We’ve been talking about road trips in our house recently. My daughter and I have one coming up and then we’re looking at planning a memorable family road trip next summer. As such, we’ve been considering our road trip essentials and here’s what we’ve come up with.
Know Your Road Trippers
This one is the most important tip so the place to start.
You need to think about who you’ll have with you on your road trip in order to best plan for them and their comfort.
For example, does anyone get motion sickness, does anyone need to nap at a certain time, does anyone need a comfort stop at regular intervals, does anyone have an entertainment preference?
This one is the trickiest part of the planning as you might find you have road trippers with different needs, so you need to plan for these.
Plan Stops Ahead Of Time
Look ahead at your journey and work out where you’ll want to stop, if at all.
If you have road trippers who like to take breaks and stretch their legs, look for appropriate stops.
There might be sights you’d love to see along the way or that are perfect for your road trippers. For example, in this country we look out for National Trust properties to break up long journeys for lunch stops.
You might need to factor in overnight stays if it’s a long journey or you have people reluctant to stay in the car for hours on end.
You can make this as concrete a plan as you’d like to, so you might book hotels ahead of time, or you might prefer to have looked into the possibilities and then play it by ear on the day. Just be mindful of this one if you’re travelling at peak times.
Stock Up On Snacks
The staple of any road trip! And especially so if you’ve got children with you because you know they’re going to ask!
This is where the fun of the road trip starts to kick in as you can pack essentials and picnics along with treats and snacks to keep everybody happy.
Of course you can get food at services or along the way, but then your choices are more limited and it’s often more expensive so plan ahead if possible.
Take Entertainment
This one is important as not all road trips are entertaining in themselves.
Sure, you might be travelling down the prettiest roads and taking in breath-taking scenery that keeps everyone enthralled, or you might just be on the M5!
You might also have kids who will sleep through the trip, which is a perfect way to eat up the miles if you can time it right.
It’s better to assume you’ll need some entertainment and have something ready than have nothing and have your road trippers uncomfortable and unhappy.
This might be a road trip play list, car games, activity books, podcasts or audiobooks to listen to or perhaps screens work for your road trippers.
And you’re all set. Oh, and it goes without saying that you make sure you’re all fuelled up and your car is safe and road trip ready too, right? Don’t forget that bit, it’s important!
I hope these road trip essentials help you if you’re planning your own road trip. Have fun!