8 Tips to the Best Road Trip Ever

The idea of the road trip is one that has captured the imaginations of many throughout the decades. Road trips offer a change in scenery and adventure, so there’s no shortage of people who are interested in driving great distances in pursuit of a good time. The allure of a road trip can quickly fade, however, if the trip isn’t adequately planned. Here are a few things to keep in mind when planning a road trip.

Make a Budget

While budgeting may seem at odds with the adventurous nature of road tripping, it’s important that you not leave yourself high and dry without enough money to get where you’re trying to go and then get back. Road trips are often taken not because it’s the preferred vacation but, rather, because it’s an affordable alternative to flying or other forms of transportation. They are often the result of necessity, in other words. Many road trippers find themselves pulling out all the stops in order to afford the trip in the first place, so you need to be very sure that’s the case. For starters, having more money than you think you need is a must. After figuring your budget, hold some back in case of emergencies.

Having a savings account to fall back on is a great way to accomplish this. Another thing to consider is paying as little as possible for snacks. For example, you can use energy drink mix in place of individual cans of your drink of choice. Taking this one step further, you can use energy drinks or coffee to take turns driving through the night instead of paying for motels. However, you shouldn’t take the risk of sleeping in your car, and you shouldn’t drive while sleepy.

Another aspect of the budget to take into consideration is making sure your vehicle is in tip top shape before the trip begins. Having an unexpected and expensive cost materialize during the trip can be catastrophic, so you should take measures to prevent this. Likewise, it never hurts to have a jack and a spare tire in your car, just in case.

Plan Your Route

While it may sound obvious, it’s worth stating and restating that you need to plan your route. It’s also important to consider deviating from the default route suggested by GPS. You will almost certainly want to enjoy the trip, itself, not just the destination; this means that you should plan your trip around places of interest. Tourist trips, as cynical as the name may be, provide an interesting diversion here and there along the road, and gorgeous natural scenery makes a road trip much more enjoyable. However, GPS tends to offer an efficient route, rather than a pleasant one. Therefore, you’ll want to do some research in order to determine what route works best for you and your traveling companions.

You need to scout for interesting places to stop, motels, restaurants, etc. in order to make sure the trip stays fun and isn’t a boring slog in favor of a shorter duration. That being said, after planning all of your stops, you can try to make the route more efficient while taking your preferences into account, and it can even help you trim the fat if you’ve planned for too many stops. You can even go the extra mile and plan two different routes, making the trip back another exciting adventure. However, you always stand to miss something during the research phase that catches your eye during the trip, and it’s okay to indulge in those whims, so long as you don’t get lost as a result.

Road trips offer a sense of adventure that is lacking in the modern era of predictability. That being said, predictability is ultimately a good thing, so you need to use the information at your disposal to make a plan for your road trip that allows you to accurately predict the maximum amount of safety and fun. Even the explorers of old took the time to chart a course in advance, so be safe out there!