The Road Trip. Few things garner as much excitement and romance as this age old institution. As Americans, we are always told about great roads trips across the country. We’re led to believe it can change your life and is a highlight of growing up, and almost a right of passage. I agree that driving across the United States is an amazing experience. However, after reading an article about a road trip from Darwin to Broome last night in Australia, I started thinking about some other great road trips that I’ve done and want to do. The freedom of the road, having your own vehicle, the feeling of being able to do what you want, when you want is second to none. Amazing scenery adds to the allure of a trip with some good friends. Just writing this right now makes me want to get on the road and go somewhere! But here are some of my favorites and my wish list.

I’ve done a lot of cool road trips but I think my favorite was a trip that started in Prague, Czech Republic with three of my best friends. It was 2 years ago or so when I was living there for a semester of business school. We started off from Prague in a little rented Mercedes and headed straight for Munich, Bavaria and the German Alp towns of Garmisch-Partenkirchen. After we checked out Neuschwanstein Castle and headed straight to Liechtenstein. After heading down into the Swiss Alp towns of Davos and St. Moritz, it was up to Innsbruck and Salzburg, Austria and up into Cesky Krumlov and Budejovice before heading back up to Prague.

I say it was my favorite, not just because of all the awesome and amazing places we visited and saw but because of the circumstances around the road trip. Traveling in a car with good friends or even people you barely know can be an incredible experience where people can become closer as friends or become good friends quick if you don’t know each other. Awesome stories get told, random stops get taken, weird foods get eaten, strange smells get produced and lots of laughs fill the car. That’s the best thing about great road trips.

Some other trips I’ve loved include a trip around the Western National Parks in the United States. A road trip around Costa Rica and the rest of Central America. Heading down I-95 to Key West on the east coast of the US. Cruising around Southern Africa from South Africa, Swaziland and Lesotho up to Zambia and Zimbabwe and many others.

Some trips I am really hoping to do one day are Moscow to Vladivostok. The Karakoram Highway in Pakistan, the Pamir Highway in Central Asia, a trip along the northern coast of Australia from Darwin to Perth via Broome, and a loop around Alaska. I am sure there are others as well and I am interested in pretty much any road trip at any time. It is also one of my all time favorite movies!

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