How to prepare for a road trip
How to prepare for a road trip: don’t
Road-tripping is one of my favourite ways to travel. Now I'm not talking about those full home equivalent RVs (although how cool are those) I mean taking my Elantra out and driving with my friends with no set destination. Yes, we'll have a rough idea of an area in mind (a state perhaps) but really it's just a matter of where are we enjoying being right then.
Driving to Florida
The last route I took (not a single one of these set in advance but follow along if you would like to see the East Coast of the USA) was starting in Kingston Ontario where two of my close friends and I crossed the border. We then took turns driving and napping until we hit Washington DC where we pulled over at a busier-than-normal gas station for a couple-hour nap. Following that we drove to Myrtle Beach for a 2-night stop over where we were very content being at the beach and playing at Top Golf with a group of boys we met along the way. We would have stayed much longer had the weather not dropped to about 13 degrees Celsius the day. That was when we decided to continue our journey more south to Florida. We found my new favourite Floridian town St. Augustine. Right on the water, beautiful scenery and architecture with nice and not too busy beaches. We stayed there for two days before starting our climb back home to the North where we stopped for a day in New York City. Now, if we could combine this with a previous trip I took to Florida, I would definitely recommend anyone that’s into the night scene to try to make it to Miami and South Beach. To be totally honest I'm not sure why I fell in love with those cities but I did. They're constantly bustling and just full of fun with no pressure to drop hundreds of dollars on the Disney or Busch Gardens-esk experiences of the state.
What I would say is my favourite part of road trips is the true freedom it allows for. You're not waiting on anyone else and you're doing entirely what feels right and you enjoy. There are still points that are important like what I've mentioned in my past blog Planning a Trip: The Less Obvious Things but overall, I find it so much more just up and go.
That time I hit a big weasel…
You do have to worry about car insurance and making sure anyone you go with is safe to drive your car (very important note when I ended up hitting an animal in my rental car and ripping off a chunk of the bumper) but beyond that, there's not too much to it. Pick a destination in mind or a rough area of where to go before embarking. When people say it's all about the journey and not the destination though, that's exactly how I feel about road trips.
It's important to make sure who you go with are people who are reliable, adaptable (or at least at the same level of adaptiveness as yourself) and someone that you can truly get along with. To me, that's the most vital part of how successful a road trip will be.
Think about it before going: is this someone I can truly spend x amount of hours or x amount of days with? You will after all be quite literally trapped in a small vehicle with them for quite some time. It's not like you can just watch a movie or call it a night and head home when the conversation gets dull or a disagreement ensues.
Another consideration is food. It's an important conversation to have if you're road-tripping with someone or in general travelling with someone. Is food something important? Think “Are we going to stop at Mcdonald’s to save time and money or is getting a sit-down meal because we're travelling, important?” Since you're going in a car this isn't going to always be the same expectation as when you're staying in a hotel.
Hotels are another important part of the equation; budgets, and star rating. Since some things won't be as planned out and will likely be a game-time decision, beforehand make sure everyone is on the same page. Also, what happens if you can't find something in your budget? Is going over budget once in a while okay? Or does this mean the seats are rolling back while you spend the night in the car?
No answer is necessarily wrong compared to another as long as safety is accounted for. It is, however, one of the most important parts of whether or not a road trip is successful. Make sure you're in good company, and everyone has discussed the budgets, and expectations beforehand.