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Summer is here at last and a quintessential part of summer is road tripping. Hitting the open road with
the family, a cooler of sandwiches, and the windows down is a fun and cheaper way to get out of town. If
you haven’t planned out a summer road trip yet, don’t worry! It’s not too late. Use these tips to execute a
fun and rewarding family road trip at the last minute.
Do a Little Research and Preparation
The unknown journey ahead of you may be exciting, but do at least a little planning ahead of time. Choose
a route, a few key destinations and get an idea of where you’ll be able to stay during the nights when
you want to stop. Prepare for emergencies by making sure your spare tire is full and that your car has its
emergency kit ready and stocked. You may even want to go your mechanic for a quick oil change so he can
also do an inspection and make sure the car is road-trip ready.
Plan the Nights
If you can, book hotel rooms in cities where you’d like to stay for the night for long road trips. Since this
is last minute, though, you may have trouble finding hotel rooms so consider packing up your family tent
and all the gear needed and stay at campgrounds along your route. It will save you tons of money over
using hotels or motels and create an experience in and of itself on the road trip. Plus if you’d like to bring
the dog along, you won’t have to worry about what do with him if you camp. Another bonus to camping
is that you can go with the flow a little easier since you can camp just about anywhere along the way. You
may find yourself on routes you never even knew existed and would have never found staying within city
limits.
Bring Road Food
Bring a cooler with enough room to keep the family fed and happy while on the road. Though a few drive-
thru trips are essential to any road trip, being able to snack in the car will keep the family occupied and
will help delay stopping. You might want to consider eating lunch everyday at a rest stop where you can
play soccer for a bit and enjoy being out of the car.
Bring Entertainment
You’ll also not want to forget to pack plenty of entertainment to keep the family occupied during long
stretches of the trip. Bring trivia games, cards, electronic devices, books, crosswords, and anything else
your kids can use to entertain themselves while strapped in. You could also have a repertoire of games
like 20 Questions, Ghost, and I Spy in mind to use when everything else gets boring. Be sure to not forget
to pack up some garage equipment like kites, soccer balls, and whiffle ball sets to help the family release
some energy when you stop to eat and at rest stops. Expending extra energy will help the whole family
with sitting for long periods at a time and may even help the kids sleep more during the trip.
Go With the Flow
It can be hard to go with the flow but just remember for your last minute road trip, you’ll have your family
there so no matter what happens, at least you’re all together! Even if you spend month planning a trip,
everything could go wrong. So relax and get the whole family in on the plan to just go with it. The journey
is just as important as the destination.
Hitting the road doesn’t require the same amount of planning as other trips and is a perfect way to take a
vacation at the last minute. Have fun!
Evan Fischer is a contributing writer for www.boston-ge.com, where you can find garage equipment and
other automotive accessories.
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