I love road trips, and I would encourage anyone with some spare time to plan one this summer or weekend. Road trips are the perfect way to get out and spend some time with yourself. Explore the world solo, or travel with friends on a journey that you won’t soon forget. A road trip can be an incredible experience, but if you’re not careful. It can also turn into a nightmare. Your car could break down at the side of the road, leaving you stranded for hours. That Could happen before you get too far at all. Or, if you’re unlucky, right in the middle of your trip. Alternately, you may run out of cash and spend the end of your road trip trying to live on smaller and smaller amounts each day. There’s also the possibility that you realize you didn’t want to fly solo at all.
To avoid these issues, there are a few things you must do before you head out on the open road. Here are my tips:
Get Your Car Ready
You need to make sure that your car is in the best condition for a long ride. I suggest you start by doing the basic checks. Start with the oil and water levels. You need to make sure that both are at the optimum levels for your car to perform. If you don’t know how to do this, you can look it up online. Though usually, it’s easy to find the dipstick and check the oil level. The water tank is often also easy to locate due to the transparent plastic. It stands out from the rest of the engine. Once you have done this, check the tyres. You need to make sure that they have the right pressure and are not worn out. If they are, you can use a site such as event-tyres.co.uk to replace them. You may also want to check both the brakes and the suspension.
To check the brakes, try an emergency stop and make sure that the car brakes in good time. You may also want to try a bounce test. Put your car in park and then bounce down on each side. More than three movements suggest an issue with the car suspension. That covers the checks you can do yourself.
If in doubt, you may want to take it to your local mechanic. Get them to complete a full check and that way you’ll have peace of mind out on the road.
Emergency Gear
Don’t forget; you should pack some emergency gear in the trunk of your car. This is just in case you get stranded out on the road. You want some food, rope a spare tyre and jump leads. Depending on your season of travel, you might also want to store a blanket. If you’re traveling to popular places, you never know when hotels are going to be sold out. You might have to sleep in your car one night on the road. You can find a more extensive list of everything you need on http://lifehacker.com.
Money Issues
You will probably spend a while saving for your road trip. I suggest you aim to save at least one thousand. This might seem quite expensive, but it does depend on how long you’re going. Remember, you’ll need food, accommodation, and fuel. If you want to complete any activities on your trip, you’ll need to pay for that as well. It all adds up and sooner than you would like it to. If you’re traveling abroad, I suggest that you only exchange a small amount of currency. This should be enough to pay for basic things such as food. You want to pay for most other things on a credit card or MasterCard. You can then pay what you spent back with what you saved when you return. This gives you more protection from fraud. Remember, if someone steals your money, it’s gone. If someone steals your card, you can claim. You need to take an alternate source of money as well. This protects you from any issues if you lose your card.
Company On The Road
Lastly, this isn’t quite as dodgy as it sounds. If you start of solo and then decide you don’t want to travel alone, there are options. There are traveling, social networks online. These are designed, specifically for travelers and vacationers. You’ll be able to search based on the area where you are going. You’ll then be able to talk and interact with people going to the same place as you. Then, you have the chance to share your road adventure with other people like you. Https://www.misstravel.com/ is just one of the many options to choose from.
