Road Trip Essentials
Posted on July 7, 2007
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It’s Saturday again, which means it’s time for a short and sweet post. This time, I’m going to ask you fine folks what your road trip essentials are. Junk food, caffeine, and gas money will likely feature prominently. Beyond the universals, though, what do you believe that you simply must bring with you on a road trip? Most of my readers are from very large countries–Canada, the US, and Australia–so I’m sure you’ve all got some road trip experience. I’ll start the list with a few of my own essentials, and then I’ll leave it to you.
- Sunglasses: I pretty much can’t even drive without sunglasses. I once forgot my sunglasses at a restaurant, and my morning commute was hell the next day. The drive down to the restaurant to recover them after work was also bad. Because of the location of my office at the time, I was driving into the sun both ways. Not fun.
- Soda Pop: Some people love to have a giant mug of coffee with them when they’re road-tripping. I prefer to have a giant bottle of pop. I don’t drink pop very often, but it’s essential when I’m on a long car ride (whether I’m driving or not). It doesn’t even have to have caffeine in it (in fact, most pop in Canada doesn’t have caffeine in it), it just have to be large, carbonated, and full of sugar. A nice cold energy drink will do the drink as well
- Music: One of the great things about a road trip is that you can have some pretty awesome conversations while you’re driving down long, lonely stretches of radio-signal-free highway. However, inevitably, at some point in the trip, everyone will be asleep (except the driver, one hopes). At this point, music is needed to keep the driver awake and alert. Books on tape/CD also work well, as long as the narrator doesn’t speak in a painfully dull and sleep-inducing monotone. (Author’s note: If you’ve got any recommendations for road-tripping music, or books on tape, please leave a comment.)
- Fast Food: Fast food is pretty much the devil. I eat the stuff so rarely that I typically feel like crap for a good hour after I’ve had some. For some reason, though, this temporary feeling of illness doesn’t usually occur when I’m on the road. Time is usually (though not always) an issue while on a road trip, so fast food is often essential. Whether it’s a greasy spoon diner in the middle of nowhere, or the A&W on the west side of Highway 2 in Red Deer, disgusting fast food is a road trip tradition.
- Cigars: I’ll admit that this one is somewhat dependent upon who I’m travelling with, and where I’m going. I don’t smoke cigars in the car (nor would I subject my passengers to that much second-hand smoke, unless we were all doing it), and if I’m staying in a hotel, I won’t be able to smoke them there either. However, if I’m going camping, or if I’m going on a trip to nowhere in particular (i.e.: driving for the sake of driving), I will definitely pack a few cigars. Cigars and camping seem to go hand-in-hand, and a 45-minute cigar break would be a welcome break from the road on a long, cross-Canada drive. Since I recently purchased a pipe, I suspect that this may become an essential item as well.
I’m sure I could name several more items if I really thought about it, but most of them would likely not be essential. The four items listed above are the main things that I “need” to have when I’m going on a long road trip. What are your road trip essentials?
P.S.: You’ll notice that my lists are now working properly. Thanks to Mike Robinson for pointing out the single comma that was screwing up the code.
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4 Responses to “Road Trip Essentials”
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Despite never being in the car too long, and not driving myself, I only have two additions:
Camera - Never know what you’ll see on the road. For example, on the way home we usually drive along the coast where, being in the evening, you can see some pretty awesome sunsets.
Pillow - Not being the driver means I’ll usually snooze for a bit. If I can’t bring some sort of pillow or cusion, I’ll bundle up my coat and use that. I can’t stand my head being smashed against the sides of the car!
Also, thanks for the link, it was no problem.
I hate to be the practical “Dad” but what about an emergency kit complete with flashlight, high energy snacks (like chocolate), emergency blanket, a few candles, matches, basic first aid kit and some road flares or reflectors? It all packs nicely into a coffee can. Also, some extra water for overheating rads and the ole tool box are good things to have along. Of course, you’ve probably considered all the pratcical things and are just thinking of other “essentials” so I’m surprised you haven’t listed the ultimate “Guy food”; Beef Jerky.
Dad
Beef jerky is absolutely essential. As are potato chips. As for music, well, there’s a ton. A few of my favorite road songs:
- Thunder Road, Bruce Spingsteen (perhaps THE road song)
- Baba O’Reilly, The Who
- California Sun, The Ramones
- Like A Rolling Stone, Dylan
- I Fought The Law, The Clash
- Where The Streets Have No Name - U2
And countless others.
Beef jerky is definitely essential. Chips, too.
As for more practical stuff, I do have a fairly basic road side emergency kit, although I don’t think it has any flares. Someone (I don’t remember who) gave it to me about a year ago, because they had it, even though they didn’t own a car at the time. I really should go through it and make sure it isn’t missing anything else, though.