Secret vices aren't so secret when you're driving with friends

As soon as I pull out of the drive way, I'm hungry. Something about leaving for a road trip sends my hypothalamus on a kamikaze mission.

I'm not alone, apparently. My partner has a few quirks (he prefers I call them idiosyncrasies) that are synonymous with a long trip. Get him in a car for a long drive and he's all about the coffee and salt & vinegar chips.

Yeah, honey, that's not weird at all.

When I was growing up, it was orange soda and Cheezies. Being stuck in the back of a station wagon, battling my brothers for seat space and no air conditioning made for the perfect recipe for the sick sack every single time.

Now, I can't get through a trip without a peppermint tea - and a stop at a fast-food joint. Anything with a high-grease quotient will do. Usually the fast food first, then the tea to calm my stomach.

A friend of mine stocks up on cherry cola, and it's the only time she drinks it. Another stocks her van with Swedish berries.

I hadn't realized how ritualistic travelers can be. Maybe it's our way of bringing a piece of home along with us when we travel, the comfortable and the familiar.

Or maybe it's just the excitement of being away from our normal routines that gives us permission to be kids again.

What's your guilty pleasure when you go on a road trip?

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