Little things that can make a big difference on your next adventure
This is a departure from my typical blog posts, however we recently returned home from an extended road trip (first for me in memory) so I thought I’d share a few travel tips which may be helpful on your next journey. Some I gleaned from other resources before we left and others we discovered along the way.
There is something wonderful about a good old road trip. The freedom of the open road, discovering places you’ve never been, visiting historic sites, enjoying beautiful scenery, and experiencing the unexpected along the way.
But there is another side to road trips. Living out of a suitcase, checking into a different hotel every night, forgetting something important, or discovering that the attraction you drove three hours to see is closed on Tuesdays.
There are 26 tips in all – that’s a lot. Yet there may be one or two things that can make a difference to help you enjoy your next road trip!
Before You Leave Home
1. Put your mail on hold.
An overflowing mailbox is an invitation to trouble. The U.S. Postal Service makes it easy to temporarily suspend mail delivery while you’re away. It takes only a few minutes to arrange online. One less thing to worry about while traveling.
2. Shut off the water and adjust your thermostat.
Few things can ruin a wonderful vacation faster than returning home to a flooded house. Consider shutting off the main water supply before leaving. Set your thermostat to an appropriate energy-saving or eco mode while you’re gone. Why spend money heating or cooling an empty house more than necessary?
3. Check your prescriptions before departure.
Take a look at your medications and determine whether any prescriptions will need refilling during your trip. If so, arrange for an early refill or sufficient supply before leaving. Discovering you’re running out of an important medication when you’re several states from home is not an adventure anyone needs.
4. Give your vehicle some attention.
Before a long road trip, have your oil changed if it’s due, check the tires for adequate tread life, and make sure everything is in good working order. A little preventive maintenance is much more enjoyable than spending an afternoon in a strange town waiting for a tow truck. I also replaced my windshield wipers before leaving.
5. Bring multiple credit cards and some cash.
Don’t rely on a single credit card. Cards get declined, lost, or occasionally compromised. Carry at least two, preferably stored in different places. And don’t forget some cash. You may encounter a small business, parking area, or roadside attraction that doesn’t accept cards.
Planning the Trip
6. Use artificial intelligence to help plan your route—but double-check its work.
AI tools like ChatGPT can be remarkably helpful when planning a complicated road trip. You can ask for suggested routes, interesting places to visit, driving distances, historic sites, and even a day-by-day itinerary.
But don’t assume everything it tells you is accurate. AI can make mistakes about distances, operating hours, road conditions, and attractions. Consider it an enthusiastic travel assistant that occasionally needs supervision.
7. Check whether attractions are open on the day you’ll arrive.
That museum you’ve been looking forward to visiting for months? It might be closed on Mondays. Or perhaps the tour only operates during summer months.
Always verify operating days, hours, and seasonal schedules before locking in your itinerary. This is particularly important for smaller museums, historic locations, and attractions in national parks.
8. Book high-demand tours well in advance.
Some experiences cannot be arranged on the spur of the moment. Popular national park activities, guided tours, historic attractions, and special excursions may sell out days or weeks in advance.
Identify those must-see experiences early and make reservations. You can remain flexible with much of your trip while protecting the experiences that matter most.
9. Use hotel booking apps, but pay attention to what’s happening in town.
Hotel apps make it easy to compare prices, locations, and amenities. However, before arriving in a town, check whether a major event is taking place.
A convention, college football game, festival, or concert can fill every hotel room for miles. If you’re traveling through smaller communities, this can be particularly important. Booking ahead can save you from a long, unexpected drive at the end of an already tiring day.
10. Choose your hotel based on tomorrow’s plans, not just today’s drive.
Where you stay within a city can make a surprising difference.
If your first destination tomorrow morning is on the west side of town, consider staying on that side. Otherwise, you may spend your first hour fighting traffic simply to get back to where you should have started.
A few minutes of planning can save considerable time and aggravation.
11. Carry a paper map.
We have become incredibly dependent on GPS and smartphones. They are wonderful—until you enter an area without cell service or discover that the navigation system has stopped cooperating.
A good paper road atlas is inexpensive insurance. Downloading offline maps is also smart, but there’s something reassuring about having an old-fashioned map when technology fails.
Staying in Hotels
12. Consider a room with two queen beds, even when traveling as a couple.
This might seem strange, but hear me out.
When you’re staying in a hotel for only one night, that second bed makes a terrific place to open and organize suitcases. You don’t have to spread everything across the floor or continually rearrange luggage.
Sometimes the most useful thing about a second bed is that nobody sleeps in it.
13. Take advantage of hotels offering free breakfast.
When selecting hotels, complimentary breakfast is worth considering. It saves money, simplifies mornings, and eliminates the need to locate a restaurant before beginning the day’s drive.
