3 Things You Really Need to Know Before Taking a Road Trip

A car. The open road. A whole continent waiting behind the setting sun.

I love a good road trip.

Before the world shut down for the second time, I spent 3 months driving around Europe in my little red Toyota. How it survived the thousands of miles I have absolutely no idea, given that the damn thing is breaking down every second Wednesday when I’m at home, but, aside from a flat battery in Amsterdam (my fault), all went well.

I guess the car fancied an adventure too.

However, while out on the road I did notice a few things about the whole road trip experience that I’d like to share with you today, and which might help you make the most of your own road trip sometime in the future.

1. Your car will become your friend

I always enjoyed driving, but after my road trip through Europe, the driver’s seat became my second home. It was the only constant that never changed throughout the entire trip, and over the course of months, that kind of consistency becomes something to be valued.

In that seat, behind that wheel, and with those catastrophically useless windscreen wipers swinging through wide arcs in front of me, I knew I was safe and free. It was my ticket to nowhere, my dining room on wheels, my own private concert hall, and my combustion-powered suitcase.

The thing is, as much fun as it is to travel around the world, living in a new city every week and never staying in one place for long enough for it to get boring, it is also unstable.

I don't mean that in a bad way. Not at all. What I mean by ‘unstable’ is that it's very easy to lose yourself in the adventure and forget that the real world actually exists. It's easy to become emotionally disoriented by the sheer volume of new experiences and amazing sites. Having a space that’s travelled with you and that is yours and yours alone, like a car, is a saving grace in situations like that.

I came to love my car. Even now that I’m back in my home country, living a fairly normal day-to-day existence, every time I get behind the wheel it takes me right back to those three months of adventure. In fact, there are still stickers on the windscreen from Czechia and Austria, proving that I had paid to use their motorway networks.

You are likely to meet many amazing people on your road trip, regardless of where you are in the world, but one friend I can guarantee you will have forever is the vehicle that takes you on that journey. Learn to take care of it, and it will take care of you.

2. Feeling free makes everything better

One of the best things about a road trip over any other kind of travel is the sheer freedom of being able to go wherever you want, whenever you want. You want to head to the next city at 1 am? Go for it. Want to cut a visit short or extend it by a few days? Go for your life.

When there aren’t any planes, trains, or boats to catch, you really are totally free to travel on your own terms, and it's bloody brilliant.

I extended my stay in Prague by a day or two when I was there because there was still stuff that I wanted to see. There weren’t any phone calls or cancellations that needed making, just a quick chat with the front desk and a little extra payment. Boom. 24 more hours in one of the coolest cities in Europe.

Having that level of freedom does more than just let you hop from place to place, though. It has a significant phycological effect as well.

Having that kind of total control over your travels is both scary and absolutely marvellous. In my case, it imbued me with more confidence than I have ever had in my life because it was the most control I had ever in my life. It was up to me where I went, what I did, how opulently I lived… everything was my choice and my responsibility.

I’ve spoken before about how travelling on your own and having that much personal responsibility can also be a negative thing, but as a general rule, I think it's great! And having access to a car only deepens that sense of freedom and control over your own destiny.

It’s intoxicating.

3. A decent soundtrack is essential

If you are going to be spending hours upon hours in your home-away-from-home on wheels, then you're going to want to make it as comfortable as possible.

Comfy seat covers, nice air fresheners, and a whole bunch of gadgets and gizmos to make your life easier are a great place to start but, if we’re being honest, there’s one thing that really matters more than anything else.

The sound system.

Even if you’re not particularly into your music, a road trip without a soundtrack is too much silence for anyone to bear. You will absolutely need to entertain yourself with some kind of music while you eat up the miles.

What kind of music you want to listen to is entirely up to you and will probably change day to day as you work your way through your trip. Personally, I listened to a lot of musical soundtracks, K-pop, and chart music, but if your want to listen to death metal for 3 months, that's cool too.

Regardless, making sure that you have an effective and reliable sound system is important if you’re going to stave off boredom while on the road. Not only will it help the time go by more quickly while you're behind the wheel, but it will also help to stop you from falling asleep while driving, which rarely ends well.

Now, CDs are fine, but they’re a bit outdated these days. Bluetooth or an AUX cable is probably the way to go, meaning that you can have access to your entire library of music on your phone or to your Spotify/Deezer/AppleMusic collection.

If you're unlucky and your car doesn't have Bluetooth or an AUX port, there is another way — an FM transmitter.

These incredible little devices plug into the cigarette lighter, connect up to your phone, and then convert your music into a radio frequency that you can then tune your stereo to. Basically, it gives your car a Bluetooth function… cool, right?

Whatever your style, even if it's audiobooks or slam poetry, having something playing while you’re covering hundreds of miles is important, for both entertainment and safety reasons.

Plus, you'll find that particular songs become the anthems of the trip, and hearing them will forevermore remind you of your adventure, and who doesn’t want to have occasional flashbacks to awesome road trip shenanigans?

When I came back from my road trip, pretty much everyone in my life said I had changed for the better. It was an experience during which I grew more than I ever thought possible and I would recommend it to anyone and everyone.

There are definitely difficulties that you need to be aware of (petrol prices, breakdowns, etc.) but, for me, the benefits outweigh the downsides a million to one.

Once the world starts to open up again, try hitting the road instead of flying. I guarantee you’ll fall in love with travel all over again.