Road trips

There's Nothing Quite Like a Road Trip!

There's nothing quite like a road trip to fully experience a new destination. Road trips are a wonderful way to get up-close to the local people, to discover their culture, to witness their history and architecture. And of course to taste the exquisite local cuisine.

Danielle and I both enjoy road trips for the freedom they bring and the measure of  control that they bring to your vacation travel. Fewer germs, more spontaneity, less waiting around in airports and train stations. Well of course, there's the traffic. But if you're driving a nice comfortable car with a great sound system, even that can be a somewhat pleasant experience.

The Open Road for Slow Travel

Another Road Trip advantage is that it enables Slow Travel. The slow movement as it applies to tourism and travel means not only travel at your own pace, but more importantly spending more time connecting with the locals, visiting them in their day-to-day lives, like exploring farmers' markets, meeting local artisans and discovering their work, attending local cultural events, and more.

One principle of Slow Travel is to use less environmentally damaging transportation, with air travel taking the lead in terms of emissions. If you don't have an EV yet, consider carbon compensation measures to offset the impact of your trip. The cost is minimal but worth the effort for your next trip. Typically, carbon offset programs involve planting trees which has the double benefit of reforestation and improving the beauty of the environment.

Ideal for Foodie Travel

Because we're foodies, we usually make it a point to visit wineries, cheese producers, charcuterie producers, food markets, growers of all kinds, etc. We try to avoid farms with livestock, especially in a foreign country because of issues coming back into Canada.

This section contains posts about various road trips Danielle and I we've taken over the years. Some are domestic, exploring areas in our own province. Other take place in a far-away country like one of our all-time greatest road trip in Italy)

What I find most appealing about a road trip is that you can make it into whatever you want, decide what your priorities are for any given occasion. In depth exploration or simply a way to get somewhere while enjoying the ride.

Our EV road trip machine

After driving a gas guzzler SUV for years, I decided to get serious about combating climate change in some small way by switching to an electric vehicle. Still an SUV mind you, but a highly efficient 2023 Nissan Ariya Platinum e-4ORCE Crossover SUV.

It's wonderfully pleasant to drive (huge understatement) and the battery delivers an impressive 438 km of autonomy in summer and 360ish km in winter.

Last fall in Italy we drove a DS-Automobiles DS-7 hybrid SUV. Also pleasant to drive and luxuriously over-equipped.