With summer in full swing and months of being indoor and socially distant, it’s only normal for the travel itch to set in. Unfortunately, we are going through a global pandemic where air travel is super limited. So, what do you do? How do we scratch this itch? We resort to the original form of travel from our childhood. Road Trips!!! They are often misunderstood and sometimes even feared. I know from experience, for the longest time Aamir was always hesitant to take the leap, or in this case the road. The distance, the time, and the actual act of having to drive can sometimes put people off. Yes, these are relevant points but I promise, if you follow my prep steps and have the essentials on hand, you will have an amazing time on the road.
Before you Hit the Road: Prep Steps
1. Plan Your Route!
I’m all about spontaneous adventures and random acts of fun, but NOT when it comes to a long car ride. Take a look at your route before-hand so you know where you can stop for pictures, food, bathroom breaks, or maybe a place to stretch your legs. There is nothing worse than being on a long highway and NOT knowing where the nearest clean bathroom is. Or coffee shop. Or even worse, fast food drive thru! (you can eat junk on a road trip, it’s practically a law).
2. Make Sure Your Car is in Travel Ready Condition
That means:
- Full tank of Gas
- Car fluids all topped off
- Car tires are all in good shape and have the right amount of air
3. Get Rest before your Trip
Sleeping and Napping are some of my favorite pastimes; in fact, it kinda sucks for Aamir because moving vehicles put me right to sleep. Cute right? NOT if the driver of the car wants you to keep them company. Get a good night’s sleep the day before you plan on hitting the road, so you don’t miss any of the beauty along the way. Not to mention the safety aspects of having 2 sets of alert eyes while driving. You can never be too safe and long distances are deceptively smooth and lure you into a false sense of “ohh everything is gravy”.
4. Glasses not Contacts- at least for the Road
Come on y’all, I know I know, trust me. I am as vain as they come and I know some people don’t like wearing glasses but for long distances, it’s always my preferred choice when venturing out on the road. There is NOTHING worse than having a dozing off with contacts on and waking up to the Mojave Desert inside your eyes. Not to mention it’s not safe to sleep with contacts on.
5. Load the Car the Night Before you Travel
As weird as this seems, it makes actually getting out of the door a much easier task. You are able to go through the final list and make sure you didn’t forget anything. It’s also easier to load the car when you’re not stressed about getting on the road.
Road Trip Car Supplies
This is the fun part! For me at least. No Baggage allowances and weight restrictions? YES PLEASE!!! And then the actual goodies for the road!!! Here are my must haves for the actual trip.
1. Snacks
The obvious choice for the number one spot on this list. Whether you are a health nut (pun intended), or just want to go straight into vacay mode and snack on goodies that you would normally have more will power towards. Also don’t forget to keep some water and other beverages you may prefer 😊
2. Comfy Travel Clothes
Looking cute is nice, it’s a must for most days, except when you are planning to be sitting in a car for an extended period of time. When choosing an outfit try to pick something that won’t wrinkle; linen is cute but not for a road trip. Personally, I love soft sweaters with loose pants that I can move around in and still not look like a crazy person if I have to get out of the car.
3. Socks
Sounds silly right? Nothing is worse than fighting over the inner temp of a car. So, my solution is to keep a pair of socks, just like in airplanes, where I feel they have a personal mission to freeze us before we get to our destination. I love the feeling of warm and cozy and a good pair of socks helps keep the temperature struggle to a minimum.
4. Phone Charger + extra battery
It’s a credit to me and my resolution to be a little less dependent on technology that our chargers didn’t make #1 on this list (snacks guys… I know my priorities). Alas in this day and age of mobile GPS and multi- tasking it is important that we are always charged and connected. Our car doesn’t have 2 USB ports (first world problems, I know) So I ended up purchasing a plug in that can take 2 USB cords and charge both phones at the same time! Yay… Hi my name is Sophie and I have an addiction to technology.
5. Neck Pillow
I have a love – hate relationship with neck pillows. I can’t actually nap or sleep with these guys on, but I also get the WORST soreness in my neck if I doze off without any neck support. Let’s call it a necessary evil. Bleh
6. Wet Wipes
Cause spills are bound to happen and no one want to sit in a sticky mess.
7. Hand Sanitizer
Because germs are gross and you can’t always wash your hands. Especially in a moving vehicle. Even if we weren’t in the middle of a global pandemic, we always keep hand sanitizer.
8. Mints
Because no one wants to sit in a car with someone who has bad breath, and yes Funyons are delicious but not breath friendly.
Rules for the Road
Now I hate to be a nagging Nancy, but yes kids, there are some rules for the road. I promise these are for everyone’s benefit and to help the entire road trip go as smooth as butter.
1. Plan a time to leave and stick to it
It is not always easy, and yes, we know that things happen and sometimes you are a little late to get on the road, but if there was ever a time for you to stick to a schedule it’s when your leaving for a long road trip. You can set yourself up for a much more relaxing ride if you know you have ample time. Even if it means waking up earlier (ugh, sorry we know) and getting out before the sun comes up. Just think about it this way, you can grab some delicious coffee and muffins on the road. Yumm
2. Have some patience
Yes, we know, you left early, but things can still happen. Unforeseen things on the road, accidents, road closures, detours… all happen to the best of us. There was a time when an entire FREEWAY was shut down on the way out of the city, safe to say, it was NOT a fun experience and boy did it test our patience, but that’s one of the aspects of travel and it can happen anywhere. Think about being at the airport and having a flight delayed.
