A road trip, my favourite way to travel, would never have taken me to my most memorable trip across the ocean in the Netherlands, but it certainly took me to many other memorable trips in my home country of South Africa.
Why a road trip?
Well, we could drive at our own pace, stop wherever and whenever we want, admire the natural wonder of our diverse country, and take a detour if we see an interesting signpost.
Of course, I'd quickly check the review score if it's a long and winding road so we could make a U-turn and not risk a flat tyre in the middle of nowhere!
We've discovered many hidden gems like this.
My Arthur had a sense of adventure, always wanting to explore, had the patience of Job, and never complained if I led him to the middle of nowhere.
That was before cell phones and search engines.
We relied on good old Map Books back then, which required careful route planning. We had to write down the route and distances, sometimes draw out the route, and look out for the turnoffs to the next town! We sometimes would get lost, and have to stop and ask locals
Moms had to pack a picnic basket, or 'padkos' as we call it in Afrikaans.
There were no convenient rest stops along the highways, you'd only find a fuel station, and if you were lucky, a small cafe, and a toilet in the main building.
We missed many photo opportunities because we only had cameras, and some of those old photos have faded and become yellowed with age.
Thanks to digital technology we now can take spur-of-the-moment photos with our cell phones and store them forever, something the younger generation takes for granted. We would never in our wildest dreams have thought this was possible.
As for the lady inside the navigator, well, that would have sounded far-fetched in my younger days!
Many memorable trips
There have been many memorable camping trips when I was just a kid, always exploring the coastline, and occasionally inland; as long as there was a dam. My family were keen anglers.
When we got married and had our two sons, we always travelled by road; up or down the Kwazulu Natal Coast, camping when they were small, and later on in timeshare resorts.
There were many memorable trips to other parts of our diverse country:
The majestic Drakensberg mountains, Northern, Central, and Southern Berg, where we did many day hikes;
The Game Reserves, with the Kruger Park being the most memorable. It is the largest wildlife sanctuary in South Africa, with an abundance of wildlife. They used to play drums around dinner time, and the only sound you would hear late in the night was that of nocturnal animals;
The Blyde River Canyon, the third-largest canyon in the world, with breathtaking sights like the Three Rondavels, God's Window, and Bourke's Luck Potholes;
Our trip to the Overberg region in the Western Cape just before COVID lockdown was another dream holiday. We flew to Cape Town with friends and hired a car at the airport to explore the Overberg region with its stunning mountain ranges, and a small fishing village, and then went to Agulhas, the southernmost tip of Africa.
It was carefree days before masks became the norm.
My Most Memorable Dream Trip...
The best was my trip to the Netherlands to see my son and his girlfriend's newly adopted country.
I wrote many blogs about that trip as they took me on a whirlwind tour of many cities and towns. It was my first time overseas, and the first time I travelled solo; bittersweet at times, but fabulous experiencing a different culture, a blend of historical and ultra-modern architecture.
We visited Amsterdam, went to the Anne Frank Museum, a live Hauser concert; clocked up a record number of steps on cobbled streets, and saw canals, windmills, wind turbines, cheese and the most gorgeous fresh produce as well as flowers at farmer's markets, bicycles, museums, art gallery, churches, the ancient fortress city of Naarden, Utrecht, Rotterdam, The Hague, Scheveningen, Gouda, Delft, Weesp, and went sailing on the Ketelmeer.
I wrote a synopsis of my trip -
The Finale - Tale of Eleven Dutch Destinations - Jaunts Twelve to Eighteen
@ericvancewalton's Memoir Mondays has been stirring up some wonderful memories, and as you can gather from my blog, this week's question is:
What's your favorite way to travel and your most memorable trip?
As you read, it was not easy to choose the most memorable, but it was a great trip down memory lane remembering some of the older trips.
I'm afraid the travel bug has me tightly in its claws. If I had the chance, I could easily become a wandering gypsy!
