Aren’t road trips just the perfect college dream? We’ve all watched “Crossroads” with Britney Spears and lived our best life when Troy Bolton drove to Stanford to win back Gabriella in “High School Musical.” We’re all looking for that romanticized trip down highways that alters our life in beautiful ways because we are out of our element and exploring our world with the people we love.
Well guess what? Romanticize road trips all you want because they deserve your happy thoughts and daydreams. As someone who is a large advocate of road trips, here are some tips and tricks my friends and I devised as we were heading back from our four day road trip up to Eugene, Portland and back. Whether you’ve taken countless scenic routes or all of your trips have exclusively involved air travel, hopefully these ideas will help make your next road trip the best one yet.
1. Decide on the perfect number of people and perfect car for your trip. For us, three girls in the Prius made perfect sense and was a comfortable system, with the driver, navigator and backseat napper. Think about what will work for your amount of friends.
2. Use Expedia, or another discounted hotel site. No matter how hard I try with Airbnb, it’s just not my thing. Expedia has never let me down and I’ve always gotten great deals.
3. Know the weather you’re going into. And dress accordingly, and plan activities around it, etc. etc.4. Be aware of expenses. All sorts of ways to have fun and spend money will come up on your trip, so save up money beforehand and either create a personal or group budget that works for you.
5. I cannot speak highly enough of Venmo. Hopefully most of you already have this glorious app, but it makes it very easy to split prices with friends and is especially helpful during trips like this. Just remember to take turns who gets the bill and who Venmo’s, and to pay your friends back on the app right away so you don’t forget.
6. Pack healthy snacks/substitute meals. The night before our trip, my friends and I went to our local grocery store and bought a lot of food and drinks to help us spend less money on food at restaurants. This was a great strategy and ended up making us healthier, happier travelers and helped us to not be hangry while driving. (But, I recommend only buying fruit for your first day and then buying more after that, because what we didn’t eat immediately went bad quickly.)
7. Pack comfy clothes for the car! You won’t need half as many cute outfits as you think, but you will be thankful for those soft shorts and tank tops. 8. Make an emergency kit: we would have needed eye drops, duct tape, band-aids, more water, Advil, etc. You just never know.
9. Don’t try to cram a full drive in one day unless you have to. We drove from our starting point in Newbury Park, California to Eugene, Oregon in one day and, with a few small breaks, it took from 5am to 10pm. It was a lot, and we wished we could have added one more day somewhere in there. Plan your own trip accordingly.
10. Driving at night is nice because there’s less traffic, but it is also all kinds of awful when you’re tired. There’s no lights on the highway and you’re in an area you aren’t familiar with. Once again, plan accordingly.
11. Before your trip, create a Spotify playlist with your road trip pals and have everyone contribute any music they can think of. Make sure it’s long enough that you won’t hear “Hollaback Girl” 20 times, but rather a sophisticated 19.
12. Yelp is your best friend on your trip. Yelp anything and everything, and then discuss said destinations, restaurants, cafes, and more with your friends.
13. Be prepared for anything. You never know what will happen when you’re outside your comfort zone and having the time of your life.
14. Wake up early, stay up late. You will be exhausted by the time you get home, but it’s worth it.15. Do touristy stuff for the experience, but don’t underestimate things you might find on your own. You have to own your trip.
16. Plan ahead, but be spontaneous! After spending most of our day in Portland, we randomly decided to drive to Vancouver, Washington to get dinner and watch the sun set over the Columbia River. It was my favorite part of the trip and one of the most memorable nights of my life, and it wasn’t planned at all!
17. Take pictures of everything. You’ll want them later. (I also appreciate disposable cameras, so maybe invest in one or two of those bad boys.)
18. Find a thing to collect while you travel: postcards, mugs, key-chains, stickers, etc. I stick to postcards and pin them against my wall. It’s not a bad way to live.
19. If you’re crafty, make a cute travel journal to document your trip with pictures, stories, and more. You can also make them for your friends who traveled with you as precious gifts that they will cherish until the end of time. (You’re welcome, Kaitlyn and Hayley.)
20. Love and appreciate everything around you. Look at every view, go into every offbeat shop and always stop for Dibs at a gas station if they’re calling you. These few days will be some of the most unforgettable in your life.
*All photos courtesy of the author