History Main / RoadTripRomance

* A ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII'' fanfic aptly titled [[https://archiveofourown.org/works/4085125 "Road Trip"]] has Hope & Lightning go on a long drive to visit Snow & Serah. While they're not in a relationship per se, both of them have had latent feelings for the other for a while, and the trip is filled with boatloads of UnresolvedSexualTension between them. Once they reach their destination, Light promptly heads to the bathroom to [[MasturbationMeansSexualFrustration touch herself]], and later after dinner with the happy couple wraps up, she ends up bedding him that night.

* ''Film/CorvetteSummer'', early '70s film starring Mark Hamill & Annie Potts. Both lower class: He's a just-graduated high school senior searching for a stolen Corvette, she's a self-proclaimed "prostitute in training."

* The original ''[[Film/ANewHope Star Wars]]'' touches upon this. Han Solo is just Luke's ride. He agrees to help save Leia because of how he could rewarded, and leaves after he gets paid, but joins in on the fray to save Luke in the end. Han and Leia are at odds at first but slowly fall in love over the course of "[[Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack Empire]]".

* ''Film/{{Leap Year|2010}}'': Anna is trying to propose to her non-committal boyfriend in Ireland on leap year, as is supposed "tradition". However, she lands on the wrong side of the Emerald Isle and has to take a road trip across the country with Declan, who annoys her to no end. You can pretty much guess how the story goes from there.

* The original ''[[Film/ANewHope Star Wars]]'' touches upon this. Han Solo is pretty much just Luke's ride. He agrees to help save Leia because of how he could rewarded, and leaves after he gets paid, but joins in on the fray to save Luke in the end. Han and Leia are at odds at first but slowly fall in love over the course of "[[Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack Empire]]".

* Averted in ''Literature/{{Lolita}}''. Humbert's wanderings around the United States with Dolores as his abductee are pretty much aimless, with the simple goal of keeping Dolores compliant from one day to the next through sightseeing while Humbert molests her in an [[NoTellMotel endless number of cheap motels]].

[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/Shrek1'': Shrek, an ugly ogre, risks life and limb to save Princess Fiona so that he can get his swamp back from Lord Farquaad. After misinterpreting Fiona’s conversation with Donkey about "an ugly beast", Shrek sneaks off in the night to bring Farquaad to her. Donkey clears up the misunderstanding and Shrek runs back to tell Fiona he loves her [[SpeakNowOrForeverHoldYourPeace at the wedding.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/ThePrincessAndTheFrog'': Gender Role Reversal; Tiana is a low-class working girl with the skills to know how to travel while Naveen is a spoiled prince. Over time they fall in love and Naveen is willing to forgo returning the human form and restoring his wealth in order to marry Tiana. However, he is captured by Faciler’s demons in the middle of the night, and Tiana thinks he has left her in favor of Charlotte. Ray corrects the misinformation, and she rushes to save him, and they live happily ever after.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Tangled}}'': Flynn Rider is captured by Princess Rapunzel (though she doesn’t know she is a princess) and made [[GoingToSeeTheElephant take her to see the floating lanterns]] in return for the tiara he had stolen. The two slowly fall in love to the point of an AlmostKiss. Flynn sneaks off in the night to forgo his reward by returning the tiara to the Stabbington Brothers, who, along with Mother Gothel, turn him over the Royal Guard. Rapunzel thinks Flynn has left her and she returns home with Mother Gothel. Flynn, realizing the scheme, escapes from prison and rides off to save her. Once the BigBad is defeated, they have the first kiss, and after years and years of asking, [[UnreliableNarrator he finally said yes to her marriage proposal.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Rio}}''. Blu is a domesticated, human-dependent, flight-challenged bird, while Jewel is an independent, free-spirited, highly-aerial bird. They are being matched to [[OnlyYouCanRepopulateMyRace save their species]], then being [[ChainedHeat chained together]], escape from an EvilPoacher. They meet friends who help them along the way and the two gradually fall in love, to the point where they AlmostKiss at their DanceOfRomance. Sadly, because of a falling out between them, the two lovebirds [[BreakupMakeupScenario begin to part ways]] once their chain is off. Jewel gets captured by [[BigBad Nigel]] again, Blu and the others rush to save her only to be caught themselves. Blu and Jewel break everyone out, Nigel and the smugglers are defeated, Blu learns to fly after he and Jewel [[FirstKiss kiss]], they have children and live HappilyEverAfter.

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]

* ''Film/{{Spaceballs}}''. Lone Starr saves Princess Vespa in order to get the Million Space Bucks reward but forgoes it in the end. Eventually he learns that he is really a prince and races back to marry Vespa.
* ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corvette_Summer Corvette Summer]]'', early '70s film starring Mark Hamill & Annie Potts. Both lower class: He's a just-graduated high school senior searching for a stolen Corvette, she's a self-proclaimed "prostitute in training."

