Holiday trip number one is in the books - the great road trip to Canada is complete. Though my trip came with a couple of trip delays and a set of unexpected events, my theory from my last blog is so far being proven correct. I'm feeling more invigorated and excited about my job and life as a result of having a nice long weekend away from home. I suppose I'll have to do this more often next year.

Strange things did happen on the drive to Canada - which is usually only five hours from Columbus. After crossing the border, I was greeted by holiday decorations in downtown Niagara Falls, as well as many closed streets. There were so many closed streets, in fact, that I ended up driving around in circles for an exta half hour before finding my way to the hotel. The reason for all the closed streets was for the first leg of the Red Bull Crashed Ice weekend.

So this caused a lot of things that I couldn't anticipate happening the entire weekend I was there - from trip delays due to all the people in the area, to other events (like winery tours) being cancelled (on my part) due to time constraints. In turn, this caused me to change things on the fly - and end up making a couple of side trips that I didn't anticipate making while I was there. For instance, instead of taking the winery tour that I cancelled, I ended up going to the quaint town of Niagara-On-The-Lake - where I had a great time visiting the Christmas shop in town, and stopping at a deli that specialized in cheese. And then there was the first stop at this winter's Red Bull Crashed Ice tour - which, simply put, was the fastest 500 meters on ice. Since there's going to be no professional ice hockey season this year, seeing this event live was enough to keep me interested for the rest of the winter.

Three days in Canada, and I have two cases of wine and an unforgettable experience that I'll be talking about for a while. All in all, the trip was successful, even despite the unforseen trip delay and event cancellations. Though that all being said, there's plenty that I can learn as a result of this road trip that started awry, and ended well!

1. Know the road before you go
   I made the rookie mistake of not checking out what was going on in town before I went. This was the main factor that caused my trip delay of driving in circles in the same town. If I were smart, I would have looked up events that weekend on the local visitors bureau or chamber of commerce website, and then could have avoided my delay in the first place. And not feel so silly that I was delayed by driving around in the same town.
2. Check all vital signs
   You read that right. Check the vital signs of your car before you go on an adventure. This includes tire pressure, oil and coolant level, windshield cleaning fluid (it's important to me!), and gas levels. When I left, all the vitals on my car were ok. It wasn't until I was done with the heavy road driving that one of my tires starting going down - giving me plenty of safe time to go to the gas station and put air in it for the only time this trip.
3. Weather or not
   Another rookie mistake: checking the weather forecast only once this entire trip. At the beginning of the week, the forecast was supposed to be cool and sunny. By the time I got there, it ended up being cool and rainy. The result was not being properly dressed to get through the entire weekend. I ended up getting through and making the most of it - but it would have been nicer had I brought warmer clothes.

So between the fun of the border cities, and the lessons learned as a result of this trip, it was a blast - and well needed. It makes me even more excited to travel to San Francisco this weekend! How do you make sure road trips are a success? Let me know in the comments below!