A Family That Road Trips Together, Stays Together!

A family road trip does a lot of things to us. Enjoying new experiences, exploring new places and bonding with the people you love. As a team we’ve been fortunate enough to have been blessed with parents who loved the highways and that got passed on to us.

Let me tell you about how family road trips motivated us to love road trips too.

A Family Road Trip

I was practically born in a car! My oldest memory is lying in the back seat of the family Ambassador and listening to my parents sitting in the front seat talk about where they were heading to in our family road trips. The car in question was a family member, an integral part of us and our lives, one year older than me. In fact, I think, we might have cut a cake or two on his birthday!

I’d like to believe that my wanderlust has been genetically passed on to me. My grandparents have tripped to the 4 corners of the country, albeit using the rail road. My parents would look for an excuse to bundle up their clothes and food and luckily, me, and road trip to the nearest forest or a hill station or a beach. Needless to say, I loved my childhood.

Ever since, road travel holds a certain sweet spot in my heart. Just mentioning the roads, clicks a button in my head that brings backs memories of adventure, of exploration, of pure un-adultrated fun. The fun car games– the omnipresent antakshari to the counting cars of a particular colour, the pit stops to take a closer look at nature in its glory, the food!

To me there is no better way to explore the country other than by road. You can fly to a destination, you can watch rail tracks whiz by from your train, but you can’t beat the sights and smells of travelling by road.

Living out of suitcases

My father had a transferable job. Every few years we would pack up and go from one location to another. Our mode of transport – by car. I remember one such family road trip where my parents, my grandparents, my 1-year-old sister and I just upped and drove from Trivandrum in Kerala to Mumbai.

In the 80’s that was a 5-day trip, without the luxuries of online hotel bookings, or tolled expressways, or even proper sanitation facilities. But without an exception, all of us were gung-ho about doing his. My dad and I still consider this as one of the most memorable family road trips we have ever undertaken. 5 people and a baby in a 10-year-old ambassador travelling over 2000 kilometers! Bliss.

When you do such trips, you learn a lot. About yourself, about your family, about nature, about rules, about your car, about patience. Like the time we plugged a hole in the radiator of our car with hamam soap and bubble-gum! Also, we could change a punctured tyre in under 5 minutes. We also learnt how a jackfruit leaf can be quickly made into a spoon for ladling curry on to your plate and a million other things.

“It’s an old adage that a family that eats together, stays together, for me, a twist – A Family Road That Trips Together, Stays Together!”

My parents were experienced with family road trips. But if you’re a parent you might to read about how to road trip with kids, road trip hacks and road trip packing list essentials. You might also want to read about what Vineet’s mom has to say about his earliest experiences on a road trip!

Ready to plan your road trip with family? Head to our road trip planner or simply Hire a scout!