Summer is coming and it is time to make up holiday plans. Like many other you might consider a road trip. The freedom a car gives you is lovely for sure. You don’t have to adjust to time tables and you can travel exactly from point A to point B without having to change means of transport. Additionally, traveling by car is often cheaper than traveling with other means of communication, but that’s not sure. Road tolls, bridge tolls and other fees may appear along the way. Don’t forget to check out which cost you might encounter, otherwise the road trip can be more costly than you thought.
In this article we go through what might be good to think about before you hit the roads this summer. We also lists the pros and cons with a car vacation and shares our best road trip tips so you and your family or friends will have a nice journey.
What road trip are you planning?
Before you drive away, think about what road trip you are planning and adjust the journey to the conditions. Are you traveling with children you should plan more stops than if you’re traveling with your friends to a great football match. If someone in the car gets grumpy when hungry, then make sure there’s plenty of snacks that can reduce the hunger in waiting to find a restaurant.
Costs can occur along the way
As we mentioned above, whether you travel with your own car or rent a car it’s important to examine what costs the travel will bring. At some routes tolls can be charged and it’s not sure you can cross tunnels or bridges for free. In some cases there might not even exist a bridge and then you must pay for a ferry crossing. Also think about the parking costs as well. Is there good parking facilities and will the parking fee be reasonable?
If you travel within your own country you probably have a good idea of what fees you have to pay. But if you will travel abroad, you may need to do a lot of research to find out which costs that can arise along the way. Planning a road trip can, as you see, become a rather complex task if you want to be sure that you will stick to your budget.
If you rent a car – think about this
If you choose to rent a car for your trip there are some extra things to consider. First and foremost it’s important that the driver, the passengers and the car is fully insured in case of an accident. So check out the insurance cover before you drive away. Also make sure you bring all requested document and your driving license to the rental firm so that they let you rent.
As we mentioned above, it’s important know that parking fees, road charges and similar are not included in the car rental fee. You have to pay for them yourself.
Don’t get bored! Entertain yourself
Before the road trip it can be wise to prepare some fun or/and relaxing activities which you can enjoy in the car when you begins to get bored. Long distances on the highway may not be so much to watch when you are not driving. Then it’s never wrong to have a good book to sink into. If you are interested in any special topic you can beforehand look up interesting podcasts on the topic and listen at them during the trip. If you like sports for an example you can search for good sport podcasts and download the episodes to your smarthone or tablet so that you can listen even when you’re offline.
During a car trip it’s also not foolish to have good music to listen to, especially when you are driving. Create one or several playlists before the vacation so you don’t have to turn on the radio and put up with dull music that you don’t like.