Sabin’s Vacation 2023 - From Land to Sea Day #1 - Road Trip

by Nina Sabin - Travel Blog

After eight months back at home, we are off on another long adventure.

With forty hours planning and a 45-page itinerary, we are more than ready to begin this vacation.

This journey starts with a road trip for seven days as we drive up the east coast to visit family and friends.

Then, we board the Holland America Zuiderdam in Boston; the same ship we took last year when we spent 50 days traveling from Vancouver to the French Polynesian Islands.

The route for this cruise is 35 days exploring the Fjords like the Vikings did years and years ago.

Today was our first driving day. We left FL about 7:45 am. We were shooting for 7:30 am but when driving you have more leeway with time then a flight.

Today’s destination was northern Georgia. We drove anout 530 miles. It took about nine hours with stops.

There are always things that shock us when we drive.

Within the first hour, we were cut off by an unmarked semitrailer truck. It was so close we feared for our lives. We were shocked; but praise God were safe.

Not many minutes later we drove passed another truck, where the driver was smoking and texting while driving. Not sure how he was steering the wheel with both hands occupied.

An article we read stated, when flying your most dangerous part is over when you get to the airport. After driving today we can see why.

Driving can seem like a long day, but that goes with any traveling. The time to get from point A to point B can be exhausting.

We choose to make it fun by looking for unique places to stop at, if time permits.

The first observation we came across was the self-checkout machines at Circle K gas stations. You just drop you items on the counter and the artificial intelligence-powered machines use computer vision to recognize and ring up items without the use of barcodes. Pretty amazing where technology is going.

John has never been to Buc-ee’s. So we found one along the way and was excited to go there. However, when we were on the off ramp from the interstate, we could see it was so crowded it would have taken us hours to get a parking place. We decided to save Buc-ee’s for maybe on the way home.

We drove to the next exit, found a gas station that was not busy, didn’t have to wait for the restroom, and had a healthy meal at Chick- Fil-A. It was no Buc-ee’s but the car and us were refueled and ready to get to our destination.

Once at our destination in Georgia we relaxed, took-in the views of mountains and enjoyed the cooler temperatures.

Stay-tuned each day for our day’s adventures. We have six days on the road and then will be on sea; hence the title From Land to Sea.