Road Trip Checklist: The Essentials You Must Not Forget

If you are reading this then you must be preparing for a road trip in the near future. While it is always exciting to travel, if you don’t pack right and forget an essential item, that once in a lifetime road trip may turn into an unforgettable nightmare. After you have planned your trip route and booked all the required accommodations, rental cars, and tours/attractions, it’s now time to start packing! Beyond your basic packing items such as clothes, toiletries, etc.. (see our related posts at the bottom of this page for more packing pointers and tips), there are many essential items that you don’t want to forget and a few things to check off your list before you leave and hit the open road. Here are my top tips to help ensure a stress free adventure.

Essential car gadgets:

A great place to start when reviewing your checklist is with the car essentials. No trip can begin without a GPS and your phone. Without these two items you’re not going to get too far these days. Below are a few additional items to not leave home without before you begin that trek.

• Mobile phone

• Phone charger

• Portable battery packs

• Phone holder (such as the TORRAS cell phone holder)

• GPS (doesn’t hurt to have an old fashioned paper map just in case)

• Dashcam/GoPro (protect yourself from liability incase of any accidents or other mishaps)

Entertainment accessories:

Depending on the total amount of time you will be spending in your vehicle, you definitely want to have a variety of options to keep you entertained and help all that time go by. Here are a few essentials to help keep you occupied depending on your interests, whether that be reading a new book or taking some quiet meditation time to yourself with some headphones in.

• Music playlists (see more details regarding music options in the “app” section below)

• Podcasts

• Headphones

• Road trip games (be sure to have a good variety depending on who is traveling with you, i.e.. kids, friends, parents; Check out my list of our favorite games here at “The 8 Best Road Trip Games for Adults”)

• Books

• Blogging (if you love traveling and do it often, why not write about your stories along the way?!)

Weather ready gear:

No matter the trip, it’s always important to be prepared for the unexpected. This includes preparing for a variety of weather options because you don’t want to have your trip ruined by not having been ready for that rainy day or you were out baking too long in the sun and now you have to sit on the beach in a long sleeve shirt or worse yet stuck looking at the beach from the inside looking out.

• Umbrella

• Poncho

• Hat

• Sunglasses

• Sunscreen

• Hiking/winter boots (depending on the terrain and time of year)

Essential Documents:

Probably some of the most important items to ensure you pack are those listed here! Depending on where you are traveling you can’t forget your paperwork and forms of ID. These are your most important documents for any successful road trip.

• Driver’s License

• Passport

• Vehicle insurance card

• Vehicle registration

• Vaccination card (laminated or copy just in case)

Vehicle checklist:

Make sure you do not wait until the last minute to cross off this checklist! Below are the most critical things to check and ensure you have on hand before taking off in any vehicle. A well tuned and smooth running vehicle is critical in getting you safely from point A to point B.

• Gas

• Oil

• Washer fluid

• Spare tire

• Wiper blades

• Spare key

• Vehicle owner’s manual

• Multi-point inspection

• Roadside emergency kit (see below for further details)

• Optional accessories:

  • Backseat air bed (such as the Olivia & Aiden backseat inflatable air mattress)

  • Rooftop tent

  • Roof cargo box

  • Hard top bed cover

Health & Safety:

One of the most important things to remember when planning any trip is to ensure you will have a fun but safe adventure and return home in one piece. Below are a few reminders on some essential packing items and things to remember to ensure you and all those traveling with you have a safe trip from start to finish.

• Roadside emergency kit

  • Jumper cables

  • Road flares or roadside reflectors

  • Tire jack

  • Flashlight

  • Extra batteries

• Roadside Assistance

  • AAA

  • Often included through your insurance company

• First Aid Kit

• Other Accessories:

  • Blanket

  • Travel pillow

  • Water (reusable water bottle)

  • Snacks

  • Cooler

  • Tool kit

  • Duct tape (because it fixes everything)

  • Comfy clothes/flip flops (to help you stretch out and relax for those long stretches)

  • Insect repellent/bug spray

  • Hand sanitizer/disinfecting wipes

• Medications

  • Any essential prescription medications

  • Tylenol, Aspirin, or Ibuprofen

  • Tums

  • Allergy medicine

  • Dramamine (for motion sickness)

  • Aloe

Apps:

Listed below are some of my favorite apps that I have either used myself when traveling or that have been highly recommended by my family and friends over the past couple years. Considering that you are never more than a couple feet away from your phone at almost all times these days, what better resource to utilize along your travels than your phone! These are just a few apps out of likely hundreds if not thousands that you can find on either the apple or google play stores all of which may help you when planning your travels or while on your trip.

• Navigation

  • Waze

  • Google maps

• Trip planning service

  • Google Travel

• Parking locator

  • Parkopedia

• City tours

  • GetYourGuide

• Booking accommodations

  • Airbnb

  • Booking.com

  • Hostelworld

• Music

  • Spotify

  • SiriusXM

  • Pandora

• Streaming services

  • Netflix

  • Disney+

• Things to do/Sights to see

  • Instagram

  • Pinterest

• Camping

  • Dyrt

  • Outdoorsy

• Gas

  • Gasbuddy

• Car rental

  • Turo

I hope this post helps make your trip planning easier. In the end being prepared from the get go will help you save time, money, and hopefully some gray hairs due to overall less stress and more relaxation time. For more tips and tricks on how to pack well and optimize your space along with other pointers please check out “Packing the car like a Pro” and other related posts listed below!