Road Tripping – How To Plan The Perfect Road Trip
Set Your Itinerary And Begin A Road Trip Journey To Your Next Destination
Road tripping, an iconic vacation getaway, has made a serious comeback since the pandemic. Families, friends, couples, and solo travelers are discovering the benefits of looking at a map and finding their perfect place to explore.
As you think about destinations, routes, and attractions, the freedom to plan your trip to suit your vacation style is liberating. Whether you begin from your own driveway or book flights to a far away city, the process of planning your road trip is the same.
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Updated 8/19/2024
Your Road Trip Plan
Jumping in the car and just driving can be a fun adventure. Sometimes you just want to go where the road will take you, no travel plans, just the open road with unknown destinations to explore. I am a big planner, so I like an itinerary, even a fairly loose idea of where I’m heading and staying.
We plan different types of trips that take us to our desired location. Each trip plan brings different challenges and exciting discoveries. Sometimes a detour is an opportunity.
As you begin to plan your trip, you need to answer a few basic questions:
- How many days?
- Your ultimate destination?
- Accommodations? Hotels? Campgrounds?
- Budget?
- How many miles do you want to drive each day?
- What are your must sees along the route?
- How many rest days do you need?
- Other personal criteria, i.e. family or friends visits along the way.
Reservation Style
Once you have an idea of where your journey will take you, then you can start planning. There are so many different road trip planners available, and I’m sure there is a travel planner to suit your open road adventure style.
Decide where you want to visit, is it just one state or a cross country bucket list journey.
I typically like to plan out the entire trip beforehand and make some key reservations. If we are staying in a National Park or popular destination, I’ll make those reservations ahead of time. If we are just going to explore different routes with no deadlines, then I will book hotels as the day progresses. These kinds of free and easy trips allow you to spend more time at attractions or locations you want to explore longer.
Campground and hotel reservations may be required – unless you don’t mind sleeping in your car. Ah – no thank you.
Vehicle Preparation
If you are driving from home, make sure your car is in good condition, your maintenance is up-to-date. Pack an roadside emergency kit and check your spare tire is good before you set off exploring.
If you are renting a car or RV at your beginning destination, use a reputable national company. You don’t want to be broken down and not have access to a replacement vehicle.
National Parks
We have spent a lot of time hiking in the state and national parks. I find planning hikes with AllTrails invaluable. They rate hikes by difficulty, state the hike length, and there are great reviews attached to most hikes.
Thematic Road Trips
When I’m planning a great American road trip, I like to make it thematic. Is it focused on foodie delights like this Puerto Rico Foodie adventure or a destination focused trip like driving from Fairbanks Alaska to Denali National Park and Preserve.
The road trip itinerary options across the USA and Canada are only limited by your imagination. With a little planning, you can create a road trip pretty much anywhere in the world. It’s all in the details and planning. We have done several international road trips including one from Dublin to Northern Ireland.
Some road trip themes include:
- History
- Hiking
- Food and Wine
- Beach explorations
- Waterfall hunting
- Antiques and flee markets
- Roadside oddities
- National Parks
- Geo-cashing
You are only limited by your imagination and the places you visit.
Tours And Road Trips
You don’t always have to be driving to enjoy a great road trip. As we get older, not driving (nor navigating) is becoming increasingly more appealing. Taking a bus tour is another great way to enjoy a road trip. There are lots of quality tour companies that take you on private, small group, and full bus tours.
We recently did a road trip and walking tour combo exploring the Amalfi Coast with EF GoAhead. It was an amazing adventure and all we had to do was show up and walk! There were about 20 people in the small group and I had organized a group of eight friends to join us on this fantastic scenic walking tour. It was the perfect combination of gorgeous scenery for walkabouts, spending time with great friends, and making fun memories all without worrying about the little details.
We are currently planning a mid-west National Parks group trip with Globus. Two weeks of visiting around a dozen State and National Parks. Of course, you need to give up control when you travel with a group, however, there are no cars and route planning involved. It’s a cost and control trade off.
