Ready for a Road Trip!

Road Trip Playlist:

“First” –Cold War Kids

“Bohemian Rhapsody”- Queen

“Can’t Hold Us”- Macklemore

“Wake Me Up”- Avicii

“Pompeii”- Bastille

“We are Young”- Fun.

“Run This Town”- Jay Z

“Domino”- Jessie J

“Sorry”- Justin Bieber

“Uptown Funk”- Bruno Mars

“Geronimo”- Sheppard

“Sugar”- Maroon 5

“HandClap”- Fitz and the Tantrums

“Our Song” Matchbox Twenty

“Radio”-Matchbox Twenty

“It’s a Beautiful Day”- Michael Buble

“Everybody Talks”- Neon Trees

“Happy”- Pharrell Williams

“Castle on the Hill”- Ed Sheeran

“Don’t Stop Me Now”- Queen

“Hakuna Matata” – The Lion King

“Shut Up and Dance”- Walk the Moon

“Work from Home”- Fifth Harmony

“Can’t Stop the Feeling”- Justin Timberlake

Road Trip Podcasts:

Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me!

This American Life

Hidden Brain

I love road trips! I have been going on road trips for as long as I can remember with my family. I’m talking serious, cross-country road trips. For example, when my family moved from Atlanta, Georgia to Mesa, Arizona we decided to make it into a mega road trip. We went straight up the east coast to Washington DC and New York City then down across through Kentucky and over to Texas and then on to Arizona. What a unique way to see so much of the country! So naturally once I got my license I started taking my own road trips with friends. Though typically they are much shorter than some of the ones I have taken with my family. Though I did drive with a friend from Mesa, AZ to Orlando, FL over the course of four days.

This Spring Break I stayed in AZ but still managed to take a road trip up to Sedona! For any of my road trips I like to have music to set a fun and easygoing mood. All of the songs that I chose for this road trip set a carefree, fun, and excited kind of mood. Some of the songs explain themselves such as “It’s a Beautiful Day,” “Hakuna Matata,” or “Don’t Stop Me Now.” The other songs with less clear titles are either fun to sing along to or simply put a smile on my face. Together this playlist will definitely create anticipation and excitement for any destination.

Outside of songs, though, oftentimes on car rides I enjoy listening to podcasts. Typically I listen to NPR podcasts; my favorite of which is  “Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me!” It’s a news quiz that is not only informative, but it is also very funny. The other two NPR podcasts that I listen to always have really interesting stories that are great if you’re looking to pass the time quickly.

Favorite Quotes from “On the Road”:

“…I saw the entire state of Nebraska unroll before my eyes.”

“The magnificent car made the wind roar; it made the plains unfold like a roll of paper; it cast hot tar from itself with deference – an imperial boat.”

“God knows if she was complaining, but he raced.”

“Now I could feel the road some twenty inches beneath me, unfurling and flying and hissing at incredible speeds across the groaning continent with that mad Ahab at the wheel.”

“When I opened them I saw flashing shadows of trees vibrating on the floor of the car.”

“It was beginning to look like the soft sweet East again; the great dry West was accomplished and done.”

“Pretty soon the redness turned purple, the last of the enchanted rivers flashed by, and we saw distant smokes of Chicago beyond the drive.”

I loved these quotes because they create some amazing imagery. Plains unfolding like a roll of paper, the road flying and hissing underneath the car, and flashing shadows of trees vibrating on the floor of the car. These quotes reminded me of some of the scenes from road trips that I have taken, staring out the window as trees fly by and the sun flashes across my face amidst the trees. Or passing through the desert of Texas into the swamps of Louisiana and Florida, noting the vastly different landscapes. While planes are another amazing view, they don’t give the same opportunity to stare in admiration at the landscape or towns like road trips do.

Here is a video I made of my road trip and time to Sedona! The song choice is because we got engaged in Sedona a year ago, so we revisited our engagement spot and tried a new hike too!