As classes wind down and summer winds up, many of us will trade hitting the books for hitting the road.

Whether the destination is Cabo San Lucas, New York City or every rest stop in the surrounding six counties, seasoned road trippers know if something can go wrong, it probably will.

Athletes are no strangers to long hours on the road.

With thousands of miles under their belts, athletes know to appreciate the magic of spending hours in confined spaces, which turns your teammates into your friends.

But for every happy, perfect road trip, there’s a story of one that went not quite as planned.

Crazy drivers and stranded teammates are a part of the course on road trips as junior wrestler Danny Perez will attest to.

“We had this crazy driver once,” Perez recalled. ” He brought his wife with him, she was pregnant to the extreme, like she was about to give birth, and they would stop all the time to step outside the bus to smoke cigarettes. Oh, and they kept getting lost.”

But that wasn’t the highlight that fated the road trip for Perez.

He was left behind at a gas station.

He said everyone had gotten off the bus to go to the bathroom and buy stuff.

“I was the last one buying things,” Perez said. “I look and saw the bus driving by, I was like, ‘what the hell is going on!'”

He said the driver pulled a U-turn on the highway and returned for the marooned teammate 10 minutes later.

Perez’s 10-minute wait may have seemed like forever, but freshman rugby player Lydia Pond recalls a time when her team was stranded and had to wait three hours for help. “The worst road trip was to Tennessee,” Pond remembered. “The bus broke down at 9:30 at night and we finally got rescued by some Lebanon police around 12 (a.m.). We were put up in a hotel and picked up by another bus at 8 a.m.,” Pond said.

So before you head out on the open road this summer, take advice from some experienced travelers; road trips are great to build friendships, relax and visit new exciting places, but be warned.

“Always bring a pillow, cause the window’s only comfortable for so long and you never know where you’re going to end up,” Pond said.