It’s no secret we love a good road trip! Our very first travel adventures as a couple were road trips around our home state. We spent a good six months touring the state during lockdowns in Tiff’s little Suzuki Swift, road trippin’ to our hearts content. Then we moved to Aotearoa, New Zealand and upgraded our road trips to vanlife adventures!
Safe to say when it comes to road trips, we definitely know a thing or two. So, with summer on the way and the roads calling, we thought we’d share our road trip tips and tricks to keep you happy on your own adventures. So jump in the car and enjoy the journey just as much as the destination.
Be sure to check out our Instagram to make sure you don’t miss any of our amazing adventures!
Snacks
Any good road trip always has snacks! But the way to make it an even better road trip is to have a variety of snacks. Our road trip snacks used to look like someone let a ten-year-old loose in a lolly shop. Now we make sure to pack some healthy snacks in with our treats. Lollies and chocolate still make an appearance but believe us when we say you do get sick of eating these on the road. Especially if it’s a long drive with no proper food along the way.
Pack a proper picnic lunch as well so you can enjoy it at one of your stops. Bring along plenty of drinking water to stay hydrated and the odd piece of fruit, and you’ll not only enjoy munching on healthy food, you’ll also feel good when you arrive at your destination.
Bring along a bag or something to put your rubbish in too. There isn’t always bins at road side attractions, and there is nothing worse than having nowhere to put your juicy apple core or slippery banana peel. Please don’t throw these things out your window either, even though they feel like ‘natural waste’ they aren’t natural to the side of the road and all they do is go mouldy which can harm native wildlife and ecosystems.
A few of our favourite road trip snacks:
- Wasabi peas
- Any kind of fruit, depending on the season
- Trail mix
- Lollies from the bulk food store (this way they are plastic free!)
- A party sized bag of Twisties
- Veggie sticks and homemade hummus
Fat Beats
You have to have some fat beats to listen to whilst you’re driving. Nothing quite beats hitting the open road with the sun beating down on you whilst you sing at the top of your lungs to some truly epic songs. If you are in Aus tune in to Triple J to get a true Aussie road trip experience. We also love making our own playlists to fit the occasion.
We have a classic road trippin’ play list filled with bangers you just have to sing along too. We’ve also made a ‘down under’ playlist on Spotify specifically for Aussie and Kiwi road trips. The playlist is filled exclusively with Australian and New Zealand artists, making it great for your next adventure down under. Check it out here on Spotify!
Take A Break
It’s not a road trip without some good stops! Not only does it make the drive fun and interesting to stop at roadside attractions and walks, it also helps to make sure you stay refreshed and awake at the wheel. Driving around Australia, you’ll see plenty of road signs reminding you to stop every so often and not to drive tired. You want to get to your destination safely, so make sure to stop every few hours or so to stretch your legs and get some fresh air! If you aren’t travelling by yourself, then try to share the drive as well.
We often won’t plan all our stops and just keep an eye out for tourist signs or side of the road attractions. It’s the surprise stops that are often the best. We once stopped at a picnic spot on just to have our lunch before we realised there was a free mini golf set up next to it! We love stopping at the stalls on the side of the road selling fresh fruit and veg too.
Another favourite stop of Tiff’s is wild flowers! If there are pretty flowers on the side of the road, she is going to stop for them. Just make sure you are pulling completely off the road if you are stopping for wild flowers as you want to be safe too.
Podcasts
Listening to music is great, but on those longer road trips, you want to mix it up a bit! We love listening to Audio books and podcasts whilst we are trippin’ along. Bonus points if the book or podcast you are listening to is set in the place you are road tripping! We’ve been driving around New Zealand listening to Lord of the Rings, and yes it’s not technically set here, but the movie was filmed here so that still counts.
Travel podcasts are great to listen to whilst you’re travelling to get you super excited about your trip and where you are headed. They often give you little insider tips and help add a few extra stops to your travels. We’ve recently been guests on Aotearoa Adventures, talking about all things vanlife and our time in New Zealand. We think it would be a great episode to listen to on your next road trip ;) (link here).
Car Games
Have you really been on a road trip if you didn’t play a car game? Long road trips in outback Aus can get boring. The scenery, whilst cool at first, takes a long time to change into anything else. Car games are a great way to have some fun whilst you wait to get to the next pit stop.
We love a round of good old-fashioned Eye spy, but we can get tired of this pretty quickly, especially when you are driving through unchanging desert scenery, the things you can spy can get a bit limited. We like to through in a few rounds of 20 questions to mix things up.
Another favourite of ours, especially in New Zealand, is the Tay Tay game. Basically, it’s a modified version of spotto. If you see a Suzuki Swift driving past, you yell ‘Tay Tay’ (as in Taylor Swift…) and the first to yell this gets a point. The person who spots the most Tay Tay’s on your drive wins!
Bonus Tips
For those of us who can’t pee standing up, be sure to pack some toilet paper! There has been many a time before we started driving in our van that we had to pull up on the side of the road, so Tiff could pee. Those toilet stops can be few and far between in outback Australia. Having some spare toilet paper makes peeing on the side of the road a lot easier. Nothing worse than having to use a scratchy napkin or worse having nothing to wipe with! Make sure you put the used toilet paper in your car rubbish bin too, don’t go leaving it on the side of the road.
Keen for more inspo? Be sure to check out:
- 10 Game Changing Vanlife Money Saving Tips
- Our Favourite Quick, Easy and Cheap Van Life Meals
- How Eco-Friendly is Vanlife?
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