Road trips are great ways to vacation with a family. Road trips give you the chance to make memories together with your travel party and give you the flexibility to stop and smell the roses along your trip.
There are some things you can do to ensure that you have a stress-free, epic road trip that you will talk about for years to come.
Here are my six tips for an epic road trip:
1. Plan a month or more in advance
There are a few reasons that you may want to plan your trip at least a month in advance.
First, to build anticipation. Planning a trip ahead of time gives you a chance to look forward to the trip. There have been some surveys that show that having a vacation planned reduces stress and improves sleep! You get a lot of benefits and you have not even gone on your trip yet!
Second, having a general plan for your trip reduces stress when on the trip. There is room to be spontaneous, but I recommend that you make a plan for where you will be sleeping and when you will be home before setting out on the trip.
I have this printable one page road trip planner that can help you get your plan on paper.
Post your plan on the fridge so that you see it often!
2. Get Far Away
There was this really interesting study that looked at how happy people’s tweets were and how far they were from home. They found that people were happier when they left their normal travel zone.
So, plan to travel to someplace new!
I love to use WithinHours to find new places to explore. Enter your location and it tells you the cities that are within 2, 4, 6, 8 or any other radius of hours. It is a great way to get inspiration for your road trip.
Even if you plan to visit somewhere you have been before, stop on the way! You can read how I break up trips in the linked post.
New experiences make trips memorable and energizing.
3. Get Outside
Spend some time outside on your vacation as a great way to make your trip stress reducing and epic.
I love to incorporate grounding in my vacations, that is just a fancy way to say walking barefoot on the dirt. Even if you are at a hotel or in a city, find some grass and take off your shoes.
Epic activities that you could consider planning on your trip are:
Hiking
Kayaking
Plant Identification
Horseback Riding
River Cruises
Walk on the Beach
Picnic
Fly a Kite
Outdoor Fitness Class
Plan to spend some time outside, it will add variety and reduce stress to your vacation.
4. Plan for Amazing Food
We all know the old saying, “Vacation is just eating in new places.” This is very true for us and we love finding new and exciting food while visiting a new place. Eating is a large part of being human.
I have a few really important hacks for making your road trip iconic.
Snacks
Plan you pack EPIC snacks with my Oddly Specific Road Trip Snack List that I created after 200 road trip families shared their favorite snacks. This list is so fun because it shares the most popular snacks that you will want to bring on your trip and some new ideas to spice it up!
Make those Pinterest-Perfect snack boxes if you like that kind of thing with these bead boxes (affiliate link), or grab mountains of junk food at the gas station. Whatever your style, plan to pack food.
Packed Meals
Plan meals that will balance budget and fun. Plan to pack a few meals that will allow for a few meals to be eaten out of the cooler.
I like to bring a Hot Logic (affiliate link) on all my trips, it is a slow cooker for the car and it allows you to eat a hot meal on the road. We learned about this from my trucker husband who has used this daily for over 2 years. This thing is awesome. You can see some of my favorite Hot Logic meal ideas in the linked post.
You can grab my 3 and 5 day meal plans or a blank simple meal planner printable for road trips in the linked post to make sure you have all the meals covered.
Local Restaurants
Plan to stop at a few local places. I like to look for restaurants that have been featured on Diners Drive-Ins and Dives. These cool local favorites are sure to be interesting and unique.
These are the places you find when you search Yelp for places to eat. Read reviews and use my favorite Google Maps Hack to eat like a local. Tip three tells you how to use layers on Google Maps to get a bird’s eye view of the area and you can see photos taken around the city. Great for inspiration.
Hosts for AirBnB and Vrbo often leave local restaurant suggestions. Take those! We stayed in a great room in Richmond, VA and they suggested the BEST little taco place.
If you have had no luck or you just can’t decide, ask a local guide on Google Maps! These can be real time suggestions from people who really live there!
Regional Fast Food
The other thing we love is to try out regional fast food places. The results are hit or miss but the experience is fun, low cost and makes a great story. Check out:
In and Out
Jack In the Box
White Castle
Rasin’ Cane’s
Chick-Fil-A
Cook Out
Culvers
Biscuitville
Sheetz
Shake Shack
Whataburger
These regional fast food chains are not available everywhere! We made a stop at Rasin’ Cane’s after hearing about it from Post Malone! It was fun and delicious!
When we visit St. Louis we always try White Castle, not my thing, but pure nostalgia for anyone who grew up with one.
5. Memorable Lodging
You gotta sleep somewhere and you should make it fun! Did you know there are treetop trampoline tents in Tennessee! YES! Tents, built on trampolines, up in trees in Tennessee. This is an incredible example of a memorable place to stay.
You can find memorable lodging choices one AirBnB and Vrbo, but if you are looking for more adventure I HIGHLY recommend: HipCamp.
HipCamp (Affiliate Link) is a great site that is geared to those who love the outdoors, but it has everything from boondocking locations, yurts, luxury cabins, farm stays, and treetop tents.
You can find really interesting lodging there, but you want to be sure to read lots of reviews to be sure you know as much as possible before you arrive.
6. Safety
When you are planning an epic road trip you may not be thinking about safety, but it is worth considering.
The first thing to do is to make sure that you have the non-emergency police number for the area you will be staying.
You should also be sure to let friends and family know where you will be and when you plan to be back, and update them if your plans change.
Roadside assistance is another safety consideration to discuss when planning your trip. This summer we plan to take our Skoolie out west and we have started researching the best option for roadside assistance.
Check with AAA to make sure you understand your policy and check to see if you have already used your free tow. They are a great resource for most travelers on long road trips.
Pack lots of water, in the unlikely situation that you get stuck on the highway for hours, or break down and must walk, water will be necessary. Pack some snacks for the same purpose.
A small first aid kit is another great consideration, bandaids, aspirin (in case of heart attack symptoms), alcohol wipes, any prescription medication for you or your pets, de-choker, glucose tablets or anything else you may need tucked under the driver’s seat will be helpful in case of any minor emergencies.
Things To Do Before a Road Trip
Leading up to your road trip, be sure to talk up the trip with your family! Building anticipation is a great way to have a great trip. Talk about the things you have planned and the people you will see.
Having a trip planned actually reduces stress and improves sleep as much as going on a trip, so make sure you have posted pictures or your trip itinerary on the fridge or bathroom mirror to remind yourself of the good things to come.
This is one reason it is such a good idea to have the trip planned at least a month in advance.
Start a packing list when you are planning your trip. You can check out my really cool packing system and use the printable packing lists there to make sure you are prepared and do not forget anything.
How To Plan a Road Trip with Stops
I have a handy one page printable planner that can help you plan a road trip with multiple stops. When you are planning a long trip with multiple stops, you want to be sure to pack correctly and plan in an organized way so that you make sure you have all the bases covered.
These are my most important posts for planning a long trip with multiple stops:
Best Number of Miles and Hours Per Day For a Road Trip
Use Google Maps to Explore On a Road Trip
