by Anne Tran

Created on: November 19, 2008   Last Updated: November 24, 2008

You can never forget a road trip horror story, especially if the experience is your own. Mine is one that happened long ago and one I'll definitely carry with me for all my life.

This particular road trip was not my first and was planned just like any other road trip. The starting point was Orange County, California. The destination was Seattle, Washington and Vancouver, Canada. The car belonged to my best friend. It was a sturdy, reliable, and gas efficient Toyota Corolla. There were three of us - a good number for the 18 hour drive to our first destination to Seattle. Let me say this. No matter how much you plan and prepare, things can always go wrong.

When we got to our hostel in Seattle, my best friend saw a parking spot on the street and tried to scoot in. I noticed a sign that lead me to believe that we shouldn't be parking there. I demanded he find another spot to which he does. After we rested in our hostel, we headed out for a night on the town for dinner and returned for a good night's sleep. We wanted to be well rested for our first full day in Seattle.

The horror began. I woke up to my worried best friend's face. A dreadful feeling crept into the pit of my stomach. "What happened?" I asked. "The car is gone," he says. What? How can the car be gone? After poking and prodding for my answer, he confesses that he woke up extra early to park the car closer to our hostel in the exact spot I demanded he not park in the day before! It appeared that this has never happened to him before and panic seemed to cross his face. I quickly went into super hero mode and thought of ways to get our car back. This was a road trip for goodness' sake. Road trips require a car. I asked the hostel attendant for the nearest car impounds and found one. While I was doing this, my best friend called his parents for the license plate number so the folks at the car impound can identify our car. We hopped in a cab to rescue our car.

After we retrieved our precious road trip car, we parked it in a designated parking spot because, like smart people do, we learn from our mistakes. We went out on a mission to enjoy Seattle. We didn't let the incident ruin our time in Seattle. Looking back, it was the best thing to do.

We left Seattle and proceeded on to Vancouver, Canada with a lot of optimism that the trip would be smooth sailing from there. We had to wait in a grueling two hour line to cross the US/Canadian border, but this was expected. When we got to our hostel, we made sure to park

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