My Essential Must Haves for a Road Trip

At the moment, travel is off the cards but It’s not too early to start planning future travels. This Summer, Stefan and I were so lucky that despite our US trip getting cancelled we had a chance to explore more of our local area and also take some trips around the UK. Usually, we’re very focused on getting abroad but it was lovely to explore what actually is on our doorstep. In August, we visited The Cotswolds for my birthday and in September, we embarked on a road trip around Scotland. Planning a road trip isn’t easy but I thought I would share some of my essential must-haves for a Road Trip.

Reliable Motor

Probably the most essential must-have for a road trip no matter where you are or where you are going is to have a reliable motor. I would recommend seriously looking into your options before your trip as you wouldn’t want to break down in an old banger in the middle of nowhere. Car hire is always an option or potentially it would be an ideal time to get a new motor. There are so many options from buying outright or leasing deals. We’ve been looking at Seat leasing where you pay monthly and have a pick of the latest Seat models. The Seat Arona would be an excellent choice for a road trip being a compact SUV. Whether you are taking an old, new or borrowed car, I can’t stress enough double checking it’s all in good nick.

Plans (albeit loose plans)

We all know that I can be miss organised when it comes to travel. I love a good itinerary and wherever we are going, I’ll more than likely come with a plan. I’m not really a go with the flow kinda gal but I would hate to visit somewhere and miss out on a key sight or attraction because I didn’t do any research. In times like these, I’d also at least plan ahead and book accommodation. With our Scotland road trip, I had our accommodation sorted and loose plans on where to visit in between our destinations. Usually, I do a little bit of research online, looking at blogs and Instagram for some places I really want to visit but also leaving a little space in the itinerary to discover hidden gems along the way.

Snacks, Snacks and more Snacks

Let’s face it this should probably be number one on the list. Snacks are the most important thing. Back in 2017, I did a mammoth road trip with Trek America across the US and the top priority every day was what snacks I had. The US really do have the best snacks but in Scotland, we actually came across a few gems! We found a petrol station with over 50 different flavours of slushies (including irn bru). Stocking up on snacks and nibbles can save on eating out along the way. In Scotland, we had little packed lunches to have in the car so we didn’t really end up eating out during the day.

A top Playlist

Another must-have for road trips has got to be an absolute banging playlist. We’re talking music from all eras, I’ll share my US one below but we’re covering all sorts from the Spice Girls to Shania Twain to One Direction to Coldplay. There’s a little bit of everything but it’s a great playlist for a good sing-a-long too! On my American road trip, music played such a big part in the trip, we had our group song, visited places such as Nashville and Memphis which is steeped in music history and just really had a lot of sing-a-longs. When it’s Stefan and I on a road trip, we usually go for the cheesiest music going – It really is great fun.

Great Company

It’s also pretty important that you get on with who you are travelling with. You’ll be spending a lot of time with them on the road and it’s not going to be a great experience if you don’t get on with them. I guess that really goes for choosing who you travel with in general but with a road trip, there’s not really anywhere you can go to escape the person sat next to you.

Hopefully, it won’t be long before we can go on another road trip. We’d love to potentially do a Welsh and an Irish road trip in the new year but we will have to see how we get on with restrictions. There’s no harm in planning though!

What are your road trip must-haves?

XOXO

*This post is in collaboration with carparison leasing