Stepping Out from Behind the Wheel

Four days. We were going to be gone for four days and I was more than ready for it. We had talked about it, planned it, sat up at night browsing the internet for what we wanted to do, and almost packed days in advance. Yeah, we were eager.

I was eager.

One of the best parts for me about the whole trip was that not once would I be behind the steering wheel. That may not seem like a big deal to you, but I’ve had jobs where I was driving for 15-18 hours a day every day. Even now that I am no longer a delivery person of any kind, I still play taxi for the family, making sure everyone is at work and school on time and then that everyone gets home again. I am behind the wheel of the van about every two hours for at least 30 minutes a pop. So, I was looking forward to allowing someone else to take control of how we arrived at our destination.

Oh, I drove us there, but once the van was in its parking spot, it stayed there until Monday night when we were ready to go home. I almost didn’t want to get behind it even then.

The best part of staying at a Disney resort is the transportation system they have to get you from one place to another. Every twenty minutes a bus would depart from outside our resort and take you anywhere you wanted to go. They had buses for each theme park, water park, even Downtown Disney. I climbed aboard and parked my backside in a seat and allowed someone else to do the driving. I even took my Kindle, freshly loaded with several books by my author friends.

And a few for research. I can’t just not work, you know. Besides, I knew the girls were going to be browsing stores and gardens, which would allow me several quiet moments to read a few pages. I tried to read on the bus, but wound up closing the Kindle and striking up conversations with the people around me, something else I would have missed had I driven instead of taking the bus.

We met a nice elderly couple from Nova Scotia who made the Disney journey every year for the past 40 years. We talked about the changes that had swept through the area and how winter had raped the North this year. We chatted the entire bus ride back to the resort from Animal Kingdom and all because I closed my Kindle and asked, “Did you folks have fun today?” A great couple I am glad to have had the chance to meet.

On the way to Animal Kingdom, we met a tiny 3-year-old and her family. Teri had mentioned that she liked her Minnie purse and pointed to Sarah’s Minnie hat. The little girl pulled things out of her purse and showed them to Teri who then began to match the little girl with things from her own purse. It became a competition, ending with lipstick that the little girl didn’t have. Her mother did, however, and so the little girl made a big show of having her mother put it on her.

We even met them again the next morning as we headed to Hollywood Studios and then the girls were showing off sunglasses. We were able to talk to the mother the entire bus ride and even learned we had things in common. It was a fun ride, made more so by the little girl who we just happened to sit beside.

There wasn’t a bus ride that we didn’t meet someone that made the trip just a little more fun. Plus, I was able to relax and enjoy the time. So, the next time you go on vacation, step out from behind the wheel and allow someone else to do the driving. You’ll be surprised at the people you come across, pleasantly surprised.

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