Planning a road trip with your family or friends is an exciting adventure during the school holidays for many people. Why go to an expensive hotel and be limited to a typical tourist resort, when you can be free to explore the majestic beauty of nature and the great outdoors?
However, without careful planning, your dream journey can turn into a nightmare very quickly. Our car broker experts know everything about planning long drives and will share with you the simplest and most effective road trip tips:
Get Your Car Inspected Before Departing for Road Trip
The surest way of ruining a great road trip is when you are left stranded in the middle of nowhere because your car broke down. In the worst-case scenario, you may be in an area with poor or no phone service, so you cannot even call a towing company.
To avoid this, take your car for thorough inspection to your regular maintenance shop and fix any problems before starting on your road trip.
Bring a Map with You on the Trip
We are now used to relying on Google Maps on our smartphones to get directions. But, as explained above, you may reach an area with no cellular signal. In this case, you cannot use the app (unless you downloaded Google Maps for offline use). At any rate, your mobile phone may also run out of battery too.
A paper map remains the most reliable way to find your way during a long journey. So, we consider this as one of the most important road trip tips. Don’t get lost – put a map in your glove compartment!
Agree on Daily and Total Budgets
Money can ruin the most solid friendship. So, make sure that all the participants understand how much they are expected to contribute to the road trip. First, create a reasonable daily budget. Then multiply it by the number of days of the trip to reach the total budget. Make sure that petrol costs and other common expenses are fairly split among all participants.
We believe this is one of the most useful road trip tips, because you don’t want risk running out of money towards the end of your journey.
Don’t Buy Food from Petrol Stations
Speaking of money, don’t waste it on pre-packaged sandwiches and snacks sold by petrol stations. They are not very nutritious and quite overpriced at the same time. You can get much better and cheaper food at grocery stores in towns you are passing by.
Be smart with your expenses, and you will enjoy a great road trip!
Plan Rest Stops and Driver Rotation
Long road trips can be exhausting for drivers. They must be focused on the road with their full attention and cannot move freely in the seat. This is why it is crucial to plan stops by the side of the road for the driver to be able to get out and stretch their legs.
We also like one of the road trip tips we heard from an experienced driver. Consider driver rotation on a daily basis. Therefore, each of the participants has a chance to relax in the back seat, admire the scenery and experience the fun of the journey.
Road trips can be a tonne of fun or can end with people feeling unhappy and stressed. It all depends how you plan your journey and what expectations everyone has from it. If you use these helpful road trip tips, we are sure that your trip will be spectacular and fun for everyone.