Road Trip Planning
Road Trip Planning
An interesting way to see your country is to take a road trip. While road trip planning can be tricky, you can find interesting new spots that you certainly wouldn’t come across on an organised tour. Road trips are also quite light on the budget, so it’s a great way to see more and travel for longer.
I advise a minimalist approach when it comes to planning a road trip. You obviously need a little structure, but the fun is really in the random things you find along the way. By deciding only your final destination and the amount of time you have to get there, you open yourself up for all sorts of possibilities (and save yourself a crazy sprint at the end of your road trip).
It’s important to have snacks in the car, but think carefully about what you want to eat – avoid the big low that comes after a sugar high by eating sweets in moderation. A bag of local fruit is a good alternative to lollies – just make sure you have a rubbish bag handy for peelings and cores. To avoid arguments, it might be worth creating individual snack bags with equal amounts of different snacks in them – this tip is not just for travelling with kids!
Drinking coffee or caffeinated energy drinks are also ways to induce the great highs and lows we want to avoid while on a road trip. Save your coffee needs up until you hit a real cafe, as too much caffeine equals too many rest stops! Pick up some water or fruit juice and drink that. Over your day, it’ll help you stay much more alert than coffee.
Three or four people in the car is an ideal number in terms of budget – you can split on-road costs and it makes it cheaper for everyone. More than four in a regular car is too much of a squeeze – get a van or take two cars.
However, the more people you have with you, the less you’re likely to see. With a group of people, each nominate one thing you really want to do, and plan your direction around these few things. Make sure you see what you want to see and leave some space in your itinerary for spontaneous decisions. And most of all, have a good time!
Looking to find the best information on road trip planning, then visit Indie Travel Podcast to find great tips and a free online travel magazine for download.