Time To Plan Your Fun Adventure Road Tripping
Road tripping is one of my favorite ways to explore a region. Whether you are planning a summer vacation road trip, fall leaf peeping adventure, a winter wonderland exploration, or a cabin fever spring getaway, find a road trip plan that works for you and set out to discover a brand new route.
Happy Bucket List Adventures,
Sandi
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The information provided here is an overview of types of adventures available. Travel With Sandi does not endorse certain tours or adventures — each individual should choose based on their personal taste and physical abilities. As always be safe, be aware of your surroundings, tread carefully, and keep your valuables hidden
I love a good road trip. I need to put one together as I am missing the drive. I love the drive out of town – you can just feel the stress melt away. I had to chuckle when I read your suggestion though – it made me remember “Trip Tiks” from Triple A….does anyone remember those? I think I still have one tucked away in a memory box. Thanks for your information. Very helpfu.
I love a fun roadtrip, but as you said there is a ton of restrictions right now. Great tips and advice for making a roadtrip more enjoyable.. we all can use some fun and time to get away!
This is definitely the year for road trips. We always try to hit a national park or monument when we take road trips. Last year we drove from Virginia Beach to Seattle and hit so many sites along the way…would love to have an experience like that again.
Great tips for traveling during the pandemic. We definitely have to put a little more planning into a trip right now.
We feel the same way. We have been able to go on a few road trips and it has been so fun!
I’ve discovered that road tripping during a pandemic means bringing along plenty of snacks especially if you’re not on an interstate. Thank you for this wonderful road trip post for these current days!
I think so many are embracing this idea. It is great to see families getting on the road and discovering more of the USA!
Road trips are definitely the way to go this year! We’re hoping to get an RV sometime soon, so we can do a lot more road-tripping while staying safe in our own space.
Road trips and National Parks are often underrated but those are some of my favorite things to do on vacation. You get to see so much when you’re in control of the drive. And take as long as you need to get there. But our best ones were ones we had a well laid out plan before we left!
We just got back from a road trip and are leaving later today to go on another one. The thing that we’ve found to be kind of stressful is never knowing what the mask policy is in each place. Some hotels we’ve walked into the staff aren’t even wearing masks. It’s been hard on our kids because some attractions have been requiring masks for ages 10 and up, so 2 kids have to wear a mask and 2 don’t. None of this has put a damper on our travels though, they’re just minor things we have to deal with for now.
Thank you for the great tips. It is nice to hop in the car and have a change of scenery.
We have been loving our road trips but I have been calling hotels to see what their occupancy levels are during this time before we arrive. Most hotels are not booking at max capacity because they can’t sustain their covid protocols with that many people. I won’t stay at hotels that do decide to book at max.
We plan to go to some national parks soon! Thanks!
Good advice and I’m looking forward to spending lots of time on the road all over America!!
Great & informative post. I wondered about the safety of the hotels and I’m glad to see you report about their efforts. I miss road trips and can’t wait to get back on the road again.
Great advice. Loving the road trip planning now as I think we need to find creative ways to travel now more than ever before.
We have done more local exploring this summer. We did two weeks on Cape Cod (about an 1.5 from our home), exploring state parks and headed to NH in September.
We love the Cape. We were in Franconia, they were a little more relaxed about mask wearing than I was comfortable with.
I agree, if there is a silver lining to all this, it’s that many are “bringing it home” and that includes travel. Thanks for sharing your tips!
Thanks for the tips! I love road trips because we can see more attractions along the way which makes it feel like a longer vacation.
I love road trips so much! Lots more to consider nowadays, so thanks for the tips!
Love road trips. One thing I’m missing a lot this summer, what with all the restrictions. Reading your lines and the lovely tips you shared here, I actually took a virtual one 😉 😀 Will get out more once things settle a bit. Thank you, for sharing
Great tips for planning a road trip!
The pandemic definitely brings a different element to the spontaneous road trip! It’s smart to do some research beforehand.
I love going on road trips. Thanks for the tips!
I’ve been doing at least one road trip a month and loving them! It soothes my urge to travel and I’m discovering fun places to explore close to home.
What a great post! I’m such a planner, so there’s no way I’m just jumping in a car and heading out!