Stop-Over Restaurants Along Inter-state Expressways: 10 Things You Would Observe There

Traveling by road could be very exhausting. It also comes with a great deal of discomfort – especially when you are traveling in a compact commercial vehicle.

During such trips, there are always requests, by passengers, for the vehicle to stop for an opportunity to pee, or to stretch one’s legs, or simply to survive claustrophobia.

Often, and due to security concerns, drivers of commercial vehicles prefer making these occasional stops only at designated rest areas. These rest areas, or stopover restaurants – situated along  major inter-state expressways – offer drivers and passengers facilities that enable them to rest, eat, or refuel without any security concern.

These rest areas are typically a beehive of activities. However, certain elements are peculiar to most of them.

Autojosh presents, “Stop-Over Restaurants Along Inter-state Expressways: 10 Things You Would Observe There”.

The DJ/Music Vendor

As soon as you drive into these rest areas, the high volume sounds blasting from huge speakers gets your immediate attention. These speakers belong to the resident DJ/DVD sellers. As many audio materials are played within minutes, in anticipation that one of them would win the interest of the passengers during the brief moments they would be resting from traveling fatigue.

The fruit sellers

At these rest areas, you find – on display for sale – different types of fruits that are in season. These fresh fruits are typically appealing to the senses. However, if you think that because you are in a rural setup, then you would get these fruits cheap, then you are in for a shocker. The fruit sellers in such places tend to believe that travelers are moneyed people. Their price offers for these fruits are mostly unfriendly to the pocket – costing  far more than they are sold in urban setups. However, with a good bargaining skill, you can acquire some of the fruits.

The “Mai Suya”

As soon as you disembark from your vehicle, to elicit your interest, they offer you a small piece of suya, typically on stick. This antic is necessary in order to lure you to their barbecue stand. They are the “mai suyas” or or Suya sellers

Sometimes, you wonder how they make profit,  after giving out so much samples of suya to countless number of travelers, many of whom do not eventually patronize them.

The Newspaper vendor

Journeys could be boring. So passengers look for every opportunity to kill boredom during the trips. The newspaper vendor understand this. So, they set up shops at these rest places.

The paparazzi

These are some young people who are equipped with some camera. These cameras are typically some out-of-dated, low megapixel Canon, Nikon, Olympus, Panasonic, Pentax,  Sony camera, etc.

They harass passengers with a proposal to “take them picture”. Peace  will elude you during your brief stay at these rest areas unless you firmly decline the proposal of these paparazzi.

Beggars

They are all over the premises. They move from one passengers to the other. They carry out a campaign designed to either emotionally blackmail you for money  –  or to trade prayers for money.

The Good Samaritans

These set of people – mostly women –approach passengers with printed documents. These documents are made available to prove to passengers that they are certified to collect donations on behalf of some vague orphanage or motherless babies’ home.

The waiting passengers

This set of passengers are typically not interested in the offerings of these rest places. Well, except for, maybe, water or some light snack, they purchase nothing. Instead, they loiter the premises while waiting for the resumption of their journey.

The Main Restaurants

The restaurants offer different kinds of cooked meals and snacks. Typically, in order to lure patronage, they provide free toilet facilities for stopover passengers. They also have seats for passengers who are waiting to resume their trips, and who might not necessarily be interested in patronizing the restaurants for food or drinks.

The oversubscribed toilets

The toilets in the restaurant entertain great patronage from the visitors. The most active are often the female toilets.

The Delaying Or Missing Passenger

This set of passengers seem to believe that they have all day to rest at these rest places. When everyone has reconvened in the vehicle for departure, they are always nowhere to be found. A search party would then be constituted to locate them and to remind them that that the rest area is not their final destinations.