Every summer, millions of Americans embark on a July 4th weekend road trip. According to this article, published on cncbc.com this Monday, Sarah Chandler states, “45 percent of Americans are planning road trips this summer,” which does not surprise me. For someone without a license, I absolutely love road trips!

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If you strategically plan your departure time, avoid traffic, pick the best playlists and snacks, what’s not to like? So far, my boyfriend and I have driven from New York City to Canada, Florida, North Carolina and Geneva (upstate New York) on multiple occasions. Every single one is different — five years and nine road trips later, we still find new ways to stay up and focused (I’m a pretty cool co-pilot) and, most importantly, have fun!

After spending one hour creating our OBX Trippin’ playlist on Spotify, we realized there is actually something better for a seven-hour drive — lo and behold, podcasts! Recently, my appreciation for these has grown. I started listening to Amanda Seales’ Small Doses podcast on my weekly commute to GT’s WHQ about a month ago and have not stopped. This year, during our drive down to Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, we opted to give CBC’s Someone Knows Something a try.

In Season One of this podcast, David Ridgen looks deeper into the disappearance of a 5-year-old boy during a family trip that took place in Ontario, Canada, in 1972. After three episodes, we switched over to Small Doses. This time I gave in and listened to the Games of Thrones episode with Nathan — I have never been a fan of the series, but I must say the way in which the characters and story line were broken down definitely sparked an interest.

Before we knew it, we were already by the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and the trip was almost over. We already have a few in the queue for the ride home. Do you enjoy podcasts? If so, send us your recommendations!

— Yasser Ogando, production & advertising coordinator