| | | | I Just Drove Over 2,100 Miles on a 2-Week Road Trip—Here Are 3 Things I Learned | I grew up in a family that is decidedly anti-flying, so I am no stranger to the Great American Road Trip. On my very first vacation, when I was 4, my parents drove my sister and I from the suburbs of Indianapolis down to Orlando, Florida—an approximately 15-hour journey that entailed one night at a hotel and many stops at McDonald's (to this day, I associate McDonald's strawberry milkshakes with road trips).
And while 15 hours in a minivan (especially with a 4- and 7-year-old) might sound far from fun, I couldn't have been more excited. In the days leading up to our trip, I'd follow my mom around the store, helping her pick out games, snacks, and VHSes to watch on our little portable TV.
As an adult, I still get excited at the prospect of a good, long drive. Over the July 4th holiday weekend, my boyfriend and I set out on a two-week road trip across the Pacific Northwest and Bay Area, starting in Seattle and ending in San Francisco. All in all, we drove more than 2,100 miles as we explored three national parks—Olympic, Crater Lake, and Redwood National and State Parks—and went out of our way to drive the Pacific Coast Highway and sip wine in Sonoma.
Even though I had been on many road trips before, this was my longest one yet (and obviously involved a lot more planning than having to decide whether I wanted to snack on RITZ Bits cheese or s'mores sandwich crackers). While I had assumed that preparing to camp on the other side of the country would take up the majority of our time, planning the driving part of the road trip took equally careful thought.
Here are the top three things I learned:
- Pick up your rental car somewhere other than the airport. I knew demand for rental cars is higher than ever, but the reality of the situation didn't truly sink in until we were looking at rental cars. Initially, we had planned to pick up the car at Sea-Tac—but considering that it was a holiday weekend, the cost was way more than what we had budgeted for. So, we picked up our rental car in downtown Seattle. We ended up saving over $400 just by moving our pick-up location a few miles—well worth the $50 Lyft ride to get there.
- Download your maps ahead of time. We often drove through areas where there was spotty cell service (or none at all). Downloading the maps saved us from getting lost so many times.
- Buy a car charger. Since we camped nine out of the 14 nights of our trip, we relied on this Nektek Type-C Car Charger to charge our phones while we were driving. I also packed my portable charger just in case I needed an emergency top-up in the tent.
While these three things were a huge help for us, I'd love to hear how you go about planning road trips. What are your road trip essentials? | | |
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