Making the most of your road trips
Road trips are my favorite way to spend a vacation. Pros of taking road trips is that often times it would be cheaper than flying. More flexible than taking a bus or train as you can plan your route and time.Many might think it is very time consuming. Sure, it is. But if you can afford the time or even better make the most of your journey, then you will see how road trips are a beautiful way to travel.
So here I am sharing my list of few things to try out next time you are road tripping:
Saving some extra $
If you are doing a multi day road trip and want a place to relax for the night and get some sound sleep but without shelling dollars on a hotel room, rest stops are the way to go. Get your seats in a fully reclined position. To make it comfortable, carry a comforter. If you want to make it extra comfortable, you can carry a car travel mattress. You will find quite a lot of options on amazon.
Shower time
Found a very good gas station chain that has clean shower facility — Love’s. Check if you have Love’s anywhere on your way.
Save on the gas
If you are doing a long distance road trip, fuel costs add up quickly. Any savings in this area would be helpful. Use the app Gas Buddy to check out the price of gas on your way. The app also shows when the price was last updated so that you are not in for surprises.
PhotoSpot App
Looking to take a break from driving? But want to avoid stopping at coffee shops and rest stops each time. How about checking out something fun while you take a break? The photo spot app will show popular photo spots, instagramable spots on your way so that you can plan your stops ahead of time. On one of our trips, we found out about a shoe tree on the loneliest highway. If not for photospot app, we would have definitely missed it. The tree was located on road side with hundreds of shoes hanging from it.
Learn a new language
On most of my road trips, my husband is my travel partner. We both have different mother tongues. We use this time on road trips to practice our language skills. If you are traveling alone or with people who have a similar interest in learning a language, you can play the audio tutorials on the music system of the car.
Audio Apps
If you have listened to your music playlist for n number of times and are bored looking for something new and interesting, there are tons of options. Listen to a podcast. Or listen to an audio book. Curio is an app that would read out thought provoking articles from the web which would fuel further discussions with your travel buddies. Or just listen to stories on youtube. I used to love Hindi language textbook lessons when I was in school. Once I stumbled upon the stories by those authors read by narrators on youtube and I was hooked. We often play Premchand’s and Manto’s audio stories on Youtube. My favorite one being Kabuliwala which I listen to once at least one each road trip.
Have a laugh
Listening to Standup comedy is also enjoyable when on road trips. If with a group of friends or traveling solo, you can find a ton of standup comedy videos on youtube that you can just listen to while your eyes are on the road and have a hearty laugh.
Offline Maps and all that tech thing
You don’t want the stress of driving through lonely roads in the middle of night, losing network connection and getting confused about which road to pick when the road splits into two. Sure, you can take the path less travelled and maybe that will make all the difference as Robert Frost says. But I am not sure if you want to test that out in the middle of a dark night..! Google offers a way to download maps of any area. So download the maps in advance for the places you are planning to travel to. Gmaps also has a helpful feature of creating lists. If there are places on your mind on your way that you want to take a detour for, or not miss out, you can add those to your lists in advance. These lists can be kept private or made public. Make sure you have the right cables to charge you tech gadgets and most important of them all, the smart phone.
Be flexible
The most beautiful thing about road trips is it offers you flexibility. It gives you a chance to be spontaneous. If you feel like changing your schedule, spending extra time in one location, or just changing your route all together, be adventurous and open to the opportunities a road trip will offer you. Often times we have added cities and national parks to our plans that opened a door to different experience. If you are in the navigator seat, keep an eye out for the street signs and small vendors and shops.
Ensure Peace of Mind
Make sure you have done the safety checks before you start your trip for peace of mind — vehicle insurance and vehicle health. On long journeys, take breaks and refresh. Change drivers if you are doing long distances. For additional safety, keep jumper cables in the car. If you are traveling to snowy areas, check if snow chains would be needed and plan ahead of time. Add tow ropes too if that would be needed. Check if the tool box, first aid kit and spare tyre are in good condition.
Road trips can be fun solo or with others. A good company can change how you perceive your journey. So make sure you choose your travel mates well and be a good travel mate to others! Wishing you a very happy road tripping!
