Where would your bucket list US road trip take you? My American Dream focuses on the West Coast and southern states. Read on to find out why I’d give New York a miss and what’s stopping me hitting the road (Jack).
The ultimate American road trip
I’m about to share a secret I’m kind of ashamed to admit.
I don’t know how to drive, I hated the trillions of driving lessons I struggled through at 18, and worse still – I don’t actually want to learn to drive. I would scream and swear at my poor driving instructor because I was so reluctant to learn the rules of the road. I never took my test. Now, at 24, learning to drive (again) scares me, makes me feel incompetent and signals a grown-up that life that I’m still not ready for.
It feels like investing in a life I’m not that keen on living. Paying to learn, to take my test, to buy a car that will eat into all of my travel savings and then paying for car insurance and all that other boring stuff.
Normal is getting dressed in clothes that you buy for work, driving through traffic in a car that you’re still paying for, in order to get to a job that you need so you can pay for the clothes, car and the house that you leave empty all day in order to afford to live in it.
Learning to drive is a life skill, they tell me
Sorry, but I’m not interested. I like using my legs. Compact, walkable cities and fresh air. That’s my thing.
There is one reason, and one reason only, that I’ll ever learn to drive. Road trips.
I’d love to spend a carefree summer driving around Europe, and this desire has only intensified since I hitchhiked to Benicassim as a naive 19 year old.
Most of all, I want to do a USA road trip. The States’ rugged coasts and dusty roads provide the ultimate backdrop for the best road trip imaginable. Renegades like Jack Kerouac carved the way for generations after them to beat their own path, and I know exactly which states I’d be hitting up – and which ones I’d skip.
Why I won’t go back to New York any time soon
After spending three months in New York after graduation, I wholeheartedly knew it was not the city for me. Don’t get me wrong. At times, I really did feel like I was on a movie set; that Carrie Bradshaw or Serena Van Der Woodsen was going to stroll around the corner on Fifth Avenue and make me spill my Dunkin Donuts latte all over my ridiculous faux fur coat. Sometimes I’d be hurrying to the subway station with my affected NYC swagger and suddenly just become aware of how alive I felt. New York is where the world comes to chase their dreams and you won’t find the same palpable energy anywhere else.
I stood atop rooftop bars and gazed out at that iconic Manhattan skyline. I danced in dive bars in the Lower West Side and ate tiny cupcakes in Central Park and got lost in SoHo. There were moments of absolute New York magic, but the grime, the boisterousness and the extreme lack of chill were just not my scene. I was glad to leave. I’m not destined for big cities. I’m meant to spend my days on a beach. Guess it’s a good thing my current residency in Dubai lets me live the city life without ever straying too far from the sand.
So where would a US road trip take me?
West Coast dreams
Cali baby, I need saving. Your ugly big sister New York was mean to me and you might just be my spiritual homeland.
My dream is to hire a car or a camper van and set off on an adventure along the USA’s West Coast. However, I’m not sure I’ll ever actually get my license, so I’ve been looking at escorted US bus tours instead. What better way to live your own American Dream than with a bus full of new friends along for the ride?
I want brown skin, hair bleached from the sun and that radiant glow that only life on the road can bring. I’ve been in pencil skirts and work shoes too long. I belong in ripped denim shorts, anklets and bikinis. I will laze in the sand on every beach carved into that coast and I won’t feel one bit guilty about it.
There’s one aspect of a US road trip that I feel is integral to the experience. The food. Calorific and shamelessly indulgent, but delicious. Eating and exploring the US goes hand in hand and I want to eat my way around the states. Isn’t the best way to truly feel a destination to taste it? Break bread with locals and tuck in to the dishes that have been served up in their towns for centuries. Deep fried apple pie in Alabama, kale and avo toast in LA and golden fried chicken in New Orleans. I sense a spare fifteen pounds waiting for me somewhere on the road, and I don’t can’t wait to embrace them.
Of course, food isn’t the only thing that makes so many of us long to take to the road in USA. There are so many iconic sights along the way.
I wanna see the bright lights of Vegas and hike up to the Hollywood sign, cross the Golden Gate Bridge to those iconic pastel coloured houses in San Francisco, and learn to surf in the waves at Big Sur. Route 66 is the ultimate US road trip and I’ll blast the music as I hurtle towards Santa Fe.
Swimming in a waterfall is high on my bucket list and I figure I’ll tick this off in Yellowstone National Park after a day of chasing mountain lions and grizzly bears and dreams. I want to contemplate life while peering into the abyss that is the Grand Canyon at sunset and be there to watch the day break after sleeping under the stars.
Discovering the deep South
In Nashville, New Orleans and Austin I’ll rekindle my love affair with the 1950s. I’ll drink cherry coke and wear a pinstriped dress to the jazz bars and try to replicate that Southern drawl as I tell people about my hike in Virginia’s Appalachian Mountains and my time in Tennessee.
The south intrigues me and it doesn’t quite feel like a real place, so I need to go and see it for myself. What better place to learn about the southern states’ past than in Mississippi?
The USA is just waiting for you to explore.
What’s your dream road trip? Where should I stop when I go on mine? Let me know in the comments!
