Epic Road Trip Fails

Today I’m sharing epic road trip fails as part of a partnership with Allstate.

Has your car ever been broken into? Mine has. Twice actually and both times were pretty epic. Once while I was still in college, my car was stolen from my apartment complex. After finding shattered glass where I had parked it, I called the cops. The best (as in craziest) part of the story is I actually knew the cops had it before I even finished speaking to them. While I was on hold with the police, I saw my car in a police chase on a local news station. The thieves were using it as a getaway car from other burglaries. The second occurrence was a few years later on our honeymoon. Yup, you read that correctly, our car was broken into on our honeymoon making it a road trip fail. This time our car was still there but all of our luggage was stolen.

Epic Road Trip Fails

The road trip home from our honeymoon is definitely my worst epic road trip fail. We’ve had other road trip fails like when Peter forgot the Dramamine but it’s hard to top the honeymoon story. If I’m trying to be a glass half full girl, there are 2 positive things to consider. 1) We were on our way home, so we had already enjoyed our honeymoon. 2) There was minimal car damage and we were able to drive home. Unfortunately, it was still our honeymoon and the experience left a real damper on the overall trip. Especially considering we had essential medicine in the bags so we had to head home immediately replace it and our digital camera card was in the luggage, so we have no pictures from our honeymoon. Seriously no honeymoon pictures.

Well, we do have that silly Star Wars poster of us that is technically from our honeymoon. Luckily for us 15 years ago, Disney had to print up the poster and mail it to you a few weeks later. So, it wasn’t in our luggage waiting to be stolen, like our camera card.  The bitterness of that epic road trip fail has slowly faded over the years, but seriously it’s hard to get over the loss from such a milestone trip.

Yosemite Road Trip Fail

Growing up, my husband and his family had a pretty epic road trip fail that almost derailed their big family vacation to Yosemite.  While on their road trip to Yosemite and a cabin they had rented for a week, the timing belt on their car broke. It happened in the middle of nowhere and they had to have their car towed to the nearest repair shop. Luckily, they were able to rent another car and continue on, salvaging their big family vacation.

Now keep in mind this was 30 years ago, so they didn’t have a cell phone. They had to rely on the kindness of strangers to call a tow truck for them. Back then they were stuck with getting their car repaired at the closest shop or maybe it was the shop that the tow truck guy had a deal with. Who really knows at this point. The point is that back then you were more helpless and didn’t have many options when road trip fails occurred.

Thankfully, if this happened today, technology would make us much more prepared. No one leaves home without their cell phone and that means we can call for help when we need it. Seriously, being that alone is crazy to think about. I can’t imagine having my car break down and not having the ability to call for help myself. Of course, this is also the perfect reminder of why you need to have an external battery charger with you. It would be terrible if your battery was dead from a Plants V Zombies or Candy Crush marathon. ????

Good Hands Rescue Service

To be better prepared, you should install the Good Hands Rescue® app on your phone or tablet before your trip. If you do run into any trouble and need assistance, the Good Hands Rescue® app is exactly what you want to have at your disposal. The app is free and there are no membership fees. In fact, you don’t even need to be an Allstate customer. You only pay when you use the service.

It can help with lots of mishaps including towing, flat tires and dead batteries. Personally, I love that the Good Hands Rescue service uses GPS technology to help find your exact location. They then communicate that information to the service provider. Once help is dispatched, they send you a service confirmation with estimated arrival time. The Good Hands Rescue® app won’t stop someone from breaking into my car but it would help me if I am ever stranded on the side of the road.

This post was written as part of the Allstate Influencer Program and sponsored by Allstate. All opinions are mine. As the nation’s largest publicly held personal lines insurer, Allstate is dedicated not only to protecting what matters most–but to guiding people to live the Good Life, every day.