Get away from the usual distractions, the every day stress and take a road trip with the one you love. Bring romance back into your relationship with some time alone, some snacks, a road map and a vehicle for two.

Share a few adventures. Make a plan but be prepared to stray from the plan. Try a road just because it caught your eye. Maybe the name of the street was unusual or reminded you of something. Or, it might be a road leading to a beach, an old mill, something for you to discover together. Don't worry about getting lost. That's just part of the adventure. Together, with the map, you can figure it all out. Besides, you can't really be too lost when you're together.

If you can spend some extra money rent a fancy car for the trip. Plan a great place to stay overnight too, a romantic bed and breakfast or a luxurious hotel.

Leave children at home for this trip. This is grown ups only. If you have children get a babysitter who can stay late, even over night if you can manage to splurge on a hotel or a bed and breakfast. There are all kinds of games, not all of them are for the road.

Get Lost Together

People seem to think there is something wrong with being lost. I know people who will never leave the main road because they fear getting lost. It's actually not so easy to get lost when you have a good map. Find a map of your area which shows the back roads. You might bring along a compass to give you the extra direction for north, south, east and west. Between the map, the compass and your own common sense you can find your way into a town or back to the busier roads. So don't let a simple thing like getting lost stop you from having an adventure off the every day route and roadways.

Do Things Together

Leave the mobile phones and other communication devices at home. But bring your camera. Read the settings so you can set the timer and snap photographs of yourselves, together. Or ask other people you come across to take the photos for you. Make sure you have several photos where one of you isn't hidden behind the camera.

Stop for a lunch or dinner (a breakfast if you are out there and on the road early) but don't go to a restaurant. Pick a grocery store, or a farmer's market or roadside stand and gather your goodies. If the weather is good have your own picnic outdoors. If the weather is snowy or wet and cold eat in the vehicle. (Most of us have gone through the drive through at some fast food place and eaten in the car when we are alone).

If you see something interesting like a roadside attraction, a local fair or festival take a break from the driving and explore together. Buy baked goods, fresh produce, arts and crafts or buy nothing at all. The only thing that matters is that you stick together and talk about the things you see.

Play Road Games

Don't laugh or think the old road games are too silly or just for children. Any little game to help pass the time will also give you something to talk about, something to laugh about too. What games did you play on family trips when you were a kid: I Spy, Licence Plate Bingo, memory games and finding the alphabet.

Bring along a good book and read to each other. Try romantic poetry if that suits your style.

Don't forget music. Pull off to the side of the road, turn up the car radio and dance together. See if you can work your way up to a cuddly slow dance.

If you can't dance then sing together. Put on the old familiar tunes and see who can remember most of the words and who has the most creative wrong words.

Share the back seat. Cuddle, make out or just curl up and have a nap together.

At the End of the Day

Use souvenirs, mementos, the photos you took to create a scrapbook from the trip. You don't need to be a scrapbooker, just make something out of all the photos which you can pull out later to remember the trip. Use the collection you create to tell the story of the trip. It will also work great when you're planning the next road trip romance.

It's Friday and I have the day off. Plus I have money! What a great day this is shaping up to be. It's even sunny out and most of the ice storm is melted or melting. Even our driveway is showing through again. Too bad the path up to the front door is on the sheltered side, it's still snowbound. But they say Monday will be up to 20 degrees C. That will finish all the ice/ snow.

It was kind of neat though. How often is the snow so hard and icy that you can stand on it and not have your feet sink, not even one quarter of an inch. (Using imperial measurements for the Americans).

So, what are the plans for the day? No plans! Those are the best plans. I might go to Chapters, I might go out for lunch to the Swiss Chalet or I might just drive until I stop somewhere and see what I end up with. I might even get lost and find something new. Anyway, I know there is a Tim Hortons donut shop where I can get a coffee to start the day. Its along Woodbine but north of Newmarket. So once I shut down the computer and fill up the gas tank I'm off for adventure of the road touring kind. I could even stay over night somewhere, I have Saturday off too. But, it's a bit too much money for hotels. If only I could win the lottery!

There were some things I could have gone to but they are all in the downtown zone. Even if I could navigate the parking I'd still have to get all the way down there. People have started driving like speed idiots again now that the weather is warming up. So, I am happy to stick with north of the city. Besides, there is more to see and always a possible old house to explore. Not guaranteeing I'll be brave enough to go in but at least I'll see it. I can even take pictures from the road at the very least.

Well, enough typing. Time for action. Have a great day whatever you are doing.

If you've read this column now and then, you've probably wondered about the vagabond part. Well, she is back!

I love to travel and road trips in particular are one of my favourite things. I don't need to hop on an airplane and go to Russia to be happy. Not that I would pass up the opportunity! But, just to wander around my own Canada is plenty happifying for me.

So, now that I have bought myself a car, my first car, I will be off wandering as soon as the ink is on the paperwork. Tomorrow, Wednesday, I will pay the rest of the car money and start packing. Likely I will fill up the tank with gas here in town when I leave on Thursday morning. I still don't like self serve gas stations. It's nice to see the lady here in town and chat for those 30 seconds or so. Plus, I don't have to look like a twit trying to figure out how each set of pumps works. Why are they all different?

Anyway, tonight I am going to look up local events in Ontario. I am thinking of Kincardine and Sarnia, both would be great but they are in different directions. That much driving could be too much for the little grey car, or me as a fairly new driver.

Both Sarnia and Kincardine are on the Great Lakes. But Kincardine has an actual lighthouse and a beach with great big rocks that I remember from when I was a kid. (We lived on a farm in the area, just for a few years). But, Sarnia is cheaper and I am thinking to move there. Not till after the winter though. Even I can not cope with another move this soon after moving in July.

So, tonight , after I look for a grape jelly recipe for my Mom, I will be cruising the sites and finding the most interesting things to see. Planning routes, pit stops and what is the least junk I need to pack for a couple of nights away in the little grey car, as yet unnamed. No doubt by the time I get back I will have named the car.

PS- She bought 3 baskets of grapes. They smell wonderful! I don't even like grapes.