How to Plan a Road Trip

Planning a road trip can be stressful, especially if you’re pressed for time or are hosting visiting family or friends. There’s accommodation to figure out, as well as finding things to do, places to see and even meals to coordinate.

But don’t let the stress of planning a vacation get in the way of you actually going on a vacation! It’s certainly doable to plan a trip entirely on your own, especially if you follow these steps below. 

The most important thing to keep in mind is that at the end of each of these steps, you may have to go back and adjust your plans so that it all fits together. If you’ve curated a list of things to do but your budget doesn’t match, then you may have to go back and tweak the list. The same goes for choosing dates, finding accommodations and even figuring out drive times. 

It’s okay to go back and adjust details or rearrange the steps based on your situation. This is just a simple, easy start to visualizing the dream road trip you’ve always wanted to take.

How to plan a road trip

Pick your location

Don’t be too specific yet, as that will come later. Right now, choose a city, state or area that you’d like to visit. 

For example: the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State. 

That’s a large area that can be broken down into smaller areas, not all of which you have to visit. 

Find things to do

Once you’ve picked your general location, you can hop on Google and figure out the best things to see and do in the area. Don’t start filtering through them yet; just find everything that catches your eye.

It’s helpful to pull up a map and add pins at each attraction that catches your eye, because that way you can start to see which areas have a higher concentration of activities. 

Having an idea of what’s available will help you determine how much time or funds you want or need for your trip. Just know that there’s a good chance you won’t be able to do everything on the list. 

Budget 

Going over budget is so easy when it comes to vacationing. Roadside snacks, last-minute reservations, unforeseen fees, accommodation expenses and spontaneous adventures are part of the package, and learning to be okay with that is going to make those “unforeseen” expenses less stressful. 

Nevertheless, having a rough idea of your budget at the beginning of the planning phase is important and will determine the nature of your trip. Is your trip going to be a week-long event filled with shopping, restaurants and activities? Is it going to be a few days of camping and relaxing?

Choose your dates

Whether it’s time that’s constraining you or your budget, it’s vital to figure out early on which one is going to be the most important factor in planning your vacation. Set those boundaries early, and it will be much easier to fill the days with the activities that suit those factors. 

If you’re looking to do outdoor activities, plan around the weather of the region during that time of year. You may not be able to predict whether it will rain on a specific day in a specific location, but you’ll get an idea of the general weather patterns and be able to plan accordingly.

If you’re looking to avoid the crowds in the city, then maybe plan to hit the museums over weekdays when it’s a little quieter. If you’re wanting to attend major events like concerts, sports games or festivals, make sure to plan around those specific dates. If you’re going for more of an outdoorsy trip, then consider attending the national parks during the off-season so that they're not too crowded. 

Assign activities to certain days

Now that you know how much time you have to work with and what your budget is, you can start filtering through your list of activities. This is where you’ll have to do a lot of re-shuffling as you go because you’ll find that there just isn’t enough time in the day to do it all.

Here are a few factors you can use to narrow down your list of activities:

• Proximity to other locations
• Price
• Time required to complete the activity
• Drive/walk/transportation time
• Desire to do the activity
• How much energy you’ll have

For example, say I’m looking to spend two days in New York City. I may choose to do Central Park, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Fifth Avenue on the one day, as they’re all in the same area and I can fit all of those activities comfortably into one day with room to spare. The next day I could hop on the Staten Island Ferry, check out the New York Stock Exchange, walk across the Brooklyn Bridge and eat dinner in Chinatown. Geography makes a big difference when it comes to trip planning, so structuring your day around how close things are to each other will help you fit more into your schedule and be more intentional with your time.

Find accommodation

Now you’ve picked your time frame and your activities, you can choose your accommodation. If you’ve had your heart set on a specific hotel or Airbnb, then you should factor the availability dates into your planning and structure your trip around that. It’s all about your priorities, so you do you!

Plan meals

This can be as specific or as vague as you like, but it’s a good idea to take meals into account. Will you be dining out each night? Are you cooking over a fire? Do you need to bring a cooler in the car with you to keep fresh food cool? Allow some flexibility here, as these plans are sure to evolve closer to the time.

Pack/prepare

This is the hardest part, which is why I’m not going to get into it in too much detail. Basically, just make sure that you have the equipment, permits, reservations, clothing and food necessary for your trip.

Also, make sure that your car insurance is up-to-date and that you’ve taken your vehicle in for a check-up before departing on a long trip.

To help plan your vacation, here’s a handy printout that you can use to fill in all the major details of your road trip! It’s a great tool to visualize how your trip will take place. 

Bon voyage!

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Featured photo courtesy Pixabay/Free-Photos

Graphic courtesy Colleen Ford