Why 3 Travel Bloggers And A Minivan Is An Excellent Configuration For A Road Trip

Crew note: We realize that because VW is one of our sponsors, the tone of this post sounds suspiciously advertorial. We  want to assure you that all the stuff Peter says here is actually absolutely true.Just FYI in a CYA sort of way.

In a nutshell, this trip has been an absolute blast.  I’m not bragging.  I’m only bringing it up because I’ve been dissecting what’s happened these last eight days to find out what has made this trip such a complete success (while noting Pam and Kelly still have to drive BACK to Seattle).  And I think I’ve come up with some answers I’d like to share for those pondering such an endeavor.

1) Get A Mini Van - I never thought I’d say this out loud or type it in the semi-permanence of the Internet, but a minivan is a wonderful option for a road trip.  Maybe I’m just getting old or possibly more sensible.  I’ve road tripped in many a vehicle; station wagons, vans, Suburbans, sports coupes, Jeeps.  Nothing compares to the sensibility and ease of use I’ve found with our minivan.

Thanks to Pam and her connections, we found that VW was quite excited about lending us a Routan for the journey to Chicago and back.  And we were excited to have a vehicle to drive!  The Routan, named Snuffleupagus, arrived approximately 20 hours before out set departure time and it was oh so pretty.  All clean and new with only 6000 miles on the odometer.

As I write this post, now 2621.1 miles and 8 driving days since our departure, I can state with a firm tongue that the Routan is an excellent choice for a road trip.  It has a storage all over the place, including a sunken trunk that swallowed up our camping gear and travel bags and kept them well below the review view glass.  There is storage under the floor behind the front seats, excellent for muddy shoes or things not needed often.  Cupholders!  There are eight cupholders up front (most of which became gadget holders for us), sliding side doors with roll down windows making road side photography a breeze and a sunroof.  Our model was the base S model, without the fancy DVD players, navigation system or 110V outlets.

We average around 21MPG for the trip with the AC on most of the way with the minivan loaded pretty lightly.  Cruise control on the Routan worked quite well, keeping us up to speed on the most demanding hills.  And the manual override for the six speed transmission is located close to the wheel, making downshifting to pass traffic safe and easy.  With one of the mid seats flipped up there was plenty of room for a cooler and the three power outlet were enough to keep our massive thirst for battery charging sated.  I really liked that the middle slide doors created easy ingress when jumping out to grab a camera tucked next to the cooler.

The biggest gripe we all had for the Routan was the driver’s seat ergonomics.  For me, there wasn’t ample lumbar support and instead it allowed me to slouch too much while the the headrest pushed my neck forward.  Instead of cradling me, it forced me into a C shape that was uncomfortable after three hours.  The passenger seat was the same but didn’t require upright seating and thus was more comfortable slightly reclined.  Oh and the wipers. None of us figured out the wipers the first time each of us went to use them.  Those who had mastered the use still weren’t able to explain their use to the others.  They just seemed a bit odd to control and I’ve driven a VW Passat for five years.

2) Three Is A Really Great Number - Three travelers, be they bloggers or not, is really a great number for a roadtrip.  Again, I’ve traveled with groups from one to six and I found the three of us on this trip to be a perfect combination.  It gave us ample room in the Routan whereas four would have been just a bit more cramped.  It also allowed us to divide up the jobs; passenger seat was for navigation and handing things to the driver while back seat was the designated TwitterFone(tm) and napping spot.  The far back seat held items needed while driving, but not needed all the time.  While the VW would have held seven of us, I can’t imagine taking the trip with that many bodies.

Plus three people move better.  It’s still a small group so unloading and reloading was easy with no one in the other’s way.  No need to climb over the seats into the back.  Not to mention three people can decide on music easier than four or more.

3) Relax - None of us are uptight people and I didn’t realize this until a few days into the trip.  As mentioned previously, we really didn’t know each other that well before taking off last week.  Would they like listening to Jimmy Buffett when I wanted to chill out and Pink, Disturbed or Chemical Brothers when I wanted to drive faster?  What would camping be like with strangers?  And route finding…..are they the type of people to freak out when we make a wrong turn?

It turns out we are all fairly relaxed people when it comes to that little stuff.  And that was a huge relief once the reality of it sunk in.  Pam and I often sang along to most songs (even when we got Billy Joel lyrics wrong ), Kelly took to camping like a fish in water and many a ‘wrong’ turn was made with only a shrug of the shoulders and second check of the map.  We all knew we’d make it eventually.  No freak outs, no shouting matches.  Just going with the flow and adapting when needed.

Is three travelers and a minivan the ideal setup for your next road trip?  I can’t say with 100% certainty.  I do know that for this trip to TBEX it’s been the perfect configuration for me.