The Accidental Road-Weary Traveler

Just back from an 8-day road trip up and down both coasts and through the middle of Florida, complete with our little Emma the beagle in tow. During those eight nights, we slept in four different beds and visited seven distinct groups of friends and family. It was a wonderful trip, and it was an exhausting trip. Here’s what we learned:

• Time and distance is hard to measure. Our agenda was over-anxious, with too many destinations in too-short a period of time. The trip began with a lovely lunch with my Aunt Sylvia in Savannah, GA, a three-hour visit when we had estimated a one-hour visit. It was time well-spent and we wouldn’t have traded it for anything in the world. But rather than spending an afternoon in St. Augustine, we were lucky to grab a wonderful dinner on the outside patio of Columbia, a traditional Spanish restaurant that rightfully came highly recommended. That meant we got back on the highway at 8 p.m. and pulled into my niece Joanna’s home in New Smyrna Beach at 10 p.m. We don’t like night driving, much less interstate driving at the end of a 12-hour day.
• Because we had committed to different groups of people on specific nights, we did not give ourselves the freedom to meander throughout the state. That is also a pitfall of a “schnorring” vacation. “Schnorring” is generally used as a pejorative Yiddish word for begging, which means we were taking advantage of the hospitality of friends and family rather than staying in hotels along the way. Yet another learning experience… New Smyrna was followed by visits and stays in Palm Beach Gardens, Coral Gables, Fort Myers (where we lay down our heads for three consecutive nights, courtesy of my sister- and brother-in-law, Laura and Tom Anello), Culver City, and The Villages, for two nights with Marvin and Cindy Ivy, friends since 1980. Are you exhausted reading this list? I am exhausted just typing it and thinking of those friends and family we didn’t see, particularly on the East Coast of the state.
• The “visitation” schedule left no time for sight-seeing. What we did not see on this trip was a manatee, an airboat tour through the Everglades, the Dali Museum in St. Petersburg, or the sights of St. Augustine. As Allan so wisely reminded me, this trip was about the personal visits with friends and family, not about the sites. That will be another visit to Florida!
• Initial concerns about traveling with Emma went unfounded. As usual, she was easy and delightful. But here’s my new insight: I now believe it is an intrusion to take a dog into someone else’s house, despite what they say, unless they own a dog, and maybe even if they own a dog or two. Non-dog owners are simply not used to having dog paraphernalia around, and dog owners must separate your dog and their dog during feeding times so they don’t fight over each other’s food. So while there were no dog incidents or comments, I felt, at times, that Emma was an inconvenience to our hosts. At other times, I felt they were happier to see her than us! She certainly was a conversation-maker wherever we walked with her.
• Packing for your dog is like packing for a child. Besides her bed in the car, there was a large canvas bag with her bowls, kibble and snacks, and a cooler, because we had been feeding her a refrigerated chicken product (that we are now dropping from her diet). As soon as we got home, we ordered a travel bag for dogs from chewy.com that will consolidate a dog’s needs for a week. We will pack better for her next time.

So here are a few rules of thumb based on what we have learned for our next road trip. We will visit fewer locales for longer periods of time, adopting the rule from one friend of at least a 3-night stay in each location worthy of a visit.

We will travel with Emma again, but I think only to homes with dogs or to pet-friendly hotels.

We will not travel so close to the start of the New Year. I felt I was still carrying the extra carbs, as well as a pound or two, from the Thanksgiving and Chanukah/Christmas holidays, and did not need to add on an extra 8 days of car travel, meals out, and extra wine bloat so quickly.

Most important of all, we will give ourselves time to slow down, smell the flowers, feel the sand in our toes, and come home tanned and rested.

Thanks to all of our dear friends and family who so graciously opened their homes and hearts to us and Emma!