Road trips are underrated. And they are not simple as heading to the ocean with a group of friends for a swim. It’s an amusing way to connect with your closest friends and even bond with any new ones. These memories will last for a lifetime. So you may think, what’s stopping? You can ring up the squad and hit the roads tomorrow, right? We’d say step back for some quick planning. Without a direction, literally and figuratively, the travel goals can get shattered. Therefore, we’ve listed a simple set of tips on planning the perfect road trip.
Read, pause, plan and repeat!
Travel with the right group of friends!
Not every friend is an ideal travel companion. For instance, some are amazing college friends who may have changed a bit after graduating. You can still be friends but travelling together means all of you need to be on the same level of thinking. If they have become a little too opinionated person, then they are going to make you feel conscious. Generally, it’s best to keep that kind of friendships at an arm’s length. So, if you are going to spend hours/days in a small space with them, it will drive you insane.
Other signs of a good travel partner are that they are on the same page in terms of travelling, road trips and how you travel generally. Meaning some friends are great for travels that involves flying around but aren’t really keen about road trips. Therefore, share the basic details of the trip when you ask them to join you. And it’s normal to not agree on every single detail when planning the perfect road trip with your friends. In that case, meeting each other halfway is the way to go.
Plus, it depends if they can afford the road trip financially. If they are not willing to contribute for things like gas or snack runs, then it can overburden the others who are paying. So, if the time isn’t right for them this time, let them sit this out and encourage them to join the next one. Instead of dragging them along.
Note:
Most importantly, make sure each friend has a responsibility assigned to them other than contributing money. Simply because one person is leading the trip doesn’t mean others just pay and pretend to be in a tour. Even if they are small things like keeping a tab on how much water is left is very helpful.
Make a Flexible Plan
Having a plan is key if not it can get a little crazy. However, what makes a road trip more exciting is the spontaneity of it. Therefore, mix up your plan with mandatory agenda along with spaces for impulsive activities like exploring a destination that you’re definitely visiting. Basically, have some blank spaces that you can fill it in with fun later.
Also, plan together with the whole travelling group, consider all preferences and fit in at least one item that each friend thinks is a must-do. And to do that, some level of compromise is needed from everyone.
Since this is going to be a spontaneous, adventure-friendly trip, it’s best to have a few backup plans. Safety comes first. And there are certain things that have to be included in the plan like:
Road Trip Destination
This is quite important to know, even if you have plans to wing it if needed. Knowing where you want to go depends on how much time you have, the preferences of travel partners, the weather conditions, budget. And the type of road trip you want, are you thinking of beaches, mountains or something cultural? Having the answers for these helps to narrow down your options more efficiently.
Road Trip Budget
Finances affect everything when planning a perfect road trip. Knowing how much everyone can contribute and starting from there helps to keep it realistic. This way, your accommodation, food, drinks, gas are planned without any room for unpleasant surprises. Besides that, here are a few best practices to manage finances during a road trip.
- Split everything equally unless there are exceptions that you all agree on.
- Use apps like Splitwise to split any bills and keep track of the ones that need to be settled later.
- In terms of transport, everyone except the car/van owner should equally split the gas.
- Also, create a separate fund for miscellenious expenses. Again, this also needs to be equally split and be ready beforehand. Funds are the secret sauce when planning the perfect road trip.
Road Trip Transport
Your regular options are cars and vans, but we’d say consider an RV as well. RVs come with a lot of space to get comfy as you can. You can stand, sit and roll over without knocking your friend. Also, there’s a kitchen for meals so you can save up a bit there. And who doesn’t want a nice clean bathroom following them around.
The ideal mode of transportation when planning the perfect road trip depends on comfort, size of your squad, gas mileage, trunk size and the conditions of your trip destination. Therefore, take a decision that would make you all happy and thrilled!
Be Prepared for Anything
Once you have jotted the main details, there are other crucial minor things to be crossed off.
Safety Measures
Again, safety comes before anything. Therefore, preventing the chance for accident and any traumatic events is beyond crucial. Therefore:
- Check if everything is okay with your selected mode of transport like engine performance, lights, battery, signals, brakes! Give it a test drive too.
- Have an emergency travel kit. Include extra vehicle battery, tire pressure gauge, road flares, fire extinguished and anything that will help to get you up on the road after a breakdown.
- Don’t forget the first aid kit. Add pain killers, bandages, scissors, safety pins, first aid manual.
- Have all the essential vehicle documents, no matter how close or far the destination is.
Go hard with entertainment
After some point, the jokes and chatting loses its spark so fill every moment with something entertaining. Also, travelling for hours can get a bit boring so:
- Craft a playlist that everyone will vibe with. And make sure there’s some theme or consistency even if there are different genres. Once done, a do a test run with the travelling squad.
- Curate the ideal snack box with both yummy and healthy items. This doesn’t mean you omit the lollipops or little sliders. But also have plenty of wholesome items such as peanut butter pretzels, walnuts and popcorn.
- Host carpool karaoke, this is a must-do!
- Listen to a podcast together.
- Plan little stops at exciting stops like a hot spring or even a cool restaurant.
- You can also play board games or even something simple like ‘truth or dare’ or ‘would you rather?’
Note:
Sometimes even during short trips, some just want to sleep but it can be a bummer for others. Therefore, discuss the nap times and try to stick to it while making sure everyone understands that sometimes you just got to let the other person sleep. However, if they are taking too long, they need to keep in mind that you’re going to move on and have fun anyways.
Other Aspects to Keep in Mind
- Make communication a priority. Before the trip, have an in-person meeting if possible or at least a couple of Zoom sessions. Therefore, everyone knows what’s happening. If anything changes, put it in a WhatsApp group along with other updates.
- Stay connected at all times by with a strong portable WIFI plan. This way, your loved ones at home are aware of any drastic changes related to the trip.
- This goes without saying, pack lightly. This isn’t your most glamorous vacations so leave out the non-essentials and instead add the sunscreens, sunglasses, hand sanitizers, mints, etc.
- Take turns in driving. Being on the road for long can cause real fatigue so divide the driving equally as possible. In case, someone can’t drive, they need to take extra responsibilities to ease off the stress of those driving.
- Don’t underestimate capturing memories. Take that TikTok video, click pretty pictures on your film, this is how you take memories home. In the meantime, don’t overdo it and live in the moment instead.
- On that note, don’t stay hooked to your phone. A little bit of scrolling, checking is fine but if you’re mostly on it, you are killing the vibe.
- For safety reasons, if and when you stall you car or RV, be aware of your surroundings. And ensure it’s safe enough to do that.
- Split up if needed. You don’t have to do everything together. If at some stops, all you want is to shop and a few others want to go to the beach, do it without hesitation.
Planning the perfect road trip is always fun as long as you think fair, act fast and be a little flexible.
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