We’ve recently enjoyed a wonderful California road trip, so today I’m sharing my top 5 tips for planning a road trip, because believe me, there was a lot of planning involved!
I think there are a couple of different types of road trips. Those where you just fly out to somewhere and then take each day as it comes, find hotels when it suits you to stop, and meander at your own pace. Then there are those where you have your itinerary and stops all planned out, knowing what you’ll be getting up to.
These tips are for the latter kind of road trip. I like to plan and research, and as a family of four, I need to ensure we’re covering everything to suit us all.
Write down the must-sees and highlights
I think it’s worth starting here, as it will help you to focus your trip and it’s a really fun place to start.
If you need some help getting started on this, I’d suggest guide books and taking to YouTube for some guidance and there is likely to be a Facebook group, Reddit thread or forum dedicated to your chosen destination too.
Once you’ve worked out what everyone wants to do and see, you can start plotting out where you want to go and working out how much time you’ll be wanting to spend in each place.
You can now start planning dates and when you’ll be doing what. Make sure you work with anything that you can’t change first, and work round that. What I mean here, is if there’s a certain event you want to attend on one day, work with that first. For example, we wanted to see a Dodgers game, and attend Disneyland’s Oogie Boogie Bash, so as those were immoveable on the plan, we worked other things around it.
It’s also worth thinking about the days you’ll do things – check for national holidays if crowds could impact you, and look out for weekends if you’re going to super busy places.
Research the route
I know, seems obvious for a road trip, right? But I do mean ‘research’!
Take a look at where you’d like to go and work out driving distances so you can see what’s feasible. What’s feasible to you might not be for someone else, so do this research yourself.
I’d happily spend a day on the road, but I know my son would hate that, so take into account all trip members.
You can then work out where the best places to stay will be, to base yourself for those things you’ve decided you want to do.
Where possible, keep these to just a few stays, as lots of one night stays after the other will start to wear thin and packing, checking in and out, can eat up your time.
Book your stays in advance
I’m unconvinced that rocking up on the day is a good value option these days. Booking in advance is often cheaper.
I use Booking.com to book our stays, and I got some great prices booking this way, all inclusive of resort fees so there were no added extras.
I booked our stays months in advance, often using YouTube and Trip Advisor to help me choose them, and every time I saw the price drop, I rebooked and cancelled the old booking. I saved several hundred pounds this way, and I also checked the prices right up until our holiday and we were nearly £1000 better off than if we’d booked them that late.
Along with getting better deals this way, it means you know what you’ll be doing and can relax knowing you’ve somewhere to stay at each point along the journey.
Ensure your vehicle suits you
If you’re flying in, you’re likely to be hiring a car, so do make sure it’s a comfortable one.
We knew we were likely to spending quite a few hours on the road, so wanted a decent sized car so that we were all comfortable and there was plenty of room for the luggage.
Road trips are likely to involve several different hotel stays, so that luggage in often going to be with you. Make sure it fits!
In our case, it was also worth taking a black sheet to cover our luggage, as US hire cars don’t have parcel shelves so the luggage was easy to see. This made us more comfortable making stops along the way with everything in the car, though of course we still carried valuables with us.
Allow for the unexpected
Yes, yes, I know. I plan so much that I even plan for the unexpected!
For me, this means back up ideas and plans.
We had a plan for each part of the trip and an idea of what we wanted to do each day. But then I also had other ideas of things we could do if we wanted a change from that, or just wanted a slower pace for a change.
Just have lots of ideas, is what I’m suggesting! Your main list, and then all sorts of possibilities. And always allow more time than you think you’ll need, better to have extra time than run out of time.
That should be enough for you to start planning an amazing road trip! What tips would you add? And let me know if you’ve a road trip planned!