Roadtrip Essentials

This week I packed up the unreliable little (sh)Citi Golf I refer to as “The Chad”, and headed on out into the great unknown with My Old Man.

Doing our own great trek, we dominated bustling metropolises the likes of Colesberg, Laingsburg and Bethlehem – and I only mention these because, relative to the other little dorpies we dashed through, this lot are fast-paced urbanisation.

In the face of frequent 20 minute “stop-before-passing” roadworks, however, and throat-croaking attempts at “She’ll be coming round the mountain” (which starts to mock, when the trip begins to seem interminable) I realized the necessity of…

A ROADTRIP SURVIVAL KIT.

So for those heading on out,  Indiana-Jones nature and (for Johannesburgers) spray-on mud in hand, heed these words:

A Pillow: After a while, you’re cursing and contorting just for the sake of changing postition, and that small little mound of feathers is the cure to discomfort and the patron saint of sleep.

Toilet paper: Between this never-ending heap of Karoo dessert and that never-ending heap of Karoo dessert, there often isn’t even a bush to save face (or bum) behind. Loo paper keeps the crucial decent.

Music: After a day and a half of driving, I was thinking the “bottles on the wall” and “wheels of the bus” could shove it – there’s nothing  like a long (unrepeated) playlist as a quiet distraction to calm nerves (and more importanly, assist consciousness) on a long journey.

Sunglasses: We’re not swinging out at sea here, kids – blinking into the horizon leads to accidents.

Sunblock: T-shirt tans and sock tans – this is the league of uncool that a through-the-car-window, half-body tan belongs to. Don’t do it.

Reading material: You’re trapped in that tiny automobile – you may as well do something productive.

Cash: Don’t underestimate the Toll fees. You don’t want to be wracking up credit card charges for drive-by swiping.

A map book: Yes dad. This WAS necessary.

A car-charger: You can buy these little guys at just about every street corner and, in the middle of nowhere, where homing pigeons are your best bet, you don’t want to be caught cut-off from the rest of the world.

A little vitmin B: I have discovered the otherside-of-the-rainbow-ness that is Clicks‘ Stress Vitamin B Complex. I’d recommend it for family reunions, days in the park, long nights studying ,five year-olds’ birthday parties, whatever. A little bit of this guy and you’re loving on life and wanting to give 150 percent – embarrsingly so. Think heel-clicks…

So that’s the guide to roadtrip life For those of you adventurers needing a bed and breakfast haven, to head to in the Western Cape, sidle into De Waterkant’s 17 on Loader – Cape Town’s good-time guesthouse.

17 on Loader Guest House in de Waterkant launches it’s Official 2010 logo.

In the spirit of true sportsmanship, 17 on Loader Guest House has decided to take this 2010 Soccer World Cup thingy seriously – and by doing so, has decided to create it’s very own Official 2010 logo.

Now we are challenging all our fellow accommodation establishment colleagues, be they Hotels, Guest Houses, Self Catering units or whatever other type you can think of – in de Waterkant or anywhere else in Cape Town – to come up with their very own logo as well. Let’s have a showdown, and a contest to see who will win!

Talking of winning…. Here’s a few nights of accommodation at 17 on Loader Guest House up for grabs:

Come up with THE BEST wording for our official 2010 T-shirt – and you could be in one of our beds in no time at all!

Someone suggested (rather naughtily me thinks) the following:

“How many aims does it take to get it in”?

You be the judge.

“Loader. Louder, Loudest”………