AEE: Splash Into Summer Part 3: 4 Games for any Road Trip

This is an All Ears English Podcast. Splash into Summer Part 3. Four games for any road trip. Welcome to the All Ears English Podcast, downloaded more than 200 million times.

Are you feeling stuck with your English? We'll show you how to become fearless and fluent by focusing on connection, not perfection, with your American hosts, Michelle Kaplan, the New York radio girl, and Aubrey Carter, the IELTS whiz, coming to you from Arizona and New York City, USA.

Do you like to play games when you're on a road trip? Today, you'll learn four fun games that are popular in the States that you can play on a road trip or anytime.

Hey, Michelle, how's it going? I'm really well. Aubrey, how are you? I'm so excited for this episode about games. I love games. And one of the best parts of a summer road trip is the road trip games.

I'm a huge fan of playing games when driving, chatting. I don't want everyone on screens. I'm like, let's play a fun game. So today we're sharing some of the most popular road trip games in American culture.

So fun. I love this. This is really, really good. You guys can learn some games. And so guys, this is part three of our Splash Into Summer series. So yeah, you're going to learn about really fun games that you can use to connect on summer road trips at any time.

And this is really great. Yeah, because all of these can be played anytime. They're fun on a road trip because you don't need any materials. You can just play when you're sitting in a car, you have nothing with you.

But they could be played anytime. So we play all of these a lot waiting in line at Disneyland theme parks because all it is, it's a type of game that you can play on the fly anytime. We're bored. Let's play a game.

So I'm excited, Michelle. Let's hear the episode. All right. Hey, Michelle, how's everything? Hey, Lindsay. Good, good, good. I am in the mood to take a road trip.

A road trip. I love road trips. They are the best, especially the snacks, the snacks. Oh yeah. Like what's your favorite road trip snack? Well, you know, it depends on who I'm road tripping with, but sometimes like candies or a little, yeah, like chocolates or lollipops or something.

But when I did my big road trip around the country, I couldn't do that. It was just iced coffee, just black iced coffee. That's all I did. Just I didn't do snacks because otherwise you take a two-month road trip and you eat snacks every day.

Right, right, right. But it is fun to get the snacks. And I don't know. There's something like, oh, it doesn't count if you're on the road. Right, right.

If you're at home, it does. If you're on the road, it doesn't count as much. Right. like you wouldn't you wouldn't eat like a necessarily like an entire bag of like Chex Mix like when you're you know just like sitting or maybe you would I don't know and whatever you want to do that's fine like but like on the road it's uh it's something like oh well we're just eating it yeah for sure where are you thinking about taking a road trip to oh I'm I don't know

I'll need some advice from you. Maybe you can give me a list and give me some ideas. I could do that. But yeah, Lindsay, you've taken a ton of road trips, including a very special one that actually our listeners can go on with you.

Me? Isn't that crazy? Yeah, guys. I know. It's called the Connected Communicator online course. I rented a car, drove 12,000 miles, a big loop around the country,

Went to Chicago, California, New York City, Texas, the Deep South, all over the place, cowboy country out here in the West. And I take you through these interviews that I did with native speakers. So to get into that course, Michelle, where can we go?

Go to allearsenglish.com slash connection. All right. Definitely the most unique English course on the internet. No question. So, all right. So talking about things that we can do in the car, I mean, what does that come to, Michelle?

Yeah. Yeah, well, I mean, I think of like, when I was a kid, like Lindsay, you mentioned, you told me that you used to go to Delaware, like, yes, with your dad on road trip.

Were you happy to be in the car for a while? Or were you like an are we there yet, kid? And what do I mean by that? I think on long trips when my brother and I were in the back of the station wagon, typical 90s style, I definitely hated that because my brother was always obnoxious.

And just when are we going to be there was the refrain, right? Constantly asking my parents, my poor parents. But when it was just me and my dad and I got to sit in the front, that kind of thing, I think I enjoyed more.

So what about you? Were you kind of angsty as a kid in the car? Yeah. I'd have to ask my parents. I can't really remember. But yeah, probably. But, you know, it'd be fun.

And there are things that you can do in the car as kids, like typical games you can play. Like, I guess you would call it a car game or a road trip game or something like that that are pretty common or famous with kids and adults. Right, Lindsay? Yeah.

Oh, for sure. For sure. My first road trip I took in college, it was right after 9-11, actually, that my friends and I decided we needed to do something deep. And so we took a cross-country road trip and we camped.

We played a lot of those games, like those car games and not card games, car games. Right, right, right. That's important. So being careful there, right?

Yeah. Do you get car sick, Lindsay? Yeah. I really don't. I'm lucky. So I can be in the back all the time. But some people who get car sick need to sit in the front.