3. There is only one driver in the car
As much as I love being a co-pilot and sometimes, I SWEAR I am a better driver (it’s debatable), even I have to remind myself that when on a road trip there is only one driver. The person behind the wheel. If you are not driving, leave the person who is alone. Please don’t be a nagging Nancy, if you have a looong drive ahead of you and peace should be paramount. As long as they are obeying the law … in the words of Elsa “let it goooo”.
4. Enjoy the Journey
As cliché as is sounds, we’re serious! Enjoy the actual journey and sites along the way. Even if the road doesn’t seem exciting, if you really look around there are so many things that you will notice that you may not have noticed if you weren’t paying attention.
*True story: on our road trip to San Francisco we had a chance to really look at all the beautiful groves of fruits. (I don’t think we were supposed to go into the groves, but we only took pictures and left. No fruits were harmed in the process of this photoshoot. Promise)
Our Final Thoughts
We have really come to appreciate road trips and the time we have to chat and really sight-see. Personally, we always leave early (Los Angeles traffic, ugh) and we never run out of things to talk about. When you’re on the road, don’t be afraid to pull over if you see a scenic turnout or an interesting shop. We hope everyone is staying safe and healthy and that you find our tips and guide helpful. See you on the road!
26 Comments
Loved this blog!! I’ve driven across the USA a few times, and I can attest that many of these tips are spot on! The one about “there is only” one driver is a game changer for road trip morale lol Thanks for a great blog.
Glad you enjoyed the post! Lol we are both type A so it took a while to digest the only one driver part. We are glad that we are not the only ones!!
I love this post! Some very important and useful information there! I really love the point of not wearing contacts but glasses when driving! You website in general looks so amazing and I am so glad I found this, will defo continue following! 🙂
We are glad you enjoy our site!! We love hearing from readers and we hope to grow and give you useful travel and food content 🙂 thank you for the appreciation.
I love going on road trips so these were some great tips for me to read!
We have slowly become fans of road trips too! We are glad theses tips are useful 🙂
Thanks for the guide! The number of times I put my charger in a bag in the trunk and struggled somewhere on the way to take it out is waaaay too high haha
LOL Sameee!!!! It is soo much easier to have a list to check off 🙂
What a helpful list of tips! Road trips are the best, so fun!
Thank you!! Sometimes we forget even the most basic things so we figured a list would help 🙂
I love a good road trip. Great post, loads of information on how to prepare.
Depending on your planned route (and which countries you will visit), I would probably add to also check that you car insurance covers those particular countries. I know that ours for example is fine for most of Europe (we are based in the UK), but excludes a few Eastern European countries. And you certainly don’t want to be caught out.
yasss!!! Thank you for the great addition!!! I will update the post to add vehicle registration and car insurance!!! Sarah, we have been planning a trip to the UK for EVER. hope you all are safe and doing well.
Definitely agree with the contacts! I always remove them before I sleep and just put them back in when we wake up to start driving again. Contacts feel way nicer for me compared to glasses, they make me dizzy sometimes. 🙂 I love road trips tho, they’re my favorite way of travelling.
Totally agree, Aamir has perfect vision (grr) soo he gets super scared that if I fall asleep with contacts on because he is convinced the contact will slide back. Nowadays especially with masks contacts are much easier:)
YES! Such great tips 🙂 I did a 5 day road trip with my fiance earlier in the summer and spent 32 hours in the car. So we definitely discovered how important some of these notes are ahaha!
lol right!!!! girl.. 32 hours.. wow. We have done 7 hours so far and I think we are close to capacity in terms of longevity in the car one way.. lol.. glad the tips are relatable for others as well
Great post! The comment about glasses is really true. I think the same can be used for bus tours
yesss!!!! anytime you are in one space for an extended period of time and you are not driving, glasses are just soo much safer. In my case, moving vehicles make me sleepy (much to my husbands great irritation 😉 )
Love a good road trip! I can’t drive but love to help plan one so this is helpful.
We are slowly enjoying road trips more and more 🙂 I leave the driving the the MR so planning is my forte too!
The neck pillow and socks is such a good idea. The rest of your points are absolutely valid. Heading to San Francisco for the long weekend despite being a little skeptical with the whole covid situation. Really hoping to have relax and get the break I need.
Oh nice! Have a great time in San Francisco! It is one of our favorite local staycation destinations. We hope you have a super relaxing time 🙂
I love it! It’s always great to have a list ready before going on any trip ! we create a list of road trip essentials to minimize stops too. I remember driving to Utah during the thanksgiving break and the traffic was so bad on the way back ! We were stuck in traffic for 5 hours near Vegas. It was bumper to bumper and not moving at all. I was so glad that I had packed some card games with me . We had turned the engine off for hours and played games in the car to kill time. Keeping a car phone charger is a must too in those type of situations! Great tips Sophie and Amir! Love this post !
Yayyy… We are soo glad you found theses tips relevant. Getting stuck in traffic for that long sounds like a nighmare 🙁 We are glad that experience didnt turn you off from road trips all together 🙂
Thank you for this really helpful post! We
Do a lot of road trips and I always forget things and beat myself up about it. This will help me stay organized!
We are always forgeting something in a rush to get on the road, so we figured this would help us and hopefully others as well 🙂