Create your own Forever Memory Bank
Join our community of awesome content creators
right here on HIVE
𝙁𝙤𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙔𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙜 𝙖𝙩 𝙃𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙩
Join our Silver Bloggers community 
Artwork by @artywink
Excellent post @lizelle, I love road trips best of all. Our best trip was driving cross country when we were first married, with no kids. We used real maps also, I love, love to read maps, even though we did get pleasantly lost at times. 😏
We were on the road for 50 days, camping most of the way, but we were so in love and the adventure just made us both appreciate each other more.
I am so happy you made the trek across the sea to be with your son and his family, looks and sounds like a dream trip.
Be well my friend.
Just like you @farm-mom, I still have a fascination with map books, even though Google Maps Navigator helps get us places, but it's way nicer seeing the route on paper! I don't think the younger generation understands that
I love how you 'pleasantly' got lost at times, we often found hidden gems that way.
It truly was a memorable holiday with my son and his girlfriend. I've never walked as much and seen so many places in such a short space of time.
Look after yourselves as well my friend <3
It sounds like you have some incredible memories of past trips! Road trips are the only travel the average American did when I was a child. Airfare was too expensive for the lower middle class in the 1970's and 80's. I didn't take my first flight until I was 24 (I sure have made up for it since). There were so many roadside attractions too, it was always a fun adventure. I remember the paper maps too!
Yes, it was the same with us, we could not afford it when growing up, nor when our children were small, but we had many wonderful road trips.
We only had one airline back then, once more commercial airlines opened, competition was stiff so you could get local flights for next to nothing.
It often worked out cheaper than driving, so we would hop on a flight to visit our sons in Johannesburg.
COVID sadly closed many of them down, but flights are still more affordable than back then.
I used to love looking at the paper maps, and working out routes😉
Road trips were so much fun back then! In 70's and 80's America there were still lots of unique shops and restaurants on the roadside, today it's mostly franchises. We used to get these maps called TripTiks for longer roadtrips. Navigation apps have all but put them out of business. They were great because they included trivia about the places you were driving through and hotels/restaurants/attractions.
)I can't believe how much the price of airfare has increased since Covid. Overseas flights are 2-5x more from the US.
There's also only franchises here at the rest stops, one has to turn off the highway to see quaint shops.
Gosh, that is a huge price increase! COVID killed so many facets of life!
What fun trips you have taken! I have a good friend here in Panama who is from South Africa. I always enjoy reading more about where she came from! Enjoy your day!
Hey @apanamamama, great seeing you here, it's been a long while. I must pop over and see what you've been up to!
Is your SA friend on Hive?
Yes, how is it that I keep forgetting about Hive for months at a time? At least this time I could remember the name of it...last time it took me a while to think what steemit was replaced with. :) Oops! My friend isn't on Hive.
Congratulations, your post has been added to Pinmapple! 🎉🥳🍍
Did you know you have your own profile map?
And every post has their own map too!
Want to have your post on the map too?
Thank you Mr @pinmapple, going to miss you!
What beautiful places you have traveled to. You look very happy. We are happy for you too. New airs, and above all you share it, that is to say we travel with you. Greetings friend.🥰❤️❤️❤️
That's the magic of Hive, that we can see the world through the eyes of other Hivers. I hope you're having a good week @mamani <3
Good memories walking down memory lane, lovely photographs to remember in albums and now digital. Love life and every moment, have a fun day!
!LUV
!LADY
lizelle, joanstewart sent you LUV. 🙂 (2/10) tools | trade | connect | wiki | daily
Made with LUV by crrdlx.
We're actually fortunate to have seen how technology developed over the years, great to have a place to store it forever.
I've also learnt just how precious and fragile life is, we need to make the best of each day.
Life is fragile, simply look at nature, havoc that could unfurl after geomagnetic storm release, I believe another will hit in approximately two weeks when rotation of sun spots will face earth again.