Make the Most of Your Road Trip!

Road trips. You either love them or hate them. Personally, I love them. Cranking up the music, rolling the windows down, and just having fun! Over the years, I've made several long trips both with kids and without. You could say I'm a road trip professional. Okay, not really. But it sounded good, right? I do have a few tips that have helped make road trips a little more enjoyable over the years.

// Snacks are Key. Let's face it! Fast food and snacks from the gas station can get pricy. Before you leave, load your car with lots of tasty filling snacks. Granola bars are  winner for us! We can usually get away with going to the dollar store a few days before we leave to get things that everyone loves. Along with the snacks, drinks are important. I of course prefer water, but capri suns are great for the kids. Heck, there's even great recipes to make your own granola snacks to save even more.

No one wants to be HANGRY
// Know your MPGs! To get the most out of your journey, it helps to know how often you'll have to stop for gas. You may not be able to map out where exactly to stop for gas, but you'll at least be able to know how often you will need to stop based on how far you're going and your MPG's. For example, when we drive from Georgia to Jersey we know we'll have to fill up three times. This gets worked into our travel budget. Without stressing about stopping too much allows you and the driver to enjoy the ride a little more.
Just watch out for flying Mexican!
// Enjoy the ride. Plain and simple. Just make the trip fun. Just because you're literally stuck in the car for hours on end, you don't have to be cranky about it!You may have taken the same road trip every year and know your route so well that you could do it in your sleep. But don't make the ride boring! Play I-Spy games. This helps keep the driver entertained.

// Crank up the tunes! Road trip songs are the best! Before you leave, get some playlists together that will have you and the driver singing along. My husband and I have a bunch of mixed CD's we use just for road trips. We both sing and dance along. And hey, if you have kids, you DON'T need to keep the kids songs playing. Let's face it, y'all... those get old FAST. The kids can learn to appreciate Journey at an early age!

// Plan to Explore. This kind of goes back to enjoying the ride. Before you leave allow little wiggle room in your travel time to stop and explore. Y'all may not realize there's a zoo you haven't been to before or a random "state's biggest (fill in the blank)" Look up some random attractions on your route and explore! For example, there's a natural bridge in Virginia that someone might like to see!  This makes for great memories and pictures.

See? Road trips don't have to always be  long and boring! Make it fun and make it something you enjoy. 13-15 hours in the car is a long time, y'all. We don't want to kill your spouse at the end of it, right?

What are some things you do on road trips? What's your favorite road trip song?