How to plan the perfect family road trip?
Photo by Dominika Roseclay from Pexels
A family road trip can be incredible but only if you take time to plan it out. Give your family something they’ll never forget by considering some of the following tips that should help you plan a great family road trip.
Get your snack game on
Snacks are important on a road trip. You need to pack everything, from chips to fruit snacks. You should also add some dried meat bars and nuts. All of these foods make it easier to keep everyone in your vehicle happy throughout most of the trip. On top of that, it reduces the number of times you have to have to stop somewhere to eat. Ideally, you would avoid stopping anywhere because eating out can be expensive, but that depends on what you want to do.
Cooking on the road
If you’re not thinking of stopping to eat, then you have to figure out how to cook while you’re on the road. The easiest way to do so is to make sure you’re driving a camper, but those are quite expensive. Renting or buying is expensive. Beyond that, they are also a little inconvenient. You can’t just park them anywhere you want, and they eat up a lot of gas. What you could do instead is take a portable grill with you or a portable hot plate. Just stop somewhere along the way to make a proper meal for your family.
Living on the road
The next thing you have to worry about is sleep. At some point, you’ll have to stop to let your family sleep. The question is whether or not you’ll be spending money on overpriced hotels or not. If you want to take things to the next level, then consider a camper van. You can pack van living essentials into a van easily like a small bed and all sorts of other items that’ll make traveling easier for you along with a hot plate, grill, and solar-powered chargers for everyone’s devices. Plus, vans are cheap, and you won’t have to worry about where you’ll park as you might with a large RV. Just make sure you have the appropriate van insurance for this kind of travel by browsing on websites like One Sure.
Plan to take turns
Don’t try to be a hero by driving most of the time. The body gets tired of driving, and you don’t want that unless you’re thinking of just taking a lot of breaks along the way to give yourself time to rest. Driving when you’re tired could make you irritable, or it could end up making you fall asleep at the wheel. You have your family sitting with you, not to mention all the people driving around you. This is not something you want to risk, so make sure you try to take someone that’ll help drive the vehicle.
Have an overnight bag
If for some reason, you need to stay in a hotel you have to make sure everyone’s prepared for it. You’ve probably packed a lot of stuff for this trip, which is good, but it could also be bad if you’re staying in a hotel. You don’t want to park in front of your room and have to unpack everything to see what you need. What you want to do is pre-pack identifiable overnight bags. Make sure everyone has the essentials in these bags so that this part is easy for everyone. Plus, it reduces the chances of anyone forgetting anything at the hotel.
Plan for emergencies
You probably already had your mechanic check the vehicle you’re taking to make sure it’s road-ready, but that doesn’t mean emergencies can’t happen. You need to do your best to prepare for anything. For one, you’ll want to make sure you have full insurance coverage and that this includes a rental vehicle if something happens to your vehicle. It’s important to also bring things like jumper cables, extra food, extra water, and enough blankets just to be safe.
These are some things you need to keep in mind to plan the perfect road trip, but there’s probably more than you can add that’s specific to your family. For example, maybe you know your kids get bored easily, so you need to bring along fun surprises like games.