What's the worst thing about road trips?

I love LOVE LOVE road trips. There is so much I like so I had to think what has been the worst thing. My thought is finding a bathroom that is either there when you need it or not plague ridden. No offense, but I do not like the Unisex bathrooms (and I will say no more). What about you?

 

KIDS!! Ha ha. But seriously, when I take a road trip, it's the bickering, "bored" kids who ruin the drive. Usually on the way THERE they are better than on the way BACK.

 

I would say the same

I love being on the road, but one thing that gets on my way is finding bathroom or restroom. Oh, I had some worst experiences already with regards to that, it is absolutely not comfortable to just do your thing anywhere or to force yourself to use the public toilet that looks like it has never been cleaned fo decades

So when I do long road trips that is one of my most concerns.

 

For the three longer trips I've done, including a 16 hours one, the worst was really finding bathrooms, coffee and safe places to stop and rest for some minutes. That's one of the reasons why I prefer a highway to a normal national road, because at least you know that you'll have fuel stops with resting parking, food, coffee, clean toilettes, all the way through. Kids are kinda annoying yeah, especially when they start singuing(screaming I mean) and asking to pee one after the other every half an hour.

 

I don't use public restrooms, as a rule. If I HAVE to, I will. But I prefer not to. Porta-potties, NO WAY! Gross. I would rather go into a restaurant or something.

 

Washroom breaks are the worst! I find that coffee helps keep my stomach settled so I don't have to sit on the toilet, but then that has the opposite effect of making me have to pee a lot more. Sometimes it gets so bad that I'm having to empty myself before I have to fill up with gas for the car. I don't have kids yet so luckily I don't have to deal with that

 

Make profit of your calm and quiet travels until you have them. You wont regret it for sure. Hahaha. I don't know about your countries, but here, in the highway public stops everything's very clean and most of the times when I arrive at the toilettes they're being cleaned.

 

I am so "relieved" that others see the bathroom stop as one of the least fun things. I do recommend the large truck stops, since they seem to be clean, have decent restaurants for usually a hearty breakfast and supplies. Gas stations with Unisex are bad, but now I see so many without restrooms at all. Worst of all yes, is the dreaded porta-potty. I can't imagine anything closer to a contagion capsule than that. Many of the state rest stops I have been to, despite the bad rap, have relatively clean restrooms.

 

I really like road trips. Hopefully one day I can get and RV because I seriously really want one and even though gas will be crazy I would love to travel like that. The worst part to me is getting there. Especially if you have other people in the car. It seems like right before you get there the other people in your car get really really annoying. Does that happen to anyone else?

 

I believe the need to find a decent bathroom down the road is probably on top of the list, followed by the need to stop overnight in long trips that require full stop to have a nap.

I would also add wrong planning, having either food or water run out before getting the next gas station or convenience store down the road, and also the fact of being lured by a shortcut that may lead nowhere, and you don't know because you forgot a map or your car has no GPS system.

And the list should also include being down the road and have no cell or Internet signal, something frustrating and stressful to me.

 

I totally agree with the no signal part and the bathrooms. The gas stations in some places have horrible bathrooms. I always keep hand sanitizer in my car because even after I wash my hands, I still feel like I need sanitizer after leaving some of those bathrooms. It's very refreshing to find a nice clean one.

Not having a signal is always a pain. I'm always riding in a small town with no signal and only one gas station. It's like what do I do if I need to make a phone call. Last time I looked for a payphone it was very hard to find one.

 

I agree with a lot of you bathrooms have to be bad on road trips. They need to keep them nice for people traveling

 

MacDonalds may not have the healthiest or best tasting food, but they have consistently clean bathrooms. There is usually one near a gas station at the major exits. If you take a trip in Canada, the bathrooms in Tim Hortons are your best bet.

 

To me, they would be toilet breaks and traffic jams. I absolutely can't stand jams, road trips are supposed to be fun but when you're stuck in traffic, can't do anything, and at the same time need to use the bathroom ... things can get ugly.

 

Bathroom issues will definitely be a concern, but I think it would really be a hassle if the kid you're with puked or unintentionally did the call of nature in your car. How and where can you clean your car immediately?

 

Because all of us agree that bathrooms are probably the main concern we have while down the road, and trying to recall if there is a McDonald in the roadway I would like to go, a news story came to my mind and probably you heard about.

An insane woman who was driving to across the USA after his man, an ex-astronaut think so, and to avoid stopping down the road she took with her a disposable diapers provision.

This could be a good solution for long, non-stop trips, but I cannot imagine the odor, argh!

 

Just forgetting to pack some kind of drink and food. I perfer having something to eat now and again so I don't pass out! Water is super important though cause if you forget that you can get sick!

 

I think that the worst thing about a road trip is going back home and if it happens to be in the dark and you are tired. I really hate being tired to drive and then it gets dark on you and you feel as though it is really hard to get home.