A Road Trip upstate new york in a Kia Soul

I love road trips and honestly, I don’t take enough of them! I love riding in a car, seeing beautiful scenery, and listening to music. Even more importantly, I love the bonding you are able to do on a road trip. Face it, you’re stuck in a car with someone for a certain amount of time, so it pretty much forces you to bond. I got to do just that with a friend of mine as we took a road trip in a Kia Soul to Upstate, New York.

It was pretty early in the morning when we started loading up the Alien green Kia Soul, or as I liked to refer to it as The Green Machine. The trunk was pretty spacious. There was even a hidden area underneath which looked like a secret compartment. However we put everything in the backseat. Mainly because if we wanted to grab something it would be much easier.

There was ample room in the back seat. My friend had 2 big duffle bags, a jacket, and her purse and I had on carry on sized luggage, a camera bag, and a jacket. Not realizing there was a navigation system in the car I had a GPS and she had her phone. Once I realized there was one, we set it up to take us to our destination, Hudson, New York.

A ROAD TRIP IN A KIA SOUL © hollydayz
Navigation/Radio etc. ©2015 HollyDayz

The Kia was pretty comfortable for the road trip ahead. There was enough ports to charge our phones, which is ironic since we were heading upstate to do a day offline with no electronics. We also hooked up the iPod so we could listen to some great music on the ride.


For the most part we started our day offline. My friend and I don’t get a lot of time to hang out or anything. We are both pretty busy and new friends having met through a mutual friend. We had a great time talking and becoming really good friends on our smooth ride. In fact, we even spoke about planning another road trip in the future.

A ROAD TRIP IN A KIA SOUL © hollydayz
Beautiful fall foliage ©2015 HollyDayz

We had to make a couple of sharp turns on our 2 and a half hour ride and the car handled really well. There was even a point where we had to make a quick U-Turn and the Soul did it with ease. I enjoyed our trip up, looking at the beautiful fall foliage scenery. It became better and better as we got further upstate.

Once we got Upstate and joined a huge group for the one day offline event we kept going in and out the car to grab things. It was pretty easy with the keyless entry to grab what we needed without worrying about keys in our hands. We had a great time and didn’t drive again till we headed back into Queens, New York the next afternoon.

A ROAD TRIP IN A KIA SOUL © hollydayz
Panoramic Sun Roof ©2015 HollyDayz

The ride back was even more enjoyable. I was a bit more awake and realized there was a panoramic sunroof. It was a beautiful day, but we weren’t trying to feel the wind on the highway. However the warm sun felt nice for awhile until it was too much in our face. I thought the panoramic sunroof was a nice feature.


It was a gorgeous day and my friend and I talked about the event we had just left, but also enjoyed the ride back. The ride seemed to go much quicker, but once again we were able to enjoy the beautiful foliage. We got back and began unloading the car. We had more things we took back then we went with and still it all fit well in the backseat.

A ROAD TRIP IN A KIA SOUL © hollydayz
Luggage and more in the backseat ©2015 HollyDayz

A great feature the Kia Soul offered was the gas milage. We went to Hudson and back and still had a ton of gas left in the tank. The Kia Soul is said to get 31 miles to the gallon on the highway and it did us well. We didn’t have to worry about stopping for gas!


The car had so many features and I didn’t want to give it back. I wish I could have kept it awhile longer as I really enjoyed my time with it. Although Alien green isn’t a color I would opt for, the Soul was much better than I had expected. I have always liked Kia’s, but wasn’t too sure about the Soul and I was proven differently.

Disclaimer: While receiving the 2015 Kia Soul to review, all opinions and views are my own.

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A ROAD TRIP IN A KIA SOUL © hollydayz