My sister and I were about to set off on a five-hour trip late one night so I decided to have coffee before we left. What a mistake that was.

I was buggered after a huge teaching week so thought having a coffee before we left would keep me awake for the drive.

We had not planned on stopping, instead, driving the whole way through.

After about an hour into our trip, I felt the urge to go to the toilet but didn’t think too much of it so I kept driving. At that time we were on a single lane road with barricades on either side so there was nowhere for us to pull over to pop a squat.

We continued with the tunes pumping and having a good old sing-along, then to make matters worse, we began to get a nose full of burnt rubber. We had not heard or felt my tyre pop but I pulled over to check just in case. Yep! It was mine. A ute that had been following behind us pulled over at the same time. Two young good looking guys got out to help us. We were so lucky. They did all the hard work and changed the tyre for us. Saviours!

They asked where we were going and we said Tamworth, the same place as they happened to be going. We were in luck. When they asked us if we knew where we were going; we faked a no. So they offered to lead the way and we would shout them a drink when we got there.

Sounded like a great idea at the time. So we set off with them in front. An hour or so on the road again and I was really busting to go to the toilet but we didn’t want to lose the guys in front so I crossed my legs and held on. Another two hours and I was having bad cramps and pains and was desperately looking in the car to find something to pee into. No luck.

After I knew I couldn’t hold on any longer, we had to sadly forgo following the ute. We saw a roadside toilet and pulled in. I pelted to the toilet and only just made it in time before peeing myself.

We were disappointed that we had lost our chance with these guys.

So now I make sure to never drink coffee before taking off a road trip. You never know who you may get to follow.

What’s the worst mistake you have made while travelling? We would love it if you joined the conversation and left a comment below.