For my first travel blog I decided to tell you about a trip that I took this summer to Hilton Head Island, South Carolina with my family. My parents are currently building a house in Hilton Head so we have been making frequent trips to prepare for the building that started two months ago. However, we do not always get there in the same fashion, sometimes we fly, sometimes we fly or sometimes its a combination of both. There is a very small airport in Hilton Head that is not very convenient to fly into so often we fly into Atlanta, Georgia or Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. However, for this particular trip we made the decision to make the 13 hour drive from our house in New Jersey all the way down to Hilton Head.
Getting ready to leave the house is always very hectic when we drive down. This time I went down with my mom, my step dad, my boyfriend and the most important member of my family, my dog. The mayhem starts with deciding what time to leave. It is very difficult to get everyone ready to go at the same time when they know you wont leave without them. My mom is a morning person and for her the earlier the better. My step dad is the same way, he just wants to get out of the house because the sooner we leave the sooner we get there. However, my mom could not be on time for anything if her life depended on it. If she says we are leaving at 7 a.m. there is a very good chance that we will not get out of the house until 9 a.m. I like to sleep in so for me the later we leave the better. There is nothing I hate more than my mom telling me we are leaving at 7 a.m. and I am sitting around waiting to leave for two hours (this means I could have slept two hours later). On this particular day my boyfriend was working the night shift (6 p.m to 6 a.m.) so he wanted to leave later so that he could sleep a little after work. Deciding what time we leave happens only after we get into a few screaming matches at the dinner table the night before. We decided on 8 a.m. for this particular trip.
Then comes packing the car in the morning. A few more screaming matches happen during this process. Who wants to argue at 8 a.m. about whether the cooler of food goes in the back seat or the trunk? or over whether the biggest suitcase goes on the left or right side of the truck? or over whether the dog sits in the front seat or the back seat? or whether we do or do not need this much stuff for 6 days? Not me! 8 a.m is way to early to fight over anything... especially the stupid things my family decided to fight about on this morning.
So finally at 10 a.m.(two hours after our planned departure time) all 8 suitcases, 2 coolers, 4 beach chairs, 8 beach towels, 6 bags of groceries, 4 people and 1 dog are in the car and we are on our way!!! That is until 5 miles down the road my mom yells "stop! I think I left the stove on" and we have to turn around. It then took us another 15 minutes to leave a second time because the dog has to pee, my mom turns off the stove and I realized I forgot my make-up bag so everyone of course needs to get out of the car and getting everyone back in is a chore.
So again, we are on the road! Now we only have to stop for gas and at the bank. Now 20 minutes later we finally get on the highway and on our way. Keep in mind, this whole time I just want to get on the highway so I can go back to sleep.
Once we FINALLY got in the car and on the highway it was smooth sailing the whole 809 miles to Hilton Head. Now that the stress of packing the car and getting out of the house is behind us we are officially on vacation!
Once we were finally off 95 it was only a matter of time before we reached our final destination. The best part about the whole drive seeing the bridge that brings you on the island in the distance. Once we are finally over the bridge, we are officially in Hilton Head and we all could not be happier. Spirits were at the highest point this moment out of the entire day. We all completely forgot about all the fights and the amount of stress we went through earlier that day and the night before to get to this point.
The week could not have been more perfect. Everyday was sunny and around 80 degrees, in my opinion, perfect beach weather! We spent every day at the beach. Put me on a beach with sun and a beach chair and I'll be the happiest girl around. Then around 4:00 everyday it was time to get off the beach and get ready to go to dinner. Hilton Head may be a small island but there are plenty of amazing restaurants to keep you trying new ones everyday for an entire year.O.k. that may be an exaggeration but you get the idea. One day it was cloudy in the morning so we spent the morning shopping at the outlet mall that is a few miles off the island. Wait let me correct the previous statement, my mom and I shopped while my step dad and boyfriend trailed behind us asking when it was time to leave... every five minutes.
Six days go by and it is that time again... time to pack up the car and drive 809 miles home. One would think that it would be simple this time around. Everything fit on the way down there, everything should fit on the way home, right?? Wrong. The result of putting me and my mom in a outlet mall, showing my mom a grocery store and the boys a golf store will result with much more stuff to go home with then we came with and a few more fights. So when the car is packed to capacity and there is still a pile of things next to it my step dad starts yelling out of frustration at everyone who crosses his path. But eventually, everything gets in the car and we are on our way home.
Finally, after a great week in Hilton Head, after the 809 mile drive home and a few arguments getting the car packed we are home and I cannot wait to sleep in my own bed again!
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