Road trips are always fun, whether you are going alone or with a group of friends.
Every year, once we welcome the green colors of Spring, we are ready to go on road trips. Mountains, seas, lakes, forests, every destination is perfect. Just gather your friends, family, or buddies and drive away from daily activities and go on to an excellent holiday.
Some people travel monthly and even weekly. Everyone has a friend or acquaintance that’s ready to hop into a car and drive far far away for the weekends. Looking at them, you would also love to create a perfect road trip for yourself. Well, for starters, you need to know the basic rules and preparation activities. Let’s start with:
Planning the route
You can never be too careful with this part. Choosing the destination is an easy part. You need to take a map and start planning the stops. You can ask others what they think about some places and fish for online reviews of restaurants and cafes.
Remember to ask the team members about their opinion. You don’t really want to be stuck with somebody who’s not happy with the decision. So ask them about their desires. What places do they want to see, where do they want to eat and combine all that data to choose the perfect stop plan.
Take an old-fashioned paper map to make the trip cozier. Or just follow your GPS application in your smartphone.
Checking the weather
If this isn’t an obvious step, then I don’t know what is. Check for the weather for god’s sake. You don’t want to end up in a car for 8 hours or go back home because the dark clouds started to show up.
Spring always has surprises for travelers. You can never be sure that it won’t rain or be a windy day. Listen to the daily weather channel or look into your weather app.
Planning out your budget
Nothing’s more embarrassing than standing in front of a register while you’re short on something. Don’t combine that feeling with a perfect travel plan.
Take a pen and paper and start writing. Write down all the unavoidable expenses. Expenses on gas, food, pieces of equipment, water, etc.
Then make some space for unpredictable expenses. You never know what surprises lie ahead of you. You may want to visit a specific restaurant or buy accessories and souvenirs. Keep some extra money hidden for the whole group. Or tell the others to grab some extra money on their own.
Take your first aid kit with you
Your goal is to create a perfect road trip, but you can’t be too careful with medical situations. Little splinters, cuts, and other surface damages are tricky. Keep a first aid kit with you and be prepared for such situations.
Think about some entertainment material
It’s hard to be entertained all the time on a road trip. The first few hours are easy, but if you’re going on an 8-hour road trip, then be ready for some boring quiet.
To avoid the awkwardness and quietness on a perfect road trip, prepare some material to entertain the team members. Sing a song, play a game, take turns telling funny stories. You could also ask your friends or the people you’re traveling with to send you their favorite songs to create a CD and listen to it while you’re on a trip.
Once you achieve all the goals you set while planning the trip, you can happily prepare yourself for a road back home. It’s a quiet time for everyone and someone may fall asleep too. So you know that your trip was a total success.
