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Travelling is like putting your inner self on a constant loop of happy memories and travelling with friends is amplifying these memories a thousand fold. We bet you on several occasions many of you may have gone through this experience of planning a trip with people in your friend circle. However, due to several unforeseen circumstances at the eleventh minute, many of these so-called friends back out and leave you disappointed. We have made you a list of top 10 tips on how to plan a road trip with your friends.
How to Plan a Road Trip With Your Friends
Pick The Right Travel Buddy
Picking the right travel buddy is probably one of the most important ways of ensuring a trip goes as smoothly as possible. Below are some tips on how one can figure out the right travelling buddy for yourself:
- Find out if you and your buddy’s purpose and goal of the trip are similar.
- Find out whether the group is financially capable of committing to the trip.
- Inform your buddy’s that on the trip people would want to have their own personal space.
- If an issue does arise, try being the bigger person and look for a solution that everyone agrees to.
Select Your Trip Location
The next step in planning on how to plan a trip with friends is to look for a location where you all will be travelling to. The location is probably the second most important criterion in planning a trip. This is because there might be a case where at least one person from the group may already have covered that location. So, below are a few pointers to keep in mind when planning the location of your trip:
- Check how much is the maximum time your buddies can spare.
- Who are you planning to travel with boys, girls or coed?
- Pleasant weather is of grave importance.
- What is everyone’s average travel budget?
- What kind of road experience is everyone looking for?
Finalize a Practical Travel Budget
The most important part of planning a road trip with your friends is how much would everyone need to contribute towards the trip. The budget is what determines the length of the trip, the accommodation, the distance, the food and several other things. The budget has to be a realistic one, especially because most of your buddies might have other financial commitments in their lives they might not have told you about.
You may also read: Where To Travel With Friends For Safe & Fun Holidays?
Choose Your Ride
The next step in planning a road trip is deciding the ride that you will take to the decided location. The ride is one of the most imperative aspects of the road trip. Imagine if the vehicle has poor air conditioning or uncomfortable seats or gives a bad kilometre per gallon reading. You might end up having a very bad experience or worse cutting the trip short.
The best vehicle should be able to give you and your buddies an immersive experience of the road trip that you have planned for. Some of the pointers to look out for while renting a car or choosing which car to take are:
- Comfortable seats
- Spacious interior
- Good mileage
- Excellent air conditioning
- Cruise control
- Reverse camera
- Ample boot space
Assemble Your Ride For The Trip
A few days before the date of the travel make sure you either take the car to the nearest service centre or have your personal mechanic look into it. Makes sure to tell them that you are planning a trip with your friends and wish to have the car in top-notch condition. Some of the things that you need to inform your car mechanic about would be:
- Replacing of car fluids
- Checking the condition of all 5 tyres
- Engine performance
- Light, signals and electrical
- Car battery
- Take a test ride and notice if your car is making any sound
- A well-stocked first-aid kit
- A puncture kit with an air compressor
- Extra battery, and
- All the necessary legal car documents needed for the travel
Delegate Tasks
This is one of the most important things to keep in mind when planning a road trip with your friends. The secret to planning the perfect trip is by delegating different tasks to different individuals in the group based on their strengths. If you’re good with finding the best deals in lodging, then let someone else figure out the car rental deals. The next important thing to do is to sit down and discuss with the group, the information that you have gathered.
Keep In Constant Touch
One of the best things of knowing how to plan a road trip with friends. While turning it into a successful road trip with your friends is to keep the communication channel open at all times. Allow people to advise you on any task that you can cover in the area. Communication allows people to voice out their opinions and in some scenarios even helps you from taking a wrong decision in haste.
Concoct The Perfect Music Playlist
A long road trip might get a bit monotonous and boring for both you and your friends. So, in order to make sure the hype surrounding the trip stays on. You can compile a unique, thrilling and feet tapping playlist of recent music that has broken all the preset records. An exciting or hippy musical playlist is certain to lighten the mood of everyone that has been keen on making this trip with friends.
Pack Healthy Food And Water
The road trip will certainly have its moments where except for the driver no one else would be doing anything. It’s times like these that someone will feel like munching on some chips or snacks to kill away time. You can sit together and come up with a list of snacks that the group can have while having the need to make several pit stops. These snacks should need to be healthy so that even if one overeats them, they do not risk any major bad eating habits. Some examples of healthy snacks include dry berries, dry fruits, plain roasted peanuts, popcorn, sunflower seeds and many more.
You may also like: 21+ Easy Ways To Make Your Road Trip Awesome
Plan On How You Will Stay Connected During The Trip
Being socially available and visible has become the new trend of the 21sy century. Especially when you are on a road trip with your friends, to get the latest updates or tips from other known friends. One of the top things of how to plan a trip with friends is the social obligation of letting the known friend circle about your trip. The best way to do that is to have an international roaming plan on your phone. Or get a Wi-Fi dongle with an international roaming package which can also be used by other members of the group. Another important device to have is a Bluetooth device for the driver if he/she wishes to make a personal call while on the wheel.
Below is a list of other travel essentials to keep when planning a road trip with friends:
- Sunglasses
- Travel mugs
- Hand sanitizer
- Mints
- Painkillers
- Altitude sickness pills (if you’re planning a trip to the hills)
