In the previous two years, I’ve been a passenger princess on each trip back and forth for the holidays with my older brother at the wheel. This year, I finally have my own car that I lovingly refer to as Beck. Beck and I will be braving this year’s trek home to the city alone.
Beck has character. She’s equipped with Apple Carplay, my What? the band magnets and battle scars of dents and scratches, some new and some from before we met. Together, we can do this.
Mentally preparing for the drive isn’t the hard part. It’s preparing to sit in traffic for hours on end for a drive that normally takes two hours, two and a half at the most. I’m anticipating this drive to go into overtime and reach four hours (if I’m lucky). The home stretch of the Staten Island Expressway is expected to be the most brutal.
In training, I’ve taken some lengthy drives to get used to hours without movement. Taking weekend trips alone has helped me get used to maladaptive daydreaming while focusing on driving.
Still in the works is my playlist for maximum enjoyment during my trip through purgatory, also known as New Jersey. What to listen to? Hype music to keep the energy up? Punk music to fuel the road-rage? Sad indie music to take advantage of the alone time and heal my inner child?
While we are all stuck in traffic-solidarity, let’s all try to keep the kindness in our hearts to refrain from beeping when we poorly merge and collectively make the effort to use our turn signals.