32 Road Trip Essentials You Need to Enjoy Your Time on the Road
Summer is here and the races for RV Camper vans have begun! If you managed to find yourself a rental, you’re in for a treat jetting around in ultimate 4 wheeled luxury. Or for some, it might be a Volkswagon Kombi, while others choose to use their vehicle for the Ultimate Road Trip. In this post, we will share with you the 32 must-have Road Trip Essentials you need to have to make the most out of your time on the road.
Car Care
Road Side Emergency Kit
You never know when you may need an emergency kit. In a roadside emergency kit, you get things like jumper cables (in case your car battery dies out), reflector triangle for safety, seat belt cutter, window glass breaker, , and even reflector vests. The kit comes with a first aid kit with scissors, gauze pads, and bandages.
License And Registration
For some, it may be obvious, but for others, it can easily be overlooked. You can check your glove box right now. Do you have the most current registration card in there? In the rush of things, we can easily forget our license and or/wallet so its a good idea to keep a checklist of these things prior to leaving the house.
Car Insurance
Depending on whether you’re renting a vehicle or using your own, this one might differ for the above mentioned. Be mindful that a lot of insurance companies do not cover RV Camper vans and exotic vehicles like Lamborghinis so it’ll be wise to talk with your insurance provider or speak with the agent renting out the vehicle to you and see if they have an insurance add-on option.
If you’ll be using your own vehicle, it is preferred you keep a printed out copy of your insurance policy. You can also opt to use your phone and have your insurance card on there as well but for some reason, your phone gets wet on the trip and stops functioning, you will have no other way to pull up that information. If you would like to be super safe with this option, get the paper laminated from water damage or the easiest option, put it in a Ziploc bag.
Car Fluids
This could be your wiper fluid, coolant, and/or oil. A quart of each would be sufficient. If you have a fairly new car, you most likely won’t need to carry these fluids but if you’re driving an older vehicle, it’s wise to carry some fluids like oil as an older engine may burn some off on longer drives.
Spare Tire
Run through the boot of your trunk and take a quick peek inside and make sure you have a spare in there. Also, make sure its properly inflated, and if it is a tubeless tire, you don’t even have to worry about air. Just make sure you have the proper jack and wrench to get your car propped up to actually change that tire if need be!
And if you want a back up of a backup, the fix a flat tire solution should do you good. You’ll be on the road in no time.
Flashlight
Flashlights can be particularly useful in emergency situations like when you’re stuck on the roadside and would like to have some extra light to help fix something on the vehicle. The same applies for when you may find yourself with a power outage for the place you may be staying at. Flashlights are a useful tool on and off the road.
You can get some rechargeable Lithium-ion batteries for the flashlight which you can use over and over again or you can buy a rechargeable flashlight that requires winding a lever to get a charge.
Car Manual
If you manage to find some sort of problem with your vehicle and have no idea how to fix it, a car manual should layout the necessary diagnosis if you’re trying to fix it. But a quick drive into a repair shop on the road does not hurt either. It’ll save you on time and the headache of fixing the problem yourself. You can divert that energy to trip planning and spending time with your loved ones.
Health
First Aid Kit
Keep these handy for life’s emergencies. You can either buy first aid kits online or create one from scratch. Some mus thave items to bring with you is band-aid, gauze pads, alcohol wipes, scissors, medical tape, painkiller meds.
We found these to be helpful for items we may forget to include in our DIY kit. You can also run through the list and buy the items separately.
Road Trip Essentials: Tech
Maps
Part of traveling is knowing where to be and where you’re heading. This is in fact one of the most if not crucial steps to road tripping. If you get your hands on a paper map of the destination you’re heading to, that’s a start. However, with smartphones, you can download a map to pretty much any destination in a matter of seconds. This would be considered offline maps for when you don’t have an internet connection. Google Maps is your best option for this.
We do this all the time for international locations when we don’t purchase a data plan. Our phones serve 2 purposes. Camera and Navigation.
How to Download Offline Maps on the Google Maps App
Phone Charger
You would definitely want to bring a phone charger with you on your trip as your phone will serve as a music player, navigation system, entertainment, and most importantly, communication.
Were recommending a dual-port or more for your charging needs. You can charge more than one phone at a time and also possibly charge other electronic equipment like camera batteries if they support USB charging.
Powerbank
This has been a lifesaver for us on many of our trips. The minute you’re looking to make a turn while using your phone navigation, your phone dies. Or while spending a day about a desert cruise in the middle of the Dubai desert, our phone almost died but thankfully we had our power bank on us.
Read out Dubai Itinerary here
Anker Power Bank – Higher milliamp-hour rating
This handy little gadget is one of the best gadgets you’ll have in your bag. It’ll juice up your phone or multiple phones and can also charge up iPads and computers. You’ll thank us for providing this tip.
Tip: You can get yourself a car jumpstart battery pack which also acts as a power bank so you don’t have 2 similar items. It’ll save you money and space! Just remember to charge it when you’re not using it. For example, when checking into a motel or a hotel, put it on charge first thing. It is a jump starter first of all and you don’t want to have this thing drained on you.
Multi-use Car starter & Portable Power Pack
Hygiene & Beauty
Toilet Paper
Don’t leave home without this! What we’ve known form the coronavirus situation is that toilet paper is gold! Who knew it would be so highly sorted where shelves would be ransacked? All this for making sure that your soft tush is kept nice and proper. And what’s the worst when you’re on the road and realize you forgot to bring it on your trip. So yes, toilet paper is a must road trip essential.
