It’s 2022 and Britain’s, as well as Europe’s, heatwave will no doubt encourage people to plan road trips rather than jetting off somewhere potentially even warmer. It is therefore more important than ever to ensure you and your travel partner(s) check you have everything you need before making your way from one town to the next.
So, you should be putting together a road trip checklist.
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What is a road trip checklist?
Before any trip, especially if you haven’t travelled in a while, it is important to have a checklist of sorts to ensure you didn’t miss out on anything. For road trips, this is almost even more important for you to have, as it ensures you grab the essentials and don’t forget something that you might not need when you travel to a resort or a hotel.
This can be a physical printed or written list, or in most cases (we’re all digital now) its a simple list on our phone or through this article, where you get reminders of what to take with you before you set off.
In this article, you will be able to use the information below as a checklist for your road trip.
Before making a long journey, check your car’s health
There are a number of important things to check on your car and one of the main things is tyres. Your tyres’ treads must be at least 1.6mm deep or deeper, in order to be road legal. The simple fix here is to change your tyres before your trip – a simple fix that can potentially save a lot of time and money in the event you forget to check. Of course, there are other things to bear in mind such as engine oil change, brake fluid check and coolant fluid check. But the easiest way to tick all the boxes is through servicing your car early or why not book an MOT online for peace of mind.
Ensure you have all you need:
- Important documents: You will need your driver’s license and or passport depending on where you’re road-tripping. This can also include vaccination documents and anything you might need if you’re crossing borders.
- A budget: There will be a lot of fuel to pay depending on how far you’re going and potentially tolls. Then there are bigger expenses such as hotels or Airbnb’s as well food and drinks to keep you going.
- Sunglasses and sun cream: Assuming you’ll be somewhere hot and warm, the combination of these two items will protect your skin and save you from driving through blindingly bright sunshine.
- Adequate clothing and bags: This one is a no-brainer but the last thing you want to find yourself wondering is why you didn’t get the right pair of walking shoes if you go on a hike or carry more bags than what you need.
Other important things to remember:
When going on a road trip it’s equally if not more important to plan where you’re travelling to and where you’ll be taking breaks, re-fuelling your car, sleeping overnight etc. Without doing this, you could easily find yourself driving dangerously in the middle of the night on low sleep which would put you and others in danger.
Now that you have the above checked and ticked off, you will be ready to make your way wherever you desire – except for North Korea or similar states with a poor track record of human rights abuse. But I’m sure we didn’t need to remind you that.
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Last words
If you’re still wondering if it is worth the hassle, maybe consider this: a few minutes of effort and reading before a trip can save you from hundreds if not thousands of dollars that you might need to spend to buy a replacement or even rebook a trip.
This is why you should always just put in that effort to get your road trip checklist in order before you set off.
