Summer is almost here and that means it is officially road trip season. We’ve made plenty of road trips in the past, but none of those have matched in magnitude to what we’ve experienced since owning our Vandoit. Whether big or small, planning a road trip takes time and effort but it’s one hundred percent worth it. Here are five helpful steps we’ve found in making our road trips a summer success!
1. Pick your location
This could be a bucket list destination or a yearly favorite. Map out how long it takes to get there, and how many days you will need for travel as well as play. We love traveling in the afternoon after work and into the evening. This helps us use less time off of work and we are able to have more fun days when we do our driving at night or early in the morning.
2. Figure Out Where You’re Sleeping
Once you have your location picked and days mapped out, line up your sleeping locations first. We love using apps like ioverlander and freeroam to find all of the available boondocking and campsite spots available where we are traveling. If we know we are only traveling 4-5 hours the first night, then we can look on the map and find a spot that matches where we need to go. We’ve stayed at rest stops, on BLM land, and even parks that allow free overnight parking on our travel days. There are so many options out there! If campsites are needed for our actual play days, then we will get those booked. But the beauty of having a Vandoit van is that you can be more flexible, and nine times out of ten, you will find a spot for the night, even if it’s at a park!
3. Pick Out The Activities You Want To Do!
We usually plan 1-3 hikes or activities a day and then build in some free time or relaxing into each day. Make a list of all the activities you’d love to do, highlight your favorites, and don’t stress about doing it all! Being together is more important than cramming in all the sites.
4. Plan Meals And Snacks!
We do the majority of our cooking at camp, and we love it. We plan out our meals for every day, make a menu, and meal prep a few days before our trip. Meal prepping will save you time and money on your vacation. I love coming back from a long day of adventuring and knowing that all I have to do is heat up our already-prepped food and within 15 minutes we are eating. Being able to carry our kitchen and food with us wherever we go inside our van has completely transformed the way we travel! We get more play in because we don’t HAVE to make it back to camp in order to eat, we can eat and cook wherever we go.
5. You’ve done all the work, now you are ready!
Get that van packed up and ready to go. We suggest using the three days before you leave to pack and prep a little at a time. Split the workload amongst family members or simply break it up over a few days. This will make you less stressed, and get you excited for the trip to come. So the last and final tip is to HAVE FUN! Once you’ve done the work, you are prepared and ready to go. Is it going to be perfect and flawless, most likely not. There will still be challenges, but it will be amazingly worth it.
Pack those snacks, crank the tunes, and get ready for endless summer adventures with a Vandoit van. Where are you going first?
Great blog post!! Planning is definitely the key to a successful and fun trip. You have such a cute family and I love your wrap. Thanks for sharing.