* ''Film/ChasingLiberty'': She's the daughter of the US President, who's given her entourage the slip so she can have a holiday as a normal person. He's a free-spirited drifter she picks up along the way (but actually he's an undercover Secret Service bodyguard who set up a MeetCute so she'd have somebody keeping an eye on her). Romance ensues.
* ''Film/{{Leap Year|2010}}'': Anna is trying to propose to her non-committal boyfriend in Ireland on leap year, as is supposed "tradition". However, she lands on the wrong side of the Emerald Isle and has to take a road trip across the country with Declan, who annoys her to no end. You can pretty much guess how the story goes from there.
* ''Film/RomancingTheStone'' is a genre-savvy film given that the character played by Kathleen Turner, the female romantic lead, is supposed to be a romance writer whose works frequently involve the sort of situation the writer finds herself in.
* ''Film/TheAfricanQueen'' has a British missionary in Africa deciding to convert a tramp steamer (the titular African Queen) into an impromptu torpedo launcher and sink a German gunboat (the story is set during World War I). Throughout the course of the journey, she falls in love with the steamer's captain and this culminates in a hilarious climax. [[spoiler: They're caught by the Germans and request to be married before they're both executed. The torpedos blow up the enemy ship during the marriage ceremony, thus giving the couple a happily ever after]].
* ''Film/Cherry2000''. AfterTheEnd, Sam's [[{{Robosexual}} prize possession]] is a RobotGirl, the Cherry 2000. When the robot is damaged beyond repair, he ends up hiring a tracker, Edith "E" Johnson, to go into the restricted Zone 7 with him to find a replacement body/chassis. In the end, while escaping from Lester's gang, he finds the robot's personality to be too artificial and he returns to rescue Edith and dump Cherry.
* ''Film/SexDrive'' has protagonist Ian and his longtime friend Felicia falling in love with one another as they drive to the home of "Ms. Tasty" with whom Ian is supposed to have sex.
* ''Film/OvernightDelivery'' has the hero, accompanied by a stripper named Ivy, driving cross-country to retrieve a break-up video he sent to his girlfriend when he was under the impression she had cheated on him. Along the way, he and Ivy of course develop an interest in one another; by the end he discovers that [[spoiler:his girlfriend ''did'' cheat on him]] and he ends up with Ivy.
%%* ''Film/ImJuli''.

* ''Film/CountryStrong'' has a quasi example. The plot is about a country music star going on a comeback tour. Two of the musicians opening for her fall for each other as the tour goes on.

* In ''VisualNovel/{{Nightshade}}'', this happens to Enju and the respective love interest, minus the BelligerentSexualTension, as she and the love interest would grow closer while on the run as fugitives and eventually fall in love. Noticeably averted in [[spoiler: Chojiro]]'s route as he spends a good portion of his route apart from Enju and [[spoiler: actively trying to hunt her down under Kondo's orders.]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Shrek}}'': Shrek, an ugly ogre, risks life and limb to save Princess Fiona so that he can get his swamp back from Lord Farquaad. After misinterpreting Fiona’s conversation with Donkey about "an ugly beast", Shrek sneaks off in the night to bring Farquaad to her. Donkey clears up the misunderstanding and Shrek runs back to tell Fiona he loves her [[SpeakNowOrForeverHoldYourPeace at the wedding.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Anastasia}}'': Dimitri plans to pass off Anya as a “fake” Anastasia in order to gain a substantial reward, not realizing until later that she is the real deal. Upon learning of Dimitri’s role as a con artist, she leaves him. However Dimitri refuses payment in the end, and once the Big Bad is dead (again) they elope.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Rio}}''. Blu is a domesticated, human-dependent, flight-challenged bird, while Jewel is an independent, free-spirited, highly-aerial bird. They are being matched to [[LastOfHisKind save]] [[OnlyYouCanRepopulateMyRace their species]], then being [[ChainedHeat chained together]], escape from an EvilPoacher. They meet friends who help them along the way and the two gradually fall in love, to the point where they AlmostKiss at their DanceOfRomance. Sadly, because of a falling out between them, the two lovebirds [[BreakupMakeupScenario begin to part ways]] once their chain is off. Jewel gets captured by [[BigBad Nigel]] again, Blu and the others rush to save her only to be caught themselves. Blu and Jewel break everyone out, Nigel and the smugglers are defeated, Blu learns to fly after he and Jewel [[FirstKiss kiss]], they have children and live HappilyEverAfter.

