Staying Sane On the Road
There are three types of people in this world:
1. The person who can sit, stare at scenery and be perfectly content on long drives
2. The person who has to be productive on long drives
3. The person who alternates between being types #1 and #2
Since we hit the road in April 2016, we’ve driven from Nashville, Tennessee to Palm Springs, California in a week, Palm Springs, California to La Paz, B.C.S. in a matter of days, the entire Pacific Coast Highway, Whistler (British Columbia), booked it from Missoula, Montana to Jackson Hole, Wyoming in a day, Omaha, Nebraska to Chicago, Illinois, and last but not least: Chicago, Illinois to East Marion, New York in one 19 hour stretch of driving! Woooooof.
Some of our best conversations come out of hours spent covering the many miles we’ve already got under our belts. As much as we love being around each other, it’s important for both of us to have quality time with ourselves, too. When we’re not working, reading, journaling and listening to our favorite tunes are some of our favorite ways to pass the time on long drives. Mentally and physically, we feel our best when our smart phones are used as tools for self-education rather than mindless scrolling. Here are a few of our favorite apps that have served us well on the road so far:
Spotify
A Spotify Premium account for $10/month lets you stream and download an unlimited amount of music. Our favorite Premium feature is the ability to download playlists/albums to access offline! Our coffeeshop pitstops are a great time to grab some free WIFI when we're in the mood for new tunes. It also has hundreds of audiobooks, vintage radio dramas, poetry and self-guided meditation tracks available. Amazing.
Lumosity
We’ve been loving using Lumosity to exercise our brains and this app makes it a lot of fun. There are plenty of games available for free but you can also buy additional levels if you’re interested in taking your brain training to another level. We’re currently also trying out other comparable apps, too! We can say we're 100% hooked.
DuoLingo
DuoLingo is free and makes learning another language so much fun! We love how user-friendly it is and how easy it is to fit a whole lesson into your day in just a few minutes.
Apple Podcasts
This is one of our favorite ways to pass time during long drives. A few of our favorite podcasts include Serial, The Splendid Table, This American Life, RadioLab, and more! It’s a practically effortless way to learn something new.
Overdrive
This app is AMAZING. You can take your local library account on the road with you and get access to dozens of ebooks, audiobooks and music FOR FREE!
Hoopla Digital
Hoopla is in the same vein as Overdrive, which lets you borrow video, audio and books for FREE! You can borrow up to 10 items a month.
Headspace
Get your zen on. We love Headspace for when there is too much going on and our brains feel like they will explode. Downloading the app is free, which will give you access to ten free self-guided mediation sessions. If you’ve been curious about mediation but never given it a try, this a great place to start.
What are some ways you pass time on the road? We’d love to hear your favorite self-education apps!