Whether you’re setting off from your house or renting a car in a far-flung land, road trips are often the best way of exploring new countries at your own pace, taking in the surroundings from comfortable familiarity and enjoying the non-touristed, authentic destinations en route. It also works out far cheaper than package holidays, taxi hire, or coach tours. To make these odysseys into foreign fields a success, though, it pays to plan them with all eventualities and points of conflict at hand: read through this useful guide to preparing for the road trip of a lifetime.
Plan Your Accommodation
Whether you’re a military-style itinerary planner or hoping to go more with the flow, driving a tired family around at night with little idea of where you’ll be resting your heads is the road trip nightmare that’ll put you off ever doing another one. You can book ahead for meticulously-planned trips, or if you want to go at your own pace, drawing up a list of accommodation options on your route, perhaps noting them on Google Maps, will ensure you’ve always got a bed to look forward to.
Think In-Car Entertainment
To avoid the cry of ‘are we nearly there yet’ rattling around in your brain for the duration of your driving holiday, planning some methods to keep the kids entertained is a savvy pre-trip plan. It can mean anything from headrest-mounted screens and portable game consoles to books, puzzles and word games. You may want your children to be staring out of the window, sharing in the awe that you’re experiencing, but long spells in cars spell irritation for kids. Packing some ways to keep them busy will save you in-trip headaches.
Don’t forget to keep the kids entertained by tales of what you’re going to do when you’ve reached your destination. Perhaps you’ll even give them the chance to get behind the driving wheel in their very own go kart! Reading go karts review will help you find the best one.
Pack an Emergency Kit
It goes without saying that the safety of your family is paramount when taking to the roads for a holiday. Consider all the risks of your chosen destinations, from snow and ice in mountainous regions to the tyre-stressing heat of desert roads. Have a read through the essentials so that you’re not caught short with the family somewhere less than ideal – and you can count on the location of your driving mishap to be just that.
Strike the Right Balance
Epic road trips cross countries and continents, plateaux and mountain ranges. However, an eagerness to gobble up the miles will likely offset your family’s enjoyment of the trip: after all, you’re there to see the country not just from the confines of a car. It’s paramount to ensure you’ve got a plan that takes in regular breaks and rest days, as well as the hard-core drives that’ll get you from A to B. As road trip tip websites will tell you, there’s plenty to be found between A and B, you’ll just have to do your research to find it.
Road trips are unique ways to see the world, but they can result in a fair amount of stress, panic and disaster if not properly thought through. To experience the bliss of the open road without surrendering your family to a regrettable experience, follow these guidelines for your next car-based travel endeavour.
Disclosure: This is a collaborative post.