* ''Film/TheYellowHandkerchief'' uniquely has three characters in the RoadTripPlot, but avoids TriangRelations (since the characters are fifteen, seventeen, and ''fifty-something'' respectively). The two teens are both lonely and dysfunctional but fall in love over the course of the journey.

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* ''LightNovel/SpiceAndWolf''. An awkward traveling merchant and a haughty pagan wolf goddess teaming up to travel to her ancient homeland in the north fits quite nicely.
[[/folder]]

* The ''Series/{{iCarly}}'' fandom has this as a relatively common FandomSpecificPlot. Generally it involves the two people in the pairing going to visit the third. Occasionally it involves the pairing tagging along on a trip with the third member of the trio and whoever they are already involved in a relationship with. [[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6694957/1/iHit_the_Open_Road iHit The Open Road]] is an example of a well written Creddie story of the first type.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Shrek}}'': Shrek, an ugly ogre, risks life and limb to save Princess Fiona so that he can get his swamp back from Lord Farquaad. After misinterpreting Fiona’s conversation with Donkey about “an ugly beast”, Shrek sneaks off in the night to bring Farquaad to her. Donkey clears up the misunderstanding and Shrek runs back to tell Fiona he loves her [[SpeakNowOrForeverHoldYourPeace at the wedding.]]

* ''Film/LeapYear'': Anna is trying to propose to her non-committal boyfriend in Ireland on leap year, as is supposed "tradition". However, she lands on the wrong side of the Emerald Isle and has to take a road trip across the country with Declan, who annoys her to no end. You can pretty much guess how the story goes from there.

* ''{{Film/Cherry 2000}}''. AfterTheEnd, Sam's [[{{Robosexual}} prize possession]] is a RobotGirl, the Cherry 2000. When the robot is damaged beyond repair, he ends up hiring a tracker, Edith "E" Johnson, to go into the restricted Zone 7 with him to find a replacement body/chassis. In the end, while escaping from Lester's gang, he finds the robot's personality to be too artificial and he returns to rescue Edith and dump Cherry.

* Averted in ''Literature/{{Lolita}}''. Their wanderings around the United States are aimless, with the simple goal of keeping Lolita compliant from one day to the next through sightseeing while Humbert molests her in an [[NoTellMotel endless number of cheap motels]].

* ''Disney/ThePrincessAndTheFrog'': Gender Role Reversal; Tiana is a low-class working girl with the skills to know how to travel while Naveen is a spoiled prince. Over time they fall in love and Naveen is willing to forgo returning the human form and restoring his wealth in order to marry Tiana. However, he is captured by Faciler’s demons in the middle of the night, and Tiana thinks he has left her in favor of Charlotte. Ray corrects the misinformation, and she rushes to save him, and they live happily ever after.
* ''Disney/{{Tangled}}'': Flynn Rider is captured by Princess Rapunzel (though she doesn’t know she is a princess) and made [[GoingToSeeTheElephant take her to see the floating lanterns]] in return for the tiara he had stolen. The two slowly fall in love to the point of an AlmostKiss. Flynn sneaks off in the night to forgo his reward by returning the tiara to the Stabbington Brothers, who, along with Mother Gothel, turn him over the Royal Guard. Rapunzel thinks Flynn has left her and she returns home with Mother Gothel. Flynn, realizing the scheme, escapes from prison and rides off to save her. Once the BigBad is defeated, they have the first kiss, and after years and years of asking, [[UnreliableNarrator he finally said yes to her marriage proposal.]]

* ''Disney/{{Frozen}}'', Princess Anna recruits mountain man Kristoff as a guide for her quest to find Queen Elsa and stop the EndlessWinter. They gradually fall in love, but sadly say it can't work because Anna is with Prince Hans. [[spoiler:Hans turns out to be the true villain of the film and never really loved Anna. After he is defeated, Anna and Kristoff start dating.]]

A pair of [[{{Foil}} mismatched characters]], often a [[SeenItAll world wise man]] and [[TheOjou a high society woman]] (though the gender roles can be altered) find themselves in a situation were they must travel together to reach a goal. For the woman it will often mean [[TheHomewardJourney returning home]], while the man will often travel for the sake of [[HeroismIncentive some kind of reward for his troubles]].

* ''Disney/ThePrincessAndTheFrog'': Gender Role Reversal; Tiana is a low class working girl with the skills to know how to travel while Naveen is a spoiled prince. Over time they fall in love and Naveen is willing to forgo returning the human form and restoring his wealth in order to marry Tiana. However, he is captured by Faciler’s demons in the middle of the night, and Tiana thinks he has left her in favor of Charlotte. Ray corrects the misinformation, and she rushes to save him, and they live happily ever after.

