Do you enjoy driving for long periods of time? Maybe you love the concept of a road trip, or maybe you shudder at the thought of being inside a moving car for more than 10 hours at a time? Either way, we all have road trips to go on in our life times, seeing as the car is one of the most accessible and easiest ways to travel, and knowing how to pull a road trip off without a hitch is key.
How do you make sure you’re sitting comfortably for hours on end? Do you know where to stop to stretch the legs and get the blood pumping again? If you’re taking someone with you, can you be sure they won’t get bored and/or irritable along the way? There’s a lot of questions involved, and it’s why preparing for a road trip is honestly the most important part of the whole ordeal.
And let’s face it: Long distance driving can be made enjoyable; road tripping is all about the journey you’re on, and if you stock the car up right before you head off, there’s little chance you’ll get bored along the way. So, with all that in mind, let’s explore some of the best things to put in your vehicle ahead of time, to make sure you won’t run out of the essentials whilst on the road, and to make you’ll be able to enjoy most, if not every, second you’re out there.
No matter if you’re stuck in a traffic queue or out on an open road, there’s some great ways to improve the quality of a road trip!
Remember Your Details
Before you head off, you’re going to want to check that you’ve got every bit of paper you might need when behind the wheel. After all, you’re heading off to parts unknown, and you never know what you might get pulled over for, or how the authorities might come to see you as you pass through their town or around it.
Pick up your license and registration, first of all. Make sure it’s tucked safely and securely in your car; you shouldn’t go anywhere in your vehicle without them anyway, so they should already be there, but it’s better to double check ahead of time.
You’ll also want to make sure the manual that came with your car is still in the car, and not just been thrown in the trunk and gotten lost down the side of the seats. If you do have any vehicle trouble, and you don’t have an internet connection to look up the problem, this is what you can rely on.
At the same time, make sure you take a copy of your insurance policy as well – if you get into an accident, or have a breakdown on the road, you’re going to want to be able to read over the terms and conditions to see what happens next, and what you’re entitled to.
And if you’re someone who requires medication on a regular basis, it might be smart to take a doctor’s note or a copy of your prescription along with you. If you can prove you need to take certain pills that might flag up on the authority’s radar, you’re far less likely to run into any trouble.
Buy a Sizable Chiller
You’re about to spend at least a week or two on the road, and that means you’re going to need a way to keep your food in good condition. You want your snacks and your sandwiches to stay fresh, and you want those drinks to stay cool whilst you’re driving through somewhere like a sunny and dry desert, or a humid and hot rainforested area; that’s where a chiller comes in.
You’re going to want all kinds of foods on your journey, from simple trail mixes to protein packed bars to dairy items like yogurts and milk. We all have our own tastes, and our own eating habits, and being on the road without access to the right foods to satisfy our cravings can make a long road trip a lot less enjoyable. So, make sure you’ve got something to store all of your food in!
You can easily invest in a sizable and portable chiller for use in the car – they were invented to be taken around with us in the first place, and if you’ve got a spare seat in the back, or room in the trunk, it won’t be a wasted purchase on your part.
Invest in a New Phone Plan
You’re about to head off on a long road trip, so what’s one of the most important things you could need right now? Well, in the modern day and age, it’s a phone plan that gives you a lot more coverage than any you currently have in your pocket! You need to be able to stay in touch with friends and family whilst you cross the country; if you ever need to call for help or ask for aid, they’re going to be one of your first ports of call. And only a SIM card that ensures you always have 3 bars of signal, or a stable 4G connection, is going to do that for you.
A company like SMARTY Mobile might be the best deal for you here; a SIM card that allows you to pay as you go, with good data coverage no matter where you are or where you’re heading to, plus no contract you have to lock yourself into either. If you can always access the internet, to help look up maps for where you’re going or where the nearest rest stop is, you’re going to feel a lot more secure on the road. It’s nice to get away, and go on a journey, but it’s even nicer to always have that little portal of connection back to the rest of the world.
Pick Up the Right Phone Accessories
Your phone is going to need a lot of accessories whilst you’re out on the road for a long time. You’re going to need to keep it charged, with no guarantee of a reliable power source in a hotel or motel room. You’re going to need to boost the signal from time to time, to ensure you can stay in touch when you’re in an entirely remote area where even a data special SIM can’t help you.
All in all, think about the common problems you’d run into if you didn’t have access to the accessories in your house: what would you need to buy to fill these in? A portable charger of course, that plugs into your car. A phone holder, to ensure you can always use the map function on your phone, in case you don’t have an onboard GPS or a map to rely on (but make sure you pack one of the area as well!). And a signal booster might be quite effective too; they can be easily mounted to your phone to ensure you can get at least 2 to 3 bars when you really need to.
Put an Emergency Kit Together
An emergency kit is definitely a necessity for a long road trip. You never know when you’re going to need access to first aid, seeing as you’ll be traveling through remote areas and/or towns and cities where you don’t speak the language or know your way around.
So instead, make sure you’ve got an emergency kit of your own to rely on. At a glance, for a road trip, you’ll need band aids, bandages, antiseptic wipes, bug spray, medical scissors, a thermometer, even some eye dressings may be of use for a basic first aid kit, and make sure you’ve got some common painkillers in there as well. Being behind the wheel for most of the day can give someone a real headache, not to mention the walking aches and pains you might get when having to stop off at certain points.
Make sure you’ve got a flashlight in there as well, to make sure that any night time breakdowns can be dealt with with little to no worries about the dark outside.
Anything beyond a few cuts and bruises will of course require a hospital or professional medical aid, but if you’re in the car most of the time, you won’t be running into too much trouble in terms of your health.
Pack Some Spare Parts
And lastly, if you’re on a road trip, make sure you’ve got some spare parts you can easily replace with you. Even a bit of cooling fluid, or antifreeze in the back goes a long way! Most of all, make sure you’ve got a spare tire in the back of your car, that’s intact with the right pressure.
A long road trip takes some proper packing and organization skills; makes sure you keep tips like those above in mind whilst you’re preparing for a long time on the road.
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