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TravelGretl says
Weird thing huh, roadtrips 🙂 I am totally not in love with driving too! Got my license when I was 23 (did not even try at 18) and almost never drive since 😉 But a roadtrip through europe to South Africa is one of my biggest dreams! Weird… maybe in my mind driving is much better at an exotic place or something?! 🙂
Dannielle Lily says
That’s encouraging, I kind of thought I’d be too old at 23 to pick it up! Wow that would be some road trip, I’d love to do that! You may have just inspired me that little bit more…
Iga Berry says
The more you think about driving, the more you stress out yourself. Trust me I have had the same problem! I am just taking it day by day and now as I have my driving license I still need sometimes to get back and ask – nothing to be ashamed of. When I did not drive for way too long I took extra lessons just to make sure that I am not putting myself and others in danger. Have a lovely day, Iga xxx
Dannielle Lily says
Reassuring words Iga, thanks! xx
Gabby @ theglobewanderers.com says
Ah I can totally relate. I HATED learning to drive… but ever since the day I passed, i’ve loved driving. I can’t explain it really but for someone who loves to travel, a car symbolises freedom and adventure in my mind (a good alternative when you’re not able to travel at any given time). But you’re right… it is also directly related to normality, the 9-5 and the dreaded commute.
Have you ever considered learning in an Automatic rather than a manual? That way it takes out all of the stress of actually working the car and you can just focus on the roads? Then you’ll get your road trip, your brown skin and sun bleached hair 🙂
Great post!
Gabby
Dannielle Lily says
That’s made me feel a little better Gabby! I’m torn between wanting the freedom and not wanting to conform… I guess driving is like a secret power: it can be used for good or evil haha!
To be honest I’ve always been put off automatic because I know my dad would laugh at me, but now it’s looking like an attractive choice. Thanks for stopping by 🙂
Eleanor says
I did about 2/3 of Route 66 with the family years ago, and I’m desperate to do the whole length one day with friends! There’s something about road trips and the U.S. that go hand in hand…
But I’m with you on the hating driving front, I took lessons and never became confidant behind the wheel. Living in London hasn’t helped my fear of other drivers, but the open road seems less daunting..
Dannielle Lily says
I bet that was incredible Eleanor! How come you didn’t do it all then, time constraints? Yeah I think the US is definitely the ultimate road trip destination, it’s all those open roads 🙂
Eleanor says
I think it was time, and we visited NY too I guess money had played a part too :3 My dad did the full road trip the year before with a friend, but he says there’s so many road side attractions you would need a looong time to get to see them all! Definitely worth it, even as moody teenagers my sister and I enjoyed it 🙂
Duke Stewart says
What an inspirational post, Dannielle!
I certainly want to do a USA trip like you, and soon! Growing up in the U.S., there were always long road trips with family and friends alike. Nothing over 8-9 hours though and that’s what I want. I want a multiple day trip across the country from east to west. I’ve been all up and down the east so going out west to places like Colorado and California are on my want to do now list!
I don’t blame you for not wanting to drive. There’s honestly too much aggravation and after I finish driving here in Korea, it will be a very happy break from that chaos.
Thanks for sharing this. I want to go on a road trip now!
Yanis says
Love this! I was just researching for my own road trip. Lots of ideas!
The Barefoot Backpacker says
Apart from a dalliance around 2003, I’ve never even tried learning to drive – and later this month I turn 40! It’s just one of those things I’ve never ‘needed’ to do – always living in places with good public transport links etc. In addition, I don’t really have a well-developed sense of spacial awareness; the idea of driving kind of scares me.
I’ve always been fascinated by the idea of the ‘road trip’ though. I think it’s one of those ‘quintessentially American’ things – it’s quite hard to plan an epic coast-to-coast type road trip when you live in a country two of whose coasts can be reached in a couple of hours from any given starting point and whose longest physical end-to-end route would take about 14 hours of non-stop driving. People *walk* it. Regularly.
However, if I did it properly, across the USA, I’d really want to do it in a group of about 5 or 6 friends, in some kind of ‘scooby-doo-mobile’; I wouldn’t be so keen on doing it with just one other person – if only because it’d be unfair on them to do all the driving!
There are two trips that capture my interest. One is the standard cross-USA one, but a Southern crossing rather than a Northern one, so say Savannah to LA via Memphis, Dallas, and Arizona. I think it would be a good combination of culture and scenery, sacrificing the delights of cities like Chicago in order to avoid the ‘endless steppe’ of the Midwest cornbelt (best seen overnight from a Greyhound).
The other is the North-South route, the Pan-American, ideally encompassing the South American section as well. It may be a cliched and well-travelled (at least by adventurers) road but I think that in itself confirms the reason to do it – because we can and we should see/do it for ourselves; there’s a reason it’s so popular; not just its length or symbolic meaning but also the places it takes you through are so different to each other and interesting in and of themselves.
Not that I ever well, but of course it’s good to imagine 🙂
Janet says
I would love to do the driving!!!
And all the things you mentioned.
Route 66 is my dream!!
Trouble is I am now 68 so feel Imay be too old.
Janet
cassy @ awaywestray says
I think we might be birds of a feather.
I have no desire to visit NY, but I’ve road tripped many times down 101 (Pacific Highway). I’ve connected Seattle to San Diego 3 times just this summer, and can’t wait to do it again. There’s always something new to discover…..did you know there are “witches cabins” near Portland? Yes please! And a sloth sanctuary just inside WA stateline? (Oh how I wish I could afford to go!!)