what travel would be like in the future when you were a kid?

Or, Where’s My Flying Car?

Travel when I was a kid was b-o-r-i-n-g. My siblings ( otherwise known as the partners-in-crime to our long suffering parents ) and I would try to play games to make the time pass. Didn’t work well – a few years difference in age when you’re young makes a big difference when you’re playing a spelling game, or even an alphabet game.

You remember the alphabet game – work your way through the alphabet one letter at a time, using the first letter of the words on the road signs and passing trucks. The trick was to spot the letter you needed but not call it until the sign was almost passed, so your sibling competitors couldn’t spot it and use it.

Which brings up the second most popular game on road trips – arguing over the games you were playing. I think the winner was the last one of us who spoke before one of the parents in the front seat yelled “Don’t make me pull this car over!!”

So how do kids survive travel now? On the internet, of course!! We had the occasion to travel for several hours with the Intelligent Young Man – first thing that happens is the cell phone with the best data plan gets plugged into the charger, and then turned into a mobile hot spot ( Wi-Fi ) for the car. The rest of the trip is Tube of You, or streaming music/video, or online games. Not a chance to be bored.

Guess I’m jealous.

Travelin’ for the good and true,

Billy Acre