Have you ever been on a road trip with four kids, two dogs and a wife and had your car breakdown in the middle of nowhere? I have.
It was an absolute nightmare. We had just driven thirteen hours from the border of Western Australia to the outer suburbs of Perth, and our car broke down. I know I said we broke down in the middle of nowhere, but for a family from inner city Melbourne, Midland certainly felt like the middle of nowhere to us.
When we broke down, my kids panicked and cried, and my wife got all flustered and mad about how we should’ve checked all these things before we left and how we needed an urgent car service. Close to Midland, we were able to find a local mechanic who (luckily for us) was super helpful. Still, that was an extremely frustrating day. I was already tired from the massive drive and then to deal with all that, I just wanted to get to our motel and close the door to my family for a couple of hours. Of course, being a parent I couldn’t do that, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t want to.
Thankfully, the rest of our road trip around Australia went down without a hitch. The mechanic who helped us suggested that we also get an alternator repair, because he could see some wear-and-tear in it that could cause trouble down the road. At this point I just really didn’t want to end up in a situation like this again and so I gave him the go ahead to do whatever he wanted as long as it fixed the car. I was willing to pay whatever was needed and it was worth it.
Except for a few minor incidences, my family and I had a really enjoyable trip. It was by far the biggest holiday we had ever been on, and it’s something we’ll always remember. Next time we’ll fly though.