When you live in New York City, you rarely get the urge to get behind the wheel and drive for fun. Not that I don’t enjoy driving my minivan to Costco and to various soccer games and tournament. Driving is more of a necessity and not for leisure. Lately, I’ve been missing getting behind the wheel and driving without a schedule or agenda. An open road with nothing to do.
When I started making arrangements to attend a friend’s funeral in San Diego, my eyes continued to drift towards the convertibles while picking out a car rental. I’ve ridden in convertibles before, but never drove one. Days went by without choosing a rental. I had my hotel and plane tickets, but continued to go back and forth on which car to rent. The cheapest vehicle at the top was the wisest and budget friendly decision. But the convertible beckoned me.
And so, I clicked on a Ford Mustang convertible.
Since I’ve been desiring some time to myself, I added a couple more days to my trip to visit friends in Los Angeles.
While in San Diego, I spent most of my time with friends who gathered for the funeral. We gave our friend a nice send off while spending time with one another. We laughed, cried, and reminisced. I did a little driving while in San Diego, and we Ubered the majority of our time to and from the hotel. After we said our final goodbyes and gave one last hug, I slid back into the Mustang and headed up the coast.
It was a chilly day, but that didn’t stop me from taking the top down. The local Californians probably thought I was nuts for driving a convertible, but I loved the wind and the freedom that encompassed me. After an emotional couple of days, it felt great to be alone and release everything as I rolled along.
With the top down, music playing loudly, and my foot hitting the pedal, I was at peace once again.
After spending time with a friend in Los Angeles, I was once again alone and heading down the road. This time, I was going toward my hotel, which was near LAX. I took my time while driving along the Pacific Coast Highway and made small stops along the way. I veered off the PCH a few times and drove along local roads to see what I could come across. It was lovely to have no agenda.
Upgrading my rental to a convertible wasn’t economically savvy, but it was self-care savvy. I’m already thinking about budgeting my next rental to be a vehicle that I’ve wanted to drive, but haven’t been able to. I’m never going to own a convertible, because it wouldn’t be wise in New York City. I’m sure I’ll rent one again though in the future.
Self-care looks different day-to-day. Some days, for me, it is working out a little longer or taking a long run that includes stops to snap some photos. Occasionally, self-care is taking time out of the day for a massage. It can even be a loaded banana split. And once in a while, it’s a rental car upgrade.
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100% with you on this one. I was lucky enough to tag along with my wife on a business trip at one of the Pebble Beach hotels once. The hotel let you “test drive” a Lexus for two hours. I took the convertible out two days in a row. The staff got a kick out of it. No intentions of trading in my minivan, it’s the perfect vehicle.
You can’t pass up driving a Lexus. Nice job taking advantage of some alone road time.