The sleepless nights and a week full of hard work deserve some sort of activity to relive life, and a road trip is one of the most refreshing presents you can have for yourself.
The open road invites adventurers to explore new destinations, create lasting memories, and enjoy the freedom of traveling on their own terms.
Like everything else, planning before hitting the road is essential. Otherwise, this pleasant lifelong memory could become a nightmare of your life.
Your journey’s route, packages, and last resort must be planned because only planned experiences make the travel effective, enjoyable, and less depressing.
So, In this article, we will help you properly plan the road trip that not only exhilarates your weekend trip but sticks in your head as one of the most enjoyable trips of your life.
Without further ado, lets get into it.
Planning Phase of a Trip
The planning phase is the most crucial part of a trip because, without it, you might not even know if you want a road trip or not. In the planning phase, you must take care of your route, destinations, locations, budget, time, and everything else that could ruin your experience without a proper plan. First of all, you need to plan routes.
Mapping Your Journey
- Plan your route based on your preferred locations and route conditions and compare distance with other courses. If some route is shorter but not in proper condition, it would be better to take a longer but safer way.
- Balancing beauty and practicality in your route selection is essential. If it is a short trip, you won’t be able to cover all locations, and if you do, it won’t be possible to enjoy; everything will go hurriedly.
- Map out the parking spot if you are planning to visit locations. It is a great time-saving tactic. Last year, I had planned places to visit and could not see just because of a non-secure parking spot. Finding a safe spot is essential because if you’re on the road for days, many essentials are sitting in a trunk.
Time and Stop Planning
- Take into consideration your resetting spots. If you plan to be on the road for days, a resetting spot, motel, or hotel must be planned with restaurants and cafes to enjoy other towns’ food. Pick the best spots for breaks and sightseeing.
- Mark the planned places and spots on your physical or Google map, assign time on each spot so that you can enjoy at the given time, and cover the most places possible effectively.
- Balance the drive and stop time. After all, the purpose of the road trip is to relieve yourself from tension and stress and not to be burdened with more depressing driving. Especially if you’re like me, who gets tired of driving after a few miles
Budgeting For Your Trip
- A budgeting plan is also important; the money required for your food, fuel, rest, resorts, and shopping should be estimated at some point, especially if you are tight on a budget.
- Make a plan and keep some hard money in case there is an emergency on the road where ATM or cash in the bank might not be utilized.
- Also, estimate your return journey and make sure to avoid any impulsive buying because you will most probably regret it after your return.
Preparation Phase of a Trip
Once you have planned your trip, its time to turn it into an executory practice. If your trip plan is proper, you will avoid many hurdles and time-wasting scenarios. However, there are other important things that you need to consider before starting your journey, as preparing for your road trip.
Car Maintenance
- Before even taking your first step, make sure you have checked and balanced every part of your car. First of all, test drive for a shorter distance and see if the brakes, acceleration, suspension, and other parts of the car are working properly.
- After that, check the radiator and engine are working; if you have an electric motor, then check if that is working properly as well.
- Lastly, check your tires; replace them if they are in poor condition. For long-route rides, highway tires are preferred. Currently, the best tire in the market for longer route rides is Goodyear’s highway tire Wrangler Steadfast HT due to its overall performance.
As this saying goes: “Take care of your car in the garage, and the car will take care of you on the road.”
Fuel and Charging Mileage
- Make sure you have the required fuel levels to reach the nearby gas stations and from there to other gas stations, which can be executed only if you have adequately planned your routes.
- If you want to save fuel, drive efficiently. It means don’t put too much weight on your car, don’t accelerate heavily, and ensure the tire air pressure is at the proper levels.
- Similarly, if you are driving an EV, ensure the charging is enough to cross trails before reaching the battery stations. Also, make sure the electric motor health is above danger levels.
Packing Essentials
- On road trips, you don’t need heavy, excessive stuff as a luggage. Try to carry just essentials; Packing Light and Packing Right is the key to a great road trip.
- Make sure to carry an emergency kit or make one if you have any medical condition. It is by far the most important thing because nothing is above your health.
- With safety and essentials, make sure you have prepared to enjoy your rest time on a road trip, plan your source of entertainment, and keep some books, games, music, and other thing that makes you happy, especially if you are a lone explorer.
Conclusion
With all that, make sure to create a comprehensive list to ensure you have caught everything vital – from documents to device chargers, snacks to spare keys.
We conclude this article at this point that you travel safely and avoid any hurdles and trouble that get in your way. Make sure to learn about the rules and regulations of the road because there are different rules in different districts of some countries. And this is important to avoid any trouble along your journey.
