This being 2017, we could have thrown six or seven emojis in there – you know, this one 😂😂😂😂😂😂.

I’d rather beat myself over the head with a stick, but I did LOL (and even shed a tear) when reading through our winning #UltimateJourneySA stories.

We asked for your best road trip stories back in mid-August, with two winners each receiving FIVE R100 Butler’s Pizza vouchers and a case of Wolftrap Red wine.

It was tough to whittle the entries down to just two, and there were a few who came close to making the cut, but in the end these were our winners.

Red wine and pizza coming at you.

First up is P (we promised we wouldn’t tell on him):

Picture it, Cape Town, 30th December 1998 and 4 friends were at a loss as to what do for New Years eve. On a whim we decided to head off to Hermanus for the beach party and duly set about packing the car (cases of beer first) and setting off.

We were driving my 1971 Volkswagen Passat station wagon and had to take Clarence Drive to avoid the car over-heating over Sir Lowrys pass. On the stretch between Pringle and Betty’s Bay we came across a crashed car on the side of the road, we pulled over for a photo opportunity and to “salvage” any spare parts that might be lying around. Diversion over, we headed off on our merry way.

10 minutes later and a police van shot past on the opposite side of the road then u-turned behind us, overtook and then blocked our path. The boys in blue dragged us out of the car, made us line up on the shoulder of the road and they performed a cursory search of our car. We were then told to follow them to Kleinmond police station where an investigation into vandalism and interfering with a crime scene would be kicked off.

The drive to Kleinmond was spent making sure all our stories would be the same, what the ramifications of a criminal record would be at our age and would we be the new years entertainment for Bubba in block B.

At the police station we were all separated and then questioned as to what we had been doing etc. and then we were told to wait for the station commander.

What seemed like an eternity went by until the man who was to determine our fate came to see us.

It turns out that the crashed car was a crime scene (due to there being a fatality and the driver was under investigation). A Pringle Bay resident had tipped of the cops that some young vandals were trashing the car and had given our car description and registration).

The station commander had the charge book open and was looking at us before bursting into laughter about how scared we all looked and that we should take this a warning. We then had idle chat about where we were headed before he then gave us another stern warning, his daughter was going to be on Hermanus beach for New Years so we had better be careful!

Our drive from Kleinmond to Hermanus was very quiet as we all processed what had just happened (it was also at exactly one Km/H under the speed limit the whole way there).

Of course once we got to Hermanus we were then faced with the fact we hadn’t booked anywhere to stay, no-one haqd packed a tent and it was the busiest time of the year, but that’s a story for another time.

Not exactly the smoothest of criminals, but good enough to land the prize.

Our second winner is J:

Some friends and I decided to do a coastal road trip, stopping in at Plett, Umhlanga, Coffee Bay and a few other spots.

On our last night in Umhlanga our car was broken into, although we were poor students so there wasn’t much to steal other than empty KFC Streetwise Burger wrappers.

The problem was the window they had smashed, the back left, which meant it was a constant battle to see who would be forced to sit on that side for the duration of the drive.

Arguments, drinking games, Rock Paper Scissors – you name it, we used it to pick the unlucky mate for the five day drive home. Even the customary black bag over the window didn’t really do the trick, and a hangover pressed up against the flapping material was not a thing of beauty.

Eventually we made it back home, friendships still intact but hanging by a thread, and I gave my father the bad news about the window.

He hopped in the backseat to get a better look at the damage, examining the broken window, and you could see the light go off in his head.

Turns out the thieves had only smashed the small rear vent back window, simply winding down the main back window from the inside. Yeah, we had driven the whole way from Umhlanga to Cape Town with the window wound down, not broken.

My father loves to tell this story and talk about ‘kids these days’, and I suppose he has a point.

The bloody youth these days, hey?

A case of wine and five large pizzas isn’t too shabby for spilling the beans, and I really hope you guys entered that #UltimateJourneySA competition.

Someone is walking away with a road trip worth R50 000 for their troubles – here’s hoping it’s you.