Travel

Road Trip Essentials

Hello friends; welcome to the weekend! This has been an exciting week/weekend for me so far. Just Wednesday, I embarked on a nine hour road trip to the upper peninsula of Michigan. This drive can be pretty awful, but I have found ways to make it bearable and even enjoyable. I made a list of my road trip essentials and want to share them with you for your next adventure!

A Killer Playlist:

Every good road trip is accompanied by a great playlist. Listening to the radio on road trips leads to a lot of time scanning stations. For playlists, I use Spotify premium and use the download feature so bad signals can’t stop me from enjoying my music. Check out my road trip playlist for your next trip in the car!

Tasty Snacks:

Driving munchies are a real thing; when driving, snacking keeps me awake. This is also a great money-saver. For this trip, I packed a lunch to avoid an additional stop for food. Get all your things together the night before and have it in the refrigerator ready to go for the morning of your adventure.

Reusable Water bottle:

While driving, you want to make sure you drink water throughout the day; it is another way of keeping me awake. Instead of buying plastic bottles at gas stations along the way, I pack a reusable water bottle and fill it up each time I stop for gas. This reduces wastes and saves you money!

Engaging Audiobooks:

The open road and long drive is a great opportunity to get to those books you have been meaning to read. Using the Hoopla app, I download two or three books and can usually listen to them all between the trip there and back. For this journey, I chose the books, The Far Field by Madhuri Vijay and Who Asked You? by Terry McMillan. If podcasts are more your thing, you can also listen to those; I enjoyed Crime Junkie Podcasts on my drive north as well.

Cash:

Essential on most trips is carrying actual cash. It is more convenient to carry cards and are easier to keep track of. However, it is necessary to keep cash on hand for when you need it. On some road trips, you’ll encounter tolls; for my trip to the UP, I carry cash for the Mackinaw Bridge. The exchange is quicker and stress-free when you are able to hand over the exact amount due.

Emergency Supplies:

The less fun part of road trips, or really any trip, is anticipating the worst. However, it is necessary and certainly not regrettable when you need it! Usually my emergency kit includes blankets, jumper cables, basic first aid supplies, and a portable phone charger.

For your next road trip adventure, make sure to have all of these items before departure! What is your MUST HAVE when taking road trips?

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