Making a long trip can be very stressful especially if you are driving to your destination. At some point, you will need rest before continuing the journey for your safety and your health.
Therefore, when making a long trip you should stop for a rest or break every 2 hours or 100 miles to stretch your legs, get something to eat, or do a quick check-up on your car to ensure that everything is still in good condition before continuing the journey.
What is Considered a Long Trip?
A long trip is usually determined by the distance between where you’re coming from and your destination.
Long trips vary from person to person. I could take a walk down my street for about 30 minutes and I’d just say that I took a stroll but a friend of mine can’t even walk for that long without complaining that it’s too far.
Normally, a long trip lasts for about 3 hours or more, traveling farther than your neighborhood or within the same state especially when you have to spend more than a day in transit.
When Making a Long Trip You Should Stop for a Rest
As reiterated earlier, when making a long trip, it is wise to stop every 2 hours or 100 miles. For those preparing for DMV written driving test, the answer is 2 hours or 100 miles depending on the option given to you.
When driving over long distances, the body is positioned in an almost static manner and only your hands and legs are constantly moving.
After a while, it might get uncomfortable and you may need to adjust the way you’re sitting so you can be a little bit more comfortable but that is not very possible considering that you’ll be strapped to the chair by the seat belts and you might not be able to move as such.
You will need to come down from the vehicle and walk around, stretch your legs for some minutes, and get some snacks in preparation to continue the journey, afterwards, you can get back in your car and resume back to your journey.
What Should You Do if It’s Not Safe to Stop for a Rest?
When driving long distances and the environment or area you’re in is not safe to stop for a rest, you should keep driving until you get to a safer place where you can stop and park your car and take time to rest.
Stopping in an unsafe zone could be very dangerous, your car could be snatched away from you, and there’s the risk of getting robbed or kidnapped, or even being attacked by unknown people.
How Often Should You Stop For Rest When Making a Long Trip?
When you’re making a long trip, the number of times you should stop is dependent on how far you’re going and how soon you need to be there.
If you’re traveling over a long distance and you need to be there as soon as possible or perhaps you are behind schedule, you should stop to take a rest only when you’re really tired and can not go in again.
But under normal conditions, you should stop to rest every two hours or 100 miles to rest and stretch your legs and body generally.
Pros of Long Trips
Here are the advantages of embarking on a long trip:
1. Break From The Normal Activities
When you go on long trips, you get the chance to live those few hours or days outside of your normal life which probably includes work, picking up kids at school, going to get food at a particular place, and doing something outside of the usual
2. Explore New Places
Long trips give you access to explore and learn new things about the place you’re traveling to. It’s an opportunity to even learn more about the language, history, and culture of the place you’re in.
3. Appreciate What You Left Behind
Traveling out of your home sometimes helps you to understand how important home is and learn to appreciate it when you get back. It shows you the things that you don’t even pay attention to their importance because you have easy access to them.
4. Personal Growth
Long trips and traveling are very good ways to improve your growth as a person. It gives you time to focus on yourself and pay more attention to the things that you need to work on personally.
Cons of Long Trips
The disadvantages of long trips include:Â
1. Limited Choice of Food
Taking long trips can mean traveling to entirely new places and the type of food you eat might not be available in this new place or they only have the common food that everyone is familiar with, so you might not get what you want to eat exactly, you just have to make do with what’s available.
2. Possibility of Getting Lost
There is a chance that you will have a hard time trying to navigate your way around your current location if you are not very familiar with the place, you could even get lost sometimes.
3. Exhaustion
If you’re driving to your destination, there’s a higher chance that you’d be exhausted from getting there because driving can be energy-demanding when you have to drive long distances by yourself.
4. Language Barrier
This might be an issue when you travel to places where English is not the main language, you could be swindled because you are not familiar with or don’t understand the language that is being spoken.
Pros of Stopping for a Rest
The pros are:
- Reduced Risk of Muscle Tensions: Sitting in a position for a long time with all the vibration that comes with driving even on good roads can cause pains in your back, neck, shoulders, and legs. Therefore, stopping for a rest stop will help you regain back your stamina to continue the journey.
- Increased Alertness: When you take time to stop and rest, stretch your legs, and walk around for a little, the rate at which you’re alert increases, you become more aware of your surroundings unlike when you’re driving continuously, and you get tired and weary.
- Opportunity to Check The Condition Of Your Car: While taking time to rest, you can do a quick check-up on your car, and check if everything is still intact and functioning perfectly. Take time to check the brake fluid, oil, and coolant levels, and make sure your tire pressure is still okay just so you don’t feel idle while you have stopped.
Cons of Stopping for a Rest
The disadvantages are:
- Risk of Being Attacked: When stopping for rest on lonely roads, there’s a high chance that you can be attacked by thugs or car thieves and there’ll be nobody to come to your rescue especially when car drivers don’t frequently use the road.
- Arriving at Your Destination Late: When you stop to rest on the road, time passes, and the duration of your journey increases. If your journey is supposed to take 5 hours and you make 2 stops to rest for 15-30 minutes extra 30 minutes to 1 hour has been added to your journey.
Conclusion
Taking a long trip might just be what you need to get things right and properly make those plans since you’ll have time to yourself and you’re not bound by any schedule.
It could be a time to get together with your family and bond too. therefore, when making a long trip you should stop for a rest every 2 hours or 100 miles so that you don’t get too tired by the time you arrive at your destination.