How to Plan a Spontaneous Day Trip to the Beach

Aug 23, 2018

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and The Coca-Cola Company. All opinions are mine alone. #BecauseICan #BecauseFlavorYourLife #CollectiveBias

My entire life I have dreamed of living near a beach. Since moving to Georgia and realizing that the closest beach was only 3.5 hours away, I have been dying for a trip to the beach. This past weekend, the hubby and I loaded up a cooler and packed the car with all of our beach essentials to drive down to Panama City Beach to meet up with my closest cousin for a day trip!

I love how many adventures we have been going on lately. It's so great to live in a place where we can really take advantage of exploring on the weekends and keeping our lives interesting. If you're feeling like you're stuck in a rut, grab your friends, pack a cooler full of Diet Coke® and snacks, and head to the beach or lake! I promise it will change your life.

How to Plan a Spontaneous Day Trip to the Beach

Step One: Pick a Beach (or other adventurous destination near you). Don't live near a beach? Grab some friends for a picnic at a local lake or research some popular hiking destinations and/or state parks near your town!

Step Two: Pack a cooler filled with snacks for the road and the beach! When we decided to go to the beach, our first stop was naturally Target. I mean, duh, any excuse to go to Target amiright? We knew we would want something to sip on the beach so Diet Coke was our first choice. I've been obsessed with Diet Coke for as long as I can remember and I was so excited when I found out that these cases of Diet Coke Zesty Blood Orange in the sleek cans were two packs of 8 for $6! The more the merrier when it comes to packing up for a day trip getaway, I always say. Haven't heard about these flavors yet? Oon't worry, the Diet Coke you know and love is here to stay. Diet Coke just has a sleek new look, exciting new flavors, and a bold new attitude that I LOVE. Ready to branch out a bit and make sure your Diet Coke is as exciting as the life you live? Naturally flavored Feisty Cherry, Twisted Mango, Ginger Lime, and Zesty Blood Orange (my favorite!) are at your local Target now! Click here to see what flavors of Diet Coke are available at your local Target!

Step Three: Get your playlists ready for the drive and hit the road! We love to listen to podcasts anytime we're in the car because they keep us engaged with each other as well as help us stay awake during long drives! A few of our favorites, for all of you true crime buffs out there, are Wine and Crime and My Favorite Murder. We can't get enough of these!

Step Four: Run to the beach, crack open your favorite flavor of Diet Coke, and splash into the water! I absolutely love the Diet Coke Zesty Blood Orange flavor. Breaking open a can of Diet Coke has always brought me joy. I love the way you hear the crack of the can followed by the fizz! There's just something about that fizz that gets me excited! Now with the Diet Coke Zesty Blood Orange flavor, there's even more of a POP when you open that can of Diet Coke. I can't get enough of the slight heat of this new flavor! Seriously, it might make you do crazy things, it's that good! The excitement of the beach and opening a crisp, cold can of Diet Coke made me feel like a little kid again. Do you know, I still get chills when I smell the ocean, even at 26? This was actually my first time stepping into the Gulf of Mexico! It's so cool to me to be able to say that I've dipped my toes in the ocean water from Alaska to both sides of Florida now!

Step Five: Take way too many pictures. I used to be afraid of what people would think of me constantly taking pictures on my phone or even with my DSLR camera but you know what I realized? It's better to take more pictures (#BecauseICan) than to not have them at all. Pictures are the best way to capture memories in real time and I am so happy that I get a little camera happy when we're out living our best lives.

How to Plan a Spontaneous Day Trip to the Beach

Did you know that I used to be a super duper homebody? You couldn't pay me to leave the house on weekends. When my anxiety and depression was at its worst, I wouldn't do anything let alone go on a spontaneous day trip to the beach. I am so thankful for weekends like these now. It does the soul good to be with friends on the beach, sipping an uplifting and tasty Diet Coke, and enjoying being young.

I think sometimes we can be guilty of that. Not enjoying the moments we have to pack up the car and head somewhere fun and exotic for the day. This spontaneous beach trip reminded me to take more chances in life and let go a little more. I love that Diet Coke Zesty Blood Orange and other Diet Coke flavors inspire me to "flavor your life" a little bit more with moments like these.

This weekend, I want to challenge all of the AM Coffee Collective gals out there to do something a little spontaneous. Add a little flavor to your life by packing a cooler and heading to the beach or the lake or a local hiking spot. Maybe something spontaneous to you can be as simple as trying a new hairstyle or picking that dress out of the back of your closet and actually wearing it! The possibilities are endless, Y'all.