. I would also lose the top of my swimsuit and have to fumble with it before coming up for air. After a particularly bad one where I couldn’t figure out which way was up, I decided I had been abused enough by the ocean and tried to leave the water. However, on my way out, I got knocked over again and ended up with a painful scraped and bleeding shin. This day, surprisingly enough, ended up being the most relaxing one also. Minus my sore shin, the beach was a good time and I got a lot of reading in. Once back at the apartment I was able to finish my book in bed while Carlos led the cooking of fish, potatoes, and asparagus for an awesome group dinner. It was all very chill and wholesome. 

I love that we were able to take this trip in the middle of a stressful semester in order to unwind and also reconnect with each other. It can be hard to maintain friendships when school starts to kick your ass and all you want to do is sleep when you aren’t working on the 80 assignments you have due Wednesday and going on a road trip is the perfect way to escape all of that at least for a little while (with proper planning around due dates of course). It’s also important to take time to practice self care and kindness with yourself which can be hard with looming deadlines and an urban setting, but there’s no better place to slow down and unwind than along the coast.

Some of our group road trip playlists!