* The TropeMaker is ''Film/ItHappenedOneNight''. Peter as the hard bitten reporter, escorting high society dame Ellie back home for a big fat reward. In the end he leaves Ellie in the night to get money so they can marry. Ellie thinks Peter has left for good and goes back on her own. Peter forgoes the reward in favor of the trip’s simple expenses, and admits he loves Ellie, and the walls of Jericho fall.

* The original ''[[Film/ANewHope Star Wars]]'' touches upon this. Han Solo is pretty much just Luke's ride. He agrees to help save Leia because of how he could rewarded, and leaves after he gets paid, but joins in on the fray to save Luke in the end. Han and Leia are at odds at first, but slowly fall in love over the course of "[[Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack Empire]]".
* ''Film/{{Spaceballs}}''. Lone Starr saves Princess Vespa in order to get the Million Space Bucks reward, but forgoes it in the end. Eventually he learns that he is really a prince and races back to marry Vespa.
* ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corvette_Summer Corvette Summer]]'', early 70s film staring Mark Hamill & Annie Potts. Both lower class: He's a just-graduated high school senior searching for a stolen Corvette, she's a self-proclaimed "prostitute in training."

* In ''Film/WristcuttersALoveStory'' the hero and his friend go on a roadtrip in the afterlife to find the ex-girlfriend he killed himself over, but pick up a new LoveInterest for him along the way.

* ''Film/LeapYear'': Anna is trying to propose to her non-committal boyfriend in Ireland on leap year, as is supposedly "tradition". However, she lands on the wrong side of the Emerald Isle and has to take a road trip across the country with Declan, who annoys her to no end. You can pretty much guess how the story goes from there.

* ''Film/OvernightDelivery'' has the hero, accompanied by a stripper named Ivy, driving crosscountry to retrieve a break-up video he sent to his girlfriend when he was under the impression she had cheated on him. Along the way, he and Ivy of course develop an interest in one another; by the end he discovers that [[spoiler:his girlfriend ''did'' cheat on him]] and he ends up with Ivy.

* ''Film/TheYellowHandkerchief'' uniquely has three characters in the RoadTripPlot, but avoids TriangRelations (since the characters are fifteen, seventeen and ''fifty-something'' respectively). The two teens are both lonely and dysfunctional, but fall in love over the course of the journey.

* Averted in ''Main/{{Lolita}}''. Their wanderings around the United States are aimless, with the simple goal of keeping Lolita compliant from one day to the next through sightseeing while Humbert molests her in an [[NoTellMotel endless number of cheap motels]].

May or may not be necessitated by ChainedHeat. Think of this as Buddy Love [[XMeetsY Meets]] A RoadTripPlot.

* The original ''[[ANewHope Star Wars]]'' touches upon this. Han Solo is pretty much just Luke's ride. He agrees to help save Leia because of how he could rewarded, and leaves after he gets paid, but joins in on the fray to save Luke in the end. Han and Leia are at odds at first, but slowly fall in love over the course of "[[TheEmpireStrikesBack Empire]]".

* ''{{Film/Cherry 2000}}''. AfterTheEnd, Sam's [[{{Robosexual}} prize possession]] is a RobotGirl, the Cherry 2000. When the robot malfunctions, he has to hire a pretty female tracker, Edith "E", to go into the wastelands with him to find the necessary replacement parts. In the end he finds the robot's personality to be too artificial, and he returns with Edith to rescue the Earth.

%%* ''Film/TheAfricanQueen''

[[AC:{{Anime}}]]

[[AC:{{Fanfic}}]]
* The ''Series/{{iCarly}}'' fandom has this as a relatively common FandomSpecificPlot. Generally it involves the two people in the pairing going to visit the third. Occasionally it involves the pairing tagging along on a trip with the third member of the trio and whoever they are already involved in a relationship with.
** [[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6694957/1/iHit_the_Open_Road iHit The Open Road]] is an example of a well written Creddie story of the first type.

[[AC: Film - Animated]]

* ''{{The Princess and the Frog}}'': Gender Role Reversal; Tiana is a low class working girl with the skills to know how to travel while Naveen is a spoiled prince. Over time they fall in love and Naveen is willing to forgo returning the human form and restoring his wealth in order to marry Tiana. However, he is captured by Faciler’s demons in the middle of the night, and Tiana thinks he has left her in favor of Charlotte. Ray corrects the misinformation, and she rushes to save him, and they live happily ever after.

%%* ''WesternAnimation/{{Flushed Away}}''

[[AC: Film - Live Action]]

[[AC:{{Literature}}]]

[[AC:{{LiveActionTV}}]]

[[AC:{{Webcomic}}]]
* ''TheLessThanEpicAdventuresOfTJAndAmal'' falls directly into this plotline with the story following the two titular characters on the road from California to Providence, Rhode Island after Amal agrees to drive TJ while on a bender.