Sun Screen
There’s a whole lot of talk about sunscreen during the summer and also while visiting tropical destinations. What you may not remember is packing this as a road trip essential because it very well is. We’d rather be enjoying our trip than dealing with sunburn pain. Ouch!
Body Wipes
Body wipes are probably the best thing that was created for hygiene purposes. It’s like fitting a shower in a wipe. Those long drives can get sweaty and leave you feeling rather icky. Whip out one of these wipes and refresh yourself. They can be regular body wipes or a baby wipe will work the same. If you’re too manly for wipes, check out the Dude Wipes. Wipe on my dudes!
Towel
Keep this for those times when you get caught in the rain or when your inn doesn’t provide one. If you decide to drop by a lake and go in for a swim, you’ll want to make sure you have this before jumping in. The same applies for pets. You don’t want to keep them poor babies freezing now, do you!
Hair Brush
For times when there’s a tangled mess. It’s an every morning routine so don’t forget this before your trip. Keep the birds nest for the bird park, not on your head.
Toothbrush/Toothpaste
This is the first thing to go in our travel packs. There’s nothing worse than getting to your destination and finding you forgot these 2 items. You may be a drive away from a gas station that may carry it but if you’re going off track, you might want to keep this high up on your checklist.
Entertainment
Travel Games and Playing Cards
The last thing you would want is boredom setting in on your so-called fun road trip. Having games and playing cards is PART of what makes a good road trip. You can bring along your home favorites or try out something new for the road. It’ll keep everyone entertained and something you’ll get to keep as a remembrance from the road trip. Date and time a piece from the game with your favorite message and it’ll be something you can hand down to family in the future, bringing back memories of your trip together.
Comfort Items
Sunglasses
Get yourself a pair of sunglasses for the road as those long drives can strain your eyes. As long as they have UV protection, they should protect your eyes from the sun’s harmful rays. If you happen to sit on them and break them, you can hop in a convenience store and get yourself another. Or consider taking a spare from the get-go.
Blanket
For when mother nature just wants to throw a cold front at you. Keep a blanket with you for those cold nights or stay comfy around a campfire. Don’t forget this simple yet helpful road trip essential.
Snacks
Gotta keep those yummies ready for the trip. Stock up on your favorite snack items and munch away. Some of our favorite items for a trip are hemp seed bars that we find at trader joes
We have some cut up fruits and carry some pretzels in a Ziploc. Whatever suits your fancy, make sure to pack those snacks before you start to get hangry.
Aeropress
This is a coffee lover’s best friend on the road. Not only does this make making coffee easier but remarkably makes a good cup of coffee while at it. You can create espresso-style coffee or americanos with this coffee maker. You can ditch the French Press for this as it’s less messy and clean up takes a few seconds with a quick rinse.
Hat
Beat the heat and save yourself by wearing a hat. Does not matter what type as long as your head is covered and you get the protection you need. This one is a simple but essential item before you go on a road trip.
Bag Pack
This can be useful if you have hiking plans during the trip and would like to store some items and be portable. Pack your snack, phone, powerpack, camera gear, and first aid kit into this if you’re deciding to step out and do some venturing.
Miscellaneous
Cash/Coins
Carrying some spare cash and especially coins is a great option to have since you may be parking in places that have coin-operated parking meters. As for crossing bridges and toll roads, you will be glad you had spare cash on you since you may be crossing state lines and not have the proper registered toll tags for their bridges and toll roads. Some gas stations only take cash so you will want to have some cash available for that too. All in all, hit up the ATM before or during the early stages of your trip.
Window Shade
Just like sunglasses, protect yourself from the sun with a simple UV sunshade stuck on your window. You could be facing the sun for hours on end so protect your skin and get yourself some UV protection. The other half of your face will thank you for it!
Swiss Army Tool
The most versatile piece of tool you can find in someone’s pocket. Having a swiss army knife is an essential you would want to make sure you carry with you. Some of the features in this knife is that it has a blade, screwdriver, bottle opener, wire stripper, pliers, wood saw, etc. People carry this in their pockets all the time so it’s wise to keep this for your trip. You can have a use for this even after you’re done with the trip. There are also alternative multitool options as well.
Utensils
Remember to pack yourself some cutlery and utensils. Eating canned spaghetti with hands is a rather messy venture so save yourself the hassle and remember to pack some utensils.
If you’re not up for washing them, get yourself some biodegradable cutlery so you don’t feel bad about creating more plastic waste by getting plastic spoons and forks.
Lighter
There will be no campfire if you do not bring a lighter. Imagine those Marshmallow S’mores dreams being washed away by you forgetting a match or lighter. Make sure to throw this in your bag before you leave.
Knife
Can be helpful when you need to cut something while on the road. This could be fruits that you got from the grocery store on your way or using it as a general tool if needed.
Tupperware
For storing opened up food items on the go. Cut up some fruits and use the containers as storage. You can pair the Tupperware with a cooler bag to keep perishable items from spoiling.
Bug Spray
Getting eaten alive by mosquitoes and bugs is no fun. Keep the pests away and carry with you some bug spray. It’ll l save you from the countless nights of mozzy itches.
We always use this checklist to help us not forget the essential items for a road trip. It saves us the hassle and worry of what we may have forgotten to bring along.
If you use any of the suggestions we listed above, leave a comment. We’d also love to know of other items we may have forgotten or not know about.
Hope you enjoyed the road trip essentials suggestion. If you’d like more travel-related content, read more below.
