For most people, the thought of getting on a flight to embark on a pre-planned adventure is the most fun a person can have. It’s all you see posted on Instagram and Facebook, yet airports are filled with exhausted passengers; disgruntled that their airlines lost their luggage or that they’re 2 hours into a 6 hour delay/layover.
Why? Because flying sucks and it’s not fun for anyone. 🙂
Over the last couple of years, I would say we’ve traveled quite often, both by plane and by car, and I can say I have never enjoyed a flight, but I’ve enjoyed some amazing car rides.
If I could make a living working remotely and not being tied to a physical office, I would pack up my car and hit the road. There’s nothing more fun to me than setting out on an adventure, not knowing what you’ll run into along the way. You can stop at any time, cellular data is almost always at your disposal, and you can take in the beauty of scenic routes.
Now some might say I only enjoy them now because Jay and I don’t have kids yet, and you might be 1000% correct, but I’ll tell you what – I still wouldn’t want to get on a flight with a kid either.
Last year for our one year wedding anniversary, we took off on a trip with nothing at all planned and it was the best time I’ve ever had in my life. It’s literally something I’ll be talking about for the rest of my life and I encourage everyone to try it at least once in their lifetime.
See with road trips, you get to fully enjoy your company. You get to create new memories and inside jokes. You listen to podcasts and discover new playlists. You see a cute small town or something interesting from the highway and you reroute to check it out. Everything is under your control.
With flights, you’re stuck on a giant airbus, 30,000 feet up in the air, with cabin pressure driving you insane, the person in the seat in front of you moving their seat every few seconds, someone’s always coughing, and there’s usually a random baby crying.
Also, it’s full of strangers. I don’t like strangers. And on my road trips, there’s no strangers in my car.
How we plan road trips:
While most of our road trips are planned last minute, with no real course of action, we start with a State and a general direction. On the way, one of us will look up anything interesting happening nearby. We’ll take scenic routes that drive through towns so we can stop along the way and check out local spots.
How to book:
Now I’m not easy-going enough to sleep in the car, so hotels are definitely the way to go.
Instead of pre-booking hotels, we’ll find one near the city we’re in or plan to be in. Last minute bookings aren’t cost effective, but we also don’t book super high end. Going on these types of trips requires a certain sacrifice so my motto on ratings is “If it’s at least a 3 it’s good enough for me.” All we require from our hotel/motels is a clean bed and a shower. We’re only there a couple of hours to lay our heads down and are usually out way before the 11am check-out time and onto our next adventure.
My go-to apps for hotels are Booking.com and Hotels.com. From what I’ve found, these have the best prices.
On occasion, we’ve also used Airbnb but it’s not always convenient for one night bookings. Expedia isn’t either, but I end up using that for trips where I HAVE to fly and/or rent a car. They have some pretty good bundle deals but I’ll admit that I am willing to pay more for the convenience of having everything on one bill and not having to make a million different calls.
What to pack:
LAYERS! I cannot stress this enough, pack and dress in layers. One thing I don’t shy away from on any kind of trip is what I bring with me. Flights are obviously different due to restrictions and charges on checked bags, but if you’re driving there’s no need to be stingy. Pack light jackets, raincoats, winter coats. Sneakers, flats, boots, jeans, shorts, sweaters and tank tops. I’m telling you, you can never pack enough – especially when traveling up north. We’ve done road trips in the summer, fall, and winter, and New England weather is so vastly unpredictable, you never know what you’ll run into.
Stuff you’re trunk all the way through. When driving out, I always prepare for the worst and hope for the best. Even if I don’t use half of the things I packed, I’ll be at ease knowing I was prepared.
Jay will tell you the complete opposite on this subject as he requires significantly less than I do, but I won’t budge because there’s been numerous times I’ve come through when someone needed something.
Other things to pack:
- Baby wipes
- Huggies Natural Care – to be specific
- Never leave the house without these. Especially during road trips, these will be your saviors. If you’ve been driving a while and need to freshen up, if you spill something in the car, or if you run into a public bathroom that’s a little too gross.. ALWAYS have these on hand.
- A first-aid kit
- Pouch for Medication
- Advil, Zyrtec, DayQuil, Airborne, etc.
- Also keep things like lens wipes, Vaseline, and hand sanitizer can also go in here.
- Blankets
- I recommend these because you can also lay them down on the ground.
- Car charger & Portable charger
- Empty baggies for trash
- Cooler full of snacks and drinks
I’m sure there’s more but these are my absolute must-haves.
Now some people might say that road trips are limiting because unless you have the time off of work to be able to travel full-time in a car, you won’t get very far to explore everything our beautiful planet has to offer, and with this I agree. Obviously we know that if you want to see most of the world you have to inevitably get on a plane, so Jay and I have discussed that on future trips, we fly out to where we want to go and rent a car to explore the rest.
I can’t tell you how excited I am for this.
As I mentioned, I, 100%, think that everyone in their life should do a road trip. It can be either a weekend trip or a full week, but take the time. It teaches you a lot about yourself, your partner, and life outside of your regular bubble. As I’m writing this, I’m currently on a flight back from Puerto Rico and the whole time we’ve mentioned how we regret not having just done another road trip.
In terms of cost, it’s almost the same compared to paying for a hotel/Airbnb, a rental car, and a flight. So consider it sometime, maybe you’ll fall in love with it the way we have.
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