If you are looking for ways to spend good, quality time with your family or a group of friends then you need to be looking at road trips. They are one of the best types of holidays where you can connect with others. If you are looking at going on a road trip soon and need to make sure you have everything set up for you to have a great time, there are some things that you need to think about to make sure that happens. Of course, there is no way you can force fun on a trip, but planning and giving yourself opportunities for it to happen is a good place to start.
We’re going to have a look at some of the ways you can make a road trip easier and open more opportunities for you to have a fun time.
Start Planning Sooner Rather Than Later
You may not be someone who enjoys planning, after all, it can take a lot of time and effort, if this is the case, you need to think about the positive side of it. If you plan, you are freeing up more time on your trip. You don’t want to be in a position where you are wasting time each morning deciding what you are going to be doing. You will find it much more useful to have a plan in place, even if it is only a week at a time. It can also bring fun to the trip before you even leave. Take a few nights to sit down and go through everything that each person wants to see and do and see if you can fit it in. It could be that one person wants to stay at the Boutique Hotel in Traverse City, MI , another wants to make sure they see a certain site, or someone wants to eat in a particular restaurant.
Once you have most of the planning out of the way, you will find that you have much more time freed up to spend with your family. A great example of planning ahead is to make sure you pre-book your car rental or motor home rental. It is a road trip at the end of the day, so you need to make sure you have the right transport available.
Ensure Everyone’s Safety
You need to make sure you think about safety when you plan any trip, however, it is even more important when you are planning a road trip. As long as you think about the safety of you and your family on your trip, you should be able to enjoy your holiday much more. There are many essentials that you need to think about to make sure everyone is safe on the trip, as well as monitoring them on the road. For example, do you need to take a car seat? If so, do you need to take your own or are you able to hire one once you are there?
The first thing you need to think about is the safety of the vehicle you are travelling in. Whether you are hiring a mode of transport or are setting off from home, you want to make sure it is in the best condition for the trip ahead. You need to make sure you look at things like:
- The tire pressure.
- The oil levels.
- The coolant levels.
- The fitment of the car seats.
- That the windows clear properly.
- And more.
Once you have done this you need to make sure you are prepared for all events. This means you need to have:
- An emergency kit.
- Extra food.
- Water.
- A torch.
- A first aid box.
- Other supplies.
As long as you have all of this you should be well on your way to being safe on your road trip. You will feel safe, secure, and prepared and in return, you will feel more comfortable having fun, getting wet, and confident that you can deal with any mishaps.
Of course, you also need to think about driving safely and being aware on the roads. Make sure you always follow speed limits and stop when you get too tired. Something else you should think about is the fitment of any car seats you are taking with you. If you aren’t going to be in your car using your car seats you need to make sure you look ahead at the fitment details of any rental vehicle.
Keep A Record Of Your Journey
You will find that when you start to keep a record of what you are doing on your trip, you will naturally find yourself having more fun just because you want to write about it. Try to document your trip as much as you can. It could be things like:
- Keeping receipts.
- Taking loads of pictures.
- Writing a diary. ‘
- Posting on social media.
- Buying postcards or fridge magnets.
Making an effort to keep a record of your trip means that you are going to want to try to do as much as possible to make your trip a fun one. There are many ways you can do this so just choose your favourite or use a mix. You will find that doing this means that you enjoy your trip more as you go along. Not only this you will have some great ways of looking back on the memories.
Make Sure Everyone Is Involved
You should make an effort to get everyone involved in the trip as possible. The more you do this, the more you will find that you have a fun-filled time. You will soon see how much more enjoyable your road trip is once you get everyone involved in every stage of it. After all a road trip is a way to make extra special memories with your family so you want them to be involved as much as possible. Make sure you play games that everyone enjoys and do something small for everyone as often as possible.
Pack Snacks
This might seem a little silly, however, there is nothing fun about a family being hungry and not knowing when or where they are going to be able to eat next. You can end up with some foul moods and unhappy people when they are hungry so it is best that you prevent this from happening. It is a common mistake to forget to pack snacks or not have enough snacks on hand. You can always buy from on the road along the way, however, it won’t be long until you realise how quickly this adds up and makes your trip more expensive. Make sure your vehicle is packed with beverages, sweets, and some healthy choices. You should also think about packing a packed lunch. If you think buying a few snacks is expensive on a road trip, you haven’t seen anything when it comes to eating out all the way. Before you know it, you will have blown your budget just on food and have nothing left for activities that you want to do on your trip. Make sure you throw in a few rubbish bags so you can collect all the rubbish and prevent an untidy car or van.
As you can see there are many ways you can make sure you have a road trip that is packed full of fun. These five tips should help you to have a stress-free and fun-filled family road trip. Can you think of any other tips that could help? Please share them in the comments section below.