If given the option, I would prefer to fly the friendly skies.

This evening I will be embarking on my third road trip. Which to me is anything over 6 hours.

My first road trip was a family vacation to Niagra Falls/Toronto/Syracuse, NY when I was nine years old. The parts where we were far away from the car were by far the best memories of that trip. Riding in a car for 10 hours with my Dad still gives me nightmares. Let's just say he isn't winnning World's Most Patient Driver awards any time soon. He has very little tolerance for other drivers. Which, who don't?, but when you're 9 and you're thinking you're heading for some family fun, and you see your Dad give the finger on numerous occasions, you put your head down and sleep the rest of the trip. It was the last time we ever drove to a vacation destination.

And I really didn't do much road tripping in college. I majored in Psychology my freshman year, so I can accurately determine that it's because of the experiences I had driving with my Dad that kept me away from them. I didn't need that stress in my life at the time.

My most recent road trip was to New York City two summers ago with MD, Turtle Parade and Mr. Turtle Parade. I'm happy to say that that road trip was far less painful than my first one. It was fun, we didn't get lost once (not even in The City!), and no one got pissed, everyone kept their fingers to themselves.

So let's hope this streak continues as we head to Charlotte in a minivan tonight.

I got all my road trip snacks, the Garmin, the portable DVD player, the laptop, the laptop adapter, the iPod, the iPod charger, everything you (now) need for a road trip. We're bringing the paper map, but only to use as toilet paper if we have to stop along the side of the road.