Right. Yeah. Well, can you read? I don't usually try to read in the car that much just because it's too chaotic. But I can I can talk. I can look out the window.

I can listen to podcasts or music or something. So, yeah, that's it's not too bad. That's good. That's good. So today we're going to share some of these games.

And this is good because this is a great way to connect with people if you are on a road trip. And these are great games to play. I mean, one of them really has to be in the car. Yeah, one of them really has to be in the car for sure.

And I want to say, you know, it's interesting because American culture is really a car culture, right? Thanks to Henry Ford and the building of the freeways. Like we really are such a car culture. And if you come from a place that's not a car culture, like to me, Japan is not a car culture.

What do you think, Michelle, when you were there, trains... uh yeah it was a lot of trains i mean i'm not sure like other parts of japan that i didn't visit but yeah certainly yeah because i was in like you know big cities so if you're in new york i would also say not a culture fair fair point so i don't know yeah fair point although in japan i remember taking the train the local train out to the countryside like away from tokyo all the way the other side of the country you could take the train wow so that is not the case here we have amtrak but it's not very good and the bathrooms are not clean

Oh, well, yes, certainly if we're talking about the quality of the trains and especially the bathroom. I'm so scared to like, you know, go on the train because I specifically don't want to use the bath. Oh, they're awful. I avoid them at all costs.

But what I'm trying to say is, you know. do relocate to the u.s or maybe canada probably canada too you know a way to build a relationship is to invite someone on a road trip a little weekend road trip that someone you want to get to know better and that is a part of the culture so knowing what to do in the car is a key thing right exactly all right so let's talk about let's get into the games get into the games okay get your head in the game michelle that's right what's the first what's the first game Okay, this is the one we said we really need to be in the car to do this. Yeah, we have to be in the car.

So the license plate game. In this game, you look out and you try to spot a license plate from as many different states as you can. And what do you do, Michelle? Do you tally the number you've seen?

Well, I think it's really up to you if you want to like... I feel like... I feel like how I played it was just like you would shout it out when you saw it. I don't know if we were that serious about it, but I could imagine it getting competitive if somebody is like writing it down or telling it.

Did you play this? Yeah. Yeah. We played this on the first road trip I was on, road trip one. And I have them all ordered, you know, road trip experiences.

Yeah, we did. We had fun with it. So we were in college just having fun, just trying to entertain ourselves. Yeah. Kids, college kids, middle school kids.

It makes sense. Yeah. right yeah so yeah you just guys i mean because there are 50 different kinds of license plates and if you're on a road trip yeah you might see a lot of the license plates of the place that you're the state that you're in but then you also see different ones like do you ever um well so you're from new hampshire do you ever when you are like in i don't know if this if this happens but if like now you're in denver do you ever see a new hampshire license plate and you're like oh

Oh, not so much. Probably not that much. I don't know that I've seen one in Denver because it's so far, right? It's a thousand and something miles. But certainly in New England, you see them.

And I've always taken a lot of pride in my license plate because our state motto... You know what it is? We've talked about it, I think, before. The New Hampshire state motto is live free or die, which is so serious compared to Florida, the sunshine state, and Colorado, the golden state.

New Hampshire, live free or die. Yeah. It's like a big threat. Right. I mean, I always get excited when, well, for me, it's, you know, a lot more common because New York and Maryland.

Yes. Yes. Like whenever I see the Maryland license plate, I'm like, oh. Yeah, you feel that. What is your state's motto? I was so scared that you were going to ask me that.

You knew I was going to ask you that. Yeah, I was like, oh, maybe I'll just like move on. No, I didn't. I didn't look it up. Wait, I'm going to be so embarrassed now.

Oh my gosh. That gives me a great episode idea, Michelle. Another day we could do an episode on how to quickly change the topic because you feel a question is coming that you can't answer. Uh, let's see.

What is the Maryland? Oh my gosh. And then license plate. Okay. Okay. Well, all right. I'm going to have to look. I'm going to have to have a little bit of homework.

They can look it up and maybe for the next time we'll talk. Wow. Okay. That was very embarrassing. Okay. It's fine. If you ask me a lot of trivia about my state, I wouldn't be able to answer it.

It's okay. What's the next question? What's the next game? So 20 questions. Now, how does 20 questions go? This is a very common one. Again, I think everybody has their own variations on these things.

But basically somebody thinks of something and you have 20 questions to guess what it is. And I think it's mostly like yes or no questions, right? So it might be something you see or something you think of, or maybe you can do a category like, you know, maybe you're doing like celebrities or movies or, you know, something like that. I think there are a lot of variations, but that's the main idea is like you have 20 questions and then, you know, to guess.