The quality varies, of course, but a decent breakfast and coffee can get you on the road quickly.
14. Bring your own travel mugs.
Hotel coffee cups tend to be small, and disposable lids don’t always work very well. Bringing your own insulated travel mug means your morning coffee stays hot longer, and you can take it with you when you leave.
It’s a little thing, but one you’ll appreciate every morning.
15. Pack so you can get everything into the hotel in one trip.
After driving several hundred miles, the last thing you want is to make three trips between the parking lot and your room.
Organize your luggage so that the items you’ll need overnight are easy to carry. A small overnight bag can be especially useful when changing hotels frequently.
16. Remember that charming old hotels often have charmingly small rooms.
We enjoy historic and quaint hotels, but their rooms weren’t necessarily designed for modern travelers hauling large suitcases.
A small day bag with what you’ll need for the night makes these stays much easier. Leave the big luggage in the vehicle when it’s safe and practical.
17. Request a room on the top floor.
If you’ve ever spent a night listening to someone walking back and forth above your room, you’ll appreciate this tip.
A top-floor room eliminates overhead footsteps and can be considerably quieter. Of course, there may still be hallway noise, but it’s one less potential disturbance.
18. Bring a power strip or multi-outlet charging device.
Between smartphones, watches, tablets, and other electronics, modern travelers can accumulate quite a collection of devices requiring overnight charging.
Hotel rooms don’t always have conveniently located outlets. A compact travel power strip or multiport charger can solve that problem. Look for one designed for travel and compatible with the hotel’s electrical setup.
19. Bring a streaming device and HDMI cable.
If you enjoy watching your favorite shows in the evening, consider bringing a streaming device and HDMI cable.
Depending on the hotel’s television and network restrictions, you may be able to access the channels and streaming services you already use at home. Not every hotel television allows outside connections, so this isn’t foolproof, but it’s worth considering.
20. USB ports are fragile and often don’t work.
For some reason, public USB ports often don’t work; another reason to bring a power strip. And in some cases they can be a security risk if plugging in a device such as your mobile phone.
Plan not to use the hotel’s USB devices and eliminate this problem.
Packing and Organization
21. Keep seldom-used items in a separate tote.
Rain gear, extra jackets, and other things you may need only occasionally don’t have to live in your suitcase.
Pack them in a tote bag and leave them in the vehicle when appropriate. You’ll have them available when needed without unpacking and repacking them every night.
22. Cover valuables and belongings in the back seat.
If you’re traveling with items in the back seat, a simple blanket can help keep them out of sight.
It’s not a substitute for securing valuables, and it’s always preferable to remove important items from the vehicle. But keeping the interior from looking like a traveling department store is a good idea.
23. Find a laundromat rather than relying on hotel laundry facilities.
On longer trips, doing laundry becomes inevitable. Rather than paying hotel laundry prices or hoping a hotel has an available washer and dryer, look for a local laundromat.
You can often wash several loads at once and finish the entire project much faster. It’s not the most glamorous part of traveling, but clean clothes are worth the effort.
24. Download audiobooks and other entertainment, but be realistic about how much you’ll use.
Before a long trip, it’s tempting to download enough audiobooks, podcasts, and music to keep you entertained for weeks.
That’s fine, but don’t be surprised if you never get through most of it. Conversations, scenery, unexpected stops, and simply enjoying some quiet time often take priority.
Have options available, especially for long stretches of highway, but don’t feel obligated to fill every minute with something.
Making the Drive More Enjoyable
25. Fill the gas tank the evening before a long driving day.
This simple habit makes mornings much more pleasant.
Rather than checking out of the hotel and immediately searching for a gas station, you’re ready to go. It’s especially helpful when leaving early or traveling through remote areas where fuel stops may be few and far between.
26. Share the driving and stop every two or three hours.
Long driving days can be surprisingly exhausting, even when you’re simply sitting behind the wheel.
If you’re traveling with someone else who drives, share the responsibility. Regardless, plan to stop every couple of hours to stretch your legs, walk around, and refresh yourself.
Those breaks make the day more comfortable and can help you remain alert. And sometimes an unplanned stop turns out to be one of the more memorable parts of the journey.
One Final Thought
A great road trip isn’t just about reaching the destination. It’s about enjoying everything that happens between leaving home and returning.
Some of the things we enjoyed most were the places we never intended to visit, conversations we never expected to have, and experiences that didn’t appear anywhere on our itinerary.
Good planning doesn’t eliminate spontaneity – it makes room for it.
When you’ve taken care of the little details—where you’ll stay, what you’ll need, how you’ll get there, and what might go wrong—you can spend more time enjoying the journey.
Plan carefully, pack wisely, stay flexible, and don’t be afraid to take the occasional road less traveled.
After all, the best part of a road trip often isn’t where you end up. It’s what you discover along the way.
