danger/u/
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Anxious on the road. Need some advice [SERIOUS THREAD]

| G/u/rls, I'm going to be on a long drive to my new home and I want to stay calm.

It would be silly to ask here, but I would appreciate some words of encouragement and advice on keeping my cool as I reach my new home town.


| Hello OP!! I believe in you!! When things get too overwhelming on the road, please don't hesitate to pull over to the side a little bit and take a breather. Also, nibbling on minty candy helps you focus on it instead of what you feel so i hope that helps too! You can do this!!


| Have sex and have fun.


| >>774008 We just passed by some people having sex on the side of the road. So I guess someone followed your advice lol


| Anxiety is what keeps you alive.


| are you driving or riding? if you're driving my advice is don't worry too much about individual mistakes. the goal is to keep the frequency down, not prevent them all.

if you're riding, well, I might not have any advice. I'd be pretty anxious in that situation as well! I get travel anxiety really badly and moving is hard for me as well. if there's anything exiting waiting for you there, maybe you can focus on that.


| Play some music, op! Fill that phone of yours (or other devices) with music files.


| podcasts or just audio to fill out the background noise with stimulation keeps me from going insane.


| Make a playlist with a bunch of absolute bangers, head bang if you want I do it when I get stressed. Have some ez to eat food like grapes or blueberries that are low focus to munch while you drive. Use a gps to keep navigation easy too!

And actually pull over (if it's safe) if you're feel overwhelmed. Bring sunglasses and make sure you're totally gassed up.

Best of luck OP, I know you'll pull through :)



| listen to podcast


| play America - Yes (the original Simon and Garfunkel version is good too)


| Keep the stereo playing at all times. Sing along.

Take opportunities to stop at gas stations and such. When you do, get something to eat and drink. Use the restroom. Stretch (no, seriously: stretch good).

If a stop looks sketchy, don't bother. It isn't worth the worry.

Follow road laws, drive safe: a police stop is the last thing you want to deal with, no matter how trivial the reason.


| If you get tired, don't push yourself. Get a hotel, or find a park to get some shuteye. Lock your doors, set an alarm. A 3 hour nap may not seem like much, but it'll go far.


| Look at license plate states. It's a good way to enjoy the trip, finding plates from states far away. Reminds you that you're all on a journey.


| Back to the stereo: If you typically listen to individual songs, a road trip is a great time to listen to albums.


| And remember: You've got this.


| The more afraid you are the more likely you are to mess up somewhere... just let your emotions go and it'll all be a breeze.


| Give us updates, too


| Ok, so a few things. This might go on for 1500 characters or so.
First of all, make sure nothing weird is happening with your car. When was the last time you changed the oil? Are the brakes good? Are the tires pumped to 5psi over what the door says? Do your tires have okay tread? Read the manual for this information
MAKE A PLANNED ROUTE! I don't know how many hundreds of miles you're going to drive, but it would totally suck if you ran out of gas in the middle of the desert, right?


| So about cars: The longer you drive them on a highway, the more efficient they are. Try to lay off on both the gas and brakes. Use cruise control. Remember how I said fill the tires to 5psi more than what the door says? You're supposed to do that on long road trips to prevent flats.
If you do get a flat, have your other driver wave a yellow emergency vest around in the air while you get the spare out and start setting it up. Even if you're a male, changing a tire isn't fun when you


| are tired! If you're a female, the more rugged the person that pulls over, the more likely that they'll help you and follow you to a spot off the highway to make sure you get help. Make sure you trust your gut feeling on this though, since like 1 in a million people might not have the greatest intentions.

Alright, so you are driving and you start to feel slightly drowsy. Don't get coffee, don't eat a meal, just switch at the next exit and refuel.


| Alright so you are driving and you look at the had gauge, and it's at a quarter tank left. You're good, right? WRONG! There are spots in the USA where there's no accessable gas station for 50+ miles in any direction. Backtracking wastes money and time. Plan your route so that you always have about ⅜ of a tank (between a quarter and a third tank)
Running out of gas is extremely expensive.


| It's expensive, but a large bottle of isopropyl alcohol is likely enough to get your no-gas car about 4 miles. If you immediately fill the gas tank with fuel after getting to the gas station, it won't cause any damage. I always have one in a protected area of my boot. The stuff is basically pure fuel with no additives.

Make sure you drive less than 14 hours a day TOTAL, with switching. Even as a passenger taking a nap, driving is still pretty taxing.


| When you hit the quota, stop and find a place to camp. I recommend against hotels, but if you can't sleep in the car, go for the cheapest 3.4★+ rated motel
Motels are a whole 'nother shpeel, but do the basics. Don't use their bedding, check for bedbugs, steal the soaps etc. When you wake up, go to a local dimer that seems busy in the morning
Diners have some of the best quality&cheap meals for driving! Keep the leftovers for snacking on the journey/lunch. Exploit the breakfast bar.


| Make sure every time you switch drivers, you both stretch and do 5-10 jumping jacks. You don't want to turn this road trip into a blood clot hospital visit!

I recommend using a Bluetooth device and vanced music (https://vancedapp.com/) to listen to music if you have unlimited data, but also every 2 hours you pause the Bluetooth and scan through the AM and FM channels for 15-30 minutes. Maybe every time you switch do that?


| News can be useful. Am channels are more evangelicalism/sports/News, and FM is usually music and news and talk shows, ymmv. Listen for traffic jams on the route you're taking. If there's a bad rush hour jam, try taking a longer way round! Sometimes you might find a cool spot or a better route than the gps thinks.
Oh yeah, download detailed offline maps for google maps beforehand. It's in the settings.
Make sure to stay hydrated, and learn how to use a diy water bottle bidet.


| Get a medium or hard sudoku book, and have one of you do all evens, the other odds. Try to see who can finish first! Doing sudoku helps your mind relax after it was super stressed with having to be aware of everything all at once.

Keep your screentime to a minimum. The passenger has full control of the phone, not the driver. The passenger is the navigator, and the phone is the driver's his/minimap. Distracted driving is most dangerous on long road trips.


| Alright, so I said that you should plan your gas station route ahead of time... But how? I use GasBuddy to plan routes and it saves me hundreds every year. GasBuddy also shows the lowest gas prices in the area! An exit l/service plaza gas station might cost $4 per gallon of regular gas, but the one just down the street could cost only $3.20! Make sure to check what the lowest cost station on your way is, and add that to your route.


| GasBuddy also has a route planning feature based on your average milage and tank capacity. It doesn't cost anything to use, and there's a free fleet card that you can use at any fleet-enabled gas station instead of a debit card. Most gas stations are fleet-enabled. Fleet cards can't be skimmed as easily as credit cards.


| When you get to the new place, deep clean a single room and bring in the mattresses! Then sleep for as long as you want. Then, deep clean the rest of the new place! Only after cleaning, fixing, and testing all the features is it safe to start moving in. If the place includes an AC, fridge, etc, make sure to replace the filters and clean out all the gunk from the coils/fins with something like Frost-king ac coil cleaner and water. You don't want a nonfunctional fridge!


| >>230a57 woah this is a lot of good advice

Total number of posts: 31, last modified on: Tue Jan 1 00:00:00 1627356667

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