Road Trip: 4 Tips to Planning A Terrific Family Road Trip

Are you planning on taking a family road trip? Here are some easy steps to help your road trip go smoothly (and safely)!

Tip 1: Make Reservations for Your Trip

Are you going to go in a car? Are you taking an RV? Are you renting an RV? What are you going to do? If you are not staying with family, make sure you make reservations for your trip.

First, figure out what times you are going where. If you’re taking a road trip, make sure it is at a pleasant time of year. You don’t want to get stranded 20 miles outside of Chicago during a blizzard, or have your vehicle break down in the middle Death Valley during summer.

If you are taking your car, check with family members. Stay with family if you can. It may not only reduce the price, but make the trip more fun. Check with family first, though. Plan to spend time with your family. Volunteer to help them out (around the house, etc.) Clean out up your messes. Be a good house guest!

Make sure to reserve hotels. If you can’t stay with family, or have a last minute emergency, it is always important to have a place to stay. Reserve hotels well in advance.

If you are in an RV, consider staying at State or national parks. They offer beautiful views, at relatively cheap prices. There are also tons of RV parks all over the place.

Tip 2: Look at the Locations

Where are you going to be around? Are you going to be close to national parks, cities, lakes, etc. Choose sites to stop and look around. Have fun!

If you’re looking at National Parks or State Parks, look at these books by National Geographic:
The National Geographic Complete National Parks of the United States, 2nd Edition
National Geographic Guide to the National Parks of the USA
100 Parks, 5000 Ideas: Where to Go, When to Go, What to See, What to Do

If you’re planning on going to cities, pick up a local city guide (or buy one in advance). This will give you a feeling for the roads, and also tell you about local tourist attractions (and restaurants).

Tip 3: Bring the Necessary Items

While the needs of every family is different, there are certain things that just about everyone needs for a road trip.

Map of USA

You’ll need a physical map. Although you might like having Google Maps on your phone (and might even have it downloaded offline), it is extremely useful to have a physical map. Here is a link for the Rand McNally Road Atlas, which is a great map to use.

Scratch Off Map

If you have kids (or just like having a fun map) a scratch of map will let you keep track of which states you have been to. The Maps International Scratch Off Map of the USA is a great map for showing off which states you have been to.

Compression Bags

You will probably want to bring compression bags for storing your clothes. They will take up less space in your car/RV that way. It will let you have more room and help the long drives feel less cramped.

This is far from a comprehensive list. All it is are a few useful items that you might not have thought of.

Tip 4: Bring Snacks for the Road

Although you might want to save space by only buying snacks when you need them, this sort of defeats the purpose. You won’t see too many gas stations if you are driving through rural country, and when you do, the food will be expensive.

Snacks will take up space on your road trip, but the amount of space they take up will decrease as time goes on. You could also just buy a few to start, and then refill at grocery stores during your road trip.

Safety Tip: Don’t be a distracted driver. Avoid eating while driving if you can. If you need to pull over to be safer, then do.

If you found this article helpful, be sure to check out other articles at planandorganize.com. Have a safe and happy road trip.