1. Energy drinks. Other tips for staying awake when you’re trying to drive while really tired: roll down the window, put on good sing-along music, eat snacks, call someone to talk to.
2. Water. Money-saving tip for the road: if you have a water bottle, you can fill it up for free at almost any gas station soda fountain. Bring a cooler along, and fill it with ice at gas station soda fountains as well, and your water and energy drinks will be cold.
3. Trip Journal In addition to blogging and taking photos and videos, we are keeping a journal to keep track of all the little details from our trip including daily accomplishments, memorable quotes, and favorite road signs and town names. We’re also keeping track of how many miles we drive per day, how often we fill up the gas tank, and what the gas prices are. These facts help us plan for later!
4. Map of the US. Having a GPS is awesome, but for really extensive road trips like ours, I would definitely bring a full map of the country because sometimes it helps you gain perspective as to exactly where you are and where you want to go. If you have a AAA membership, maps are free at any AAA location.
5. Shoes. These just happened to be on the floor of the car when I took the picture. Although I would definitely say that shoes are a recommended item to pack for a road trip.
6. Cds. When we threw our going-away party the night before we left, we asked our friends to bring us mix Cds, and collected a bunch for our trip. We’ve had a lot of fun listening to them and discovering new songs we love.
7. Nutricious snacks. Also recommended: non-nutricious snacks.
8. Laptop. A laptop is not a necessity, but if you have one, it gives the passenger seat road tripper something to do even if you aren’t connected to the internet. I edited all of our photos and videos while Amanda was driving.
9. A million different chargers. Here’s another money-saving tip: if you have a bunch of chargers (phone, laptop, iPod, rechargable batteries, etc.), instead of buying separate car chargers for each one, just get a power inverter. A power inverter converts your car charger into a regular outlet socket, and I got mine at Target for $20.
10. GPS system. I almost didn’t buy a GPS, but changed my mind at the last minute. This is a must-have for any extensive road trip, or any trip that involves a lot of stops. Not only can it give you directions, but it can tell you where the closest gas station, fast food place, Wal-Mart, etc are or where other points of interest are located. It also keeps track of fun stuff like your average speed, maximum speed, and time driving. Also, you can have a lot of fun experimenting with the different voices. My research concluded that the two best brands of GPSs are TomTom and Garmin.
Other Road Trip Necessities: camera, cell phone(s), jumper cables, pillows/blankets, credit card
