Are you ready for a road trip?.. Gr8 Way for Outing.. Late Nite & Long Drives ..Nite Outz

Are you ready for a road trip?

By Erika Rasmusson Janes Early in our dating days, my husband and I took a road trip from New York City to Minneapolis. I knew the 21-hour trip could make or break our relationship—after all, being confined to a car for so many hours was sure to bring out annoying, er, interesting quirks in both of us (like my frequent need for bathroom breaks and his fondness for Broadway show tunes).

1. Talk about the trip before you take it.
“People have wildly different underlying reasons to take trips, even when they seem to match up perfectly on the surface,” says www.RoadTripAmerica.com editor Megan Edwards. So discuss some key questions before you leave.

2. Don’t be afraid of silence.
It’s almost inevitable that one of you will want to tune out at times. And that’s fine. “Quiet time is totally appropriate on a road trip,” says psychologist Terri Orbuch, Ph.D. “

3. Let the music play.
When it comes to tunes, learn to share. That’s how Baker and his girlfriend survived their road trip. Their rule was simple: The driver ruled the radio (which often meant NPR when she was driving and baseball games when he was driving).

4. Determine who’s driving.
My car-loving husband claims my night-driving almost killed us once, and I’m happy to let him hog the wheel. But if you both love (or hate) driving, agree to an equal split.

5. Figure out finances.
“It’s important to decide things like how expenses are going to be handled in advance,” says Edwards. “Talk about things like speeding tickets, even though they might seem unlikely.”

6. Make food a priority.
It’s hard to eat right on the road. Regardless, most women (and plenty of men) aren’t happy eating fast food three times a day.

Which brings us to:
7. Road trips do make great stories—Mauer and her husband still laugh over the fact that she was so concerned about the cleanliness of the sheets in that dive they stayed in that she wouldn’t take her clothes off—in part because working through issues like getting lost or getting a flat can really help a couple connect.