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How to plan a road trip

Planning a trip can always be overwhelming, and a road trip just adds to the list of things to figure out. Lucky for you, I have planned a lot of road trips in my life, and doing so has become a specialty of mine. Here I'll let you in on some of my secrets for going on a fun road trip!

By Dana Peck

Close up of an old vintage car transporting luggage
Close up of an old vintage car transporting luggage / Roberto Machado Noa/GettyImages
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When I first started planning road trips I could get overwhelmed by all of the information that was out there and decisions I had to make. After years of road tripping in my subaru, then minivan, then purchasing a bigger van to live in, and finally upgrading to my truck and camper that I live in I got prett comfortable with planning these road trips. I found a love for it that I know not everyone will find, but I hope to make it a little less overwhelming for someone to plan their next trip! So, here's the steps I use to plan a road trip!

1. Determine accommodation form
Some people road trip and get a hotel or airbnb every night, some people car camp or have a camper, and some people tent camp on their road trip. No matter what way you want to spend your nights traveling, it's definitely the first step to planning. It will drastically change how much you're driving every day, depending on where you can stay, and how you pack the car! Staying in a hotel requires fewer things to be packed into the car when you're on the road!

2. Determine how far you want to drive every day
Personally, I can handle about 12-14 hours of driving in a day before getting to tired and needing to take a break. Not everyone can spend that much time in a car in a day, and that's completely understandable! A road trip is still a road trip whether you're driving 10 hours a day or 3 hours a day. Be honest with how much you can drive in a day, and then begin finding places to spend the night as far apart as

3. Find accommodations
Once you decide what type of accommodations you want to be staying in, and how far you want to drive every day, it's time to find the accommodations. You want to look for them about as far apart as you want to drive every day, until you reach the final destination or highlight of the trip. If there's something fun in the area you can book accommodations for two nights, but if not it's great to have a place to rest your head before you keep going.

4. Find fun things to do along the way there and back
A road trip isn't complete if you just have an itinerary for your destination, you have to do things along the way as well! A lot of places throughout the country have fun excursions, that usually aren't that far off the highway. Whether you want to find the largest bookstore you've ever been in, or see a National Park, there's something for everyone along the way.

5. Enjoy your trip!
A road trip is only fun if you enjoy it! While the destination is definitely the exciting part of it, the journey of a road trip is why it's more fun than flying. There are so many fun things to do along the stretches of highway, and enjoying the time spent with loved ones in the car is what gives road trips their appeal. Now that your trip is planned, go with the flow, be prepared to change, and enjoy it!

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