And that's a good one. So obviously, you know, games that are not popular in cars are things like charades because you can't see the person. You can't stand up and act out something. That's more of a living room game, right?

A living room dinner party game. Right. So 20 questions is totally verbal, right? Right, right, right. Exactly. So that's really good for the car. So wait, let's – here, Lindsay, let's play a short –

version um okay um you want me to think of something yeah you think of something just anything so okay i'm never gonna get it in three questions i've got something good luck thanks uh is it a person no is it a thing uh i don't know how to answer that it's an animal oh okay uh is it a dog no

yes he's right behind me if you guys are seeing this on video but you can't see him he's all nestled into the couch oh my god it's my dog keifer michelle yes keifer oh that's so funny um i love it um and then there's i spy which is kind of similar you know like i spy with my little eye something yeah and then you like give clues for it right Yeah, it seems like this one would be a fun one to play with little kids, right? Like, I spy with my little eye. Like, it seems like something kids would have fun with.

Younger kids, in my mind. Right, right, right. Exactly. So, Lindsay, what do you do if you're in the car and you want to suggest something? yeah these games how do you how do you say it because like maybe everybody's just sitting there or right maybe the music is blaring and you're kind of just like yeah you know you don't feel like listening anymore you want to you want to do a game yeah okay so this is a great way and very common guys write this one down

Wanna play, you know, 20 questions. Wanna play, I spy, right? Wanna play. So again, we're not saying, do you want to play? We're saying, wanna play? Okay, so that's so real.

It's such real English, Michelle. Exactly, exactly. Now, this one is good. It kind of, you know, lets them know that, you know, it's, you know, a kid's game, right?

So you could say, I know it's a kid's game, but maybe we should play... Yeah. And that's good to admit something that, you know, everyone else is going to be thinking. So you just say it at the beginning, right?

Right. Right. Just, I know, I know it's silly and I know, you know, we're adults, but why not? Why not? Exactly. Or if you just want to be more straightforward, you say, let's play 20 questions, right?

Let's, let's do this. Let's play 20 questions. Okay. Okay. Right, right, right. Exactly. So, yeah, Lindsay, these are these are good ways to suggest playing the game.

And I think, you know, they're they're really good games to play when you're bored in the car. They're really great for road trips. Yeah, I agree. I agree.

This is fun. So, guys, again, it comes back to, you know, where are you likely to build relationships in American culture? Maybe maybe in Canada. I don't like I said, I don't totally know.

Road trips are so common. Even if it's just a three-hour road trip to another town that someone invites you for a day trip, take advantage. Say yes. Go with them.

Explore the countryside. It is so cool. Exactly, exactly. And play these games along the way. Lindsay, this was fun, brought me back to my childhood. Oh, okay.

Well, glad we could do that for you, Michelle. I love it. I love it. So guys, to learn more about the course that we mentioned, right, Connected Communicator online course, go to allearsenglish.com slash connection.

All right. Awesome. All right. This was fun, Lindsay. Have a safe drive wherever you go next. Okay. You do, Michelle. I'll talk to you soon. Bye. Bye.

This was an awesome episode. I love every game Michelle and Lindsay talked about. And Michelle, I have an idea. I'm going to share one bonus game that my family loves that we play on road trips called Cavman.

Okay. Disneyland. We play this on road trips. It is how you would say caveman, but without the E. So in this game, no one can say any word that has an E in it, which is harder than it sounds.

So you have to say, for example, I'm hungry instead of saying, when do you want to eat? Because all of those words have E's. You have to think of words that don't have the letter E. Kids love it. I love it.

It's so funny when you have to say something like, look, adult fawn instead of I see a deer. It's really fun. Okay, that is really fun. Okay, I'm excited to try this.

Yeah, guys, definitely try this one on your next road trip, because it sounds like it's gonna make you laugh a lot, right? I could just imagine everybody laughing. So yeah, because you're all talking like cavemen. Yeah, it sounds so funny.

Yeah. Yeah. What do you do if someone accidentally uses a word that has an E in it? You have to say you out. Because if you say you're out, then you are also out because you used a word that has E in it.

You're out. That's so fun. All right, guys, be sure to hit follow for the final installment of the series. This is going to be a new episode with fun summer expressions and tips to connect over summer hobbies.

So that's going to be fun. And yeah, guys, hit follow. And Aubrey, this was really great. So, so fun. Such a fun series. We're excited to hear you and to see you in part four.

And I'm excited to record with you. So Michelle, I will see you there. So you don't miss it. All right. Bye, guys. Bye. Thanks for listening to All Ears English.

Would you like to know your English level? Take our two-minute quiz. Go to allearsenglish.com forward slash fluency score. And if you believe in connection, not perfection, then hit subscribe now to make sure you don't miss anything.

See you next time.