How many of you are planning a road trip this holiday season? Raise your hands!!! I know for me and my family, we will be heading out onto the roads and traveling to see some family and friends.
Holiday road trips can be stressful but if you follow these tips, you can help to ensure that your family’s road trip is a safe one!
1. Plan for your trip in advance! Once your destination has been selected, plan a route of travel. Your trip should be planned out (a round trip) and let others in your family know where you will be and approximately when you will be there.
2. Take your car into the mechanic or dealership for an inspection and tune-up! You want to get all of your car maintenance done and make sure it’s in great working condition.
3. Prepare a road emergency box! Pack some tools, extra oil, flashlights, road flares, bottled water and other necessity items that you may need should you have any car problems while traveling.
4. If you have a cell phone (most of us do), make sure it is fully charged before you leave your home. It is equally important to pack your cell phone charger and keep your cell phone charged up. In an emergency, you can make a phone call for help, quickly and easily. If you don’t have a cell phone, pack a lot of quarters into a small change purse and keep it in your glove box for pay phone use.
5. Set up an emergency contact person within your family. Set up regular days and times when you will call this contact person to just check in with them. If you would break down or go missing, this person can help contact authorities and let them know when you were last heard from and approximately where you were last. While this might seem like a pain-in-the-butt to some, this technique has proven to save lives in the past.
6. Set up an emergency travel fund before you leave home! If you have any type of emergency while on the road, you can access this emergency travel fund to get the money that you need. This fund should be accessible from any where that you may be traveling. It is also advisable to travel with extra cash in your pockets, should you need it.
These 6 tips are ones that my family follows every time we hit the road. Road trips can be stressful and at times, emergencies do arise. It is always better to be prepared!
When you take road trips, what kind of emergency and safety tips do you and your family follow? I would love to hear them! Please leave them below in our blog’s comment form!
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Thanks for the tips. The road emergency box is a great idea and one that is probably often overlooked.
These are great tips, definitely made it easier to get my checklist done for our trip this winter.
Thank you for the tips they are a life saver since we are going on a small trip with 5 children on Christmas.
Besides planning what to bring, you also need to plan on how things will fit in the car and how you want them arranged. Snacks and small toys for the kids need to be within easy reach. Make sure you know where the directions and change for toll roads are, if needed.
I am so thankful for your great tips!
We don’t yet have a vehicle but are ironically wanting a Kia! These are some great tips! I agree with the person who said to also carry pepper spray in the car. Although, I already carry that in my purse.
Realize that no matter how prepared you think you are surprises can always pop up especially with kids – or animals. Try to remember to breathe, relax, and enjoy your time together. Family road trips lead to a lot of fun stories to later talk – or blog – about.
commented on the Kia post
So often we have only the merriment & celebration of the holidays on our minds that we forget that we need to be prepared. Thanks for the reminder! Great tips.
also a good idea to carry pepper spray in the car….you never know when the crazies are out there. Just for saftey sake
I hope everyone who is traveling this yr for the holidays drives safe
great tips and you get great milage too!
It is so important that you plan and prepare. I am always wanting my husband to make sure we have tools and flashlights for emergencies. He likes to check as he tells me that he doesn’t PLAN on anything happening so why PLAN for trouble….but the planning and extra packing are worth it if you ever need it. Thanks for reminding us of these things.
I love kia vehicles we just bought a soul a few months back and we love it..everyone jokes it looks like a hamster cage but I dont mind looking like a hamster its awesome 🙂
Despite loving these tips I am glad that my family is traveling to me for Christmas rather than the opposite. One additional tip would be if you wear glasses make sure to have an extra pair with you and they should have anti-glare protection.
I like the tips a lot. Following them is going to make the trip much more pleasant
I think that the emergency road kit and medical kit should be left in the car (especially if the car is in a garge) so that it is always on hand. Then periodically you can change for fresher items if necessary
That’s a great point about setting up the :travel emergency fund”.
I like tip #1, I think that is my main problem when it comes to road trips. I tend to be a bit on the spontaneous side (at least when I was younger, now that I have kids I would be more careful). I like the idea of planning a route, GPS is a miracle for me!
Thanks for the tips! I really like the reminder to get the car checked out before long journeys. I’d also add that, depending upon location, some handwarmers, blanket, etc. might be a good addition to the emergency kit. The things you don’t think about until you need them!
I’m really lucky my husband is great mechanic and keeps my vehicle up to date! It is very important for maintenance on every vehicle to be kept up to par or you risk spending a lot of money out of pocket.
We always have our emergency box in our car with many survival items in case we ever get stranded. Sometimes it been nice to have it in the car such as when my kids get hurt I can use the First Aid Kit. It is so important to be prepared even when traveling!
I love your tips and all of them have been implemented. This is the only time when I find a cell phone is a must. How did we contact emergency/garages/police,etc. before cell phones when we had an accident. We hoped soemeone would stop or a police car would pass by!
I agree, roadtrips should be fun but can be stressful! One time my friend and drove to the shore for a weekend vacation. I ended up getting ridiculously lost (it took me 12 hours to get there instead of 6!!!). I ended up getting so stressed out being lost in big cities that I got hives all over my body. I had no idea what they were because I had never gotten them before. What a vacation that was! I was doped up on benadryl and so itchy the whole time!
I always make sure to have the oil changed and car checked. I also make sure to have a spare and tools needed.
I really like the idea of having someone to check in with every so often to make sure you are okay. This is especially a good idea if you are traveling alone. With any luck, you can also ask that same person to water your plants, bring in your mail and feed your cat.
I’ve never used Traveler’s Checks before. I’m actually not completely sure what they/how they work but it sounds like protection from theft? Great idea.
Besides a car road emergency box I always have a medical emergency/first aid box in the car
Emergency road box & first aid kit are always great ideas! Every car should have them at all times!
Extra clothes.
These are all very sound tips. A little preparation goes a long way to making the trip enjoyable.
We do all because of our long trips from time to time. When you have kids not only are snacks important.. things to occupy them are as well. I pack each a backpack full of games, activities, books, coloring books, etc to keep them busy.
I have a cell phone charger that plugs into the cigarette lighter, and I always make sure to take my car for an oil change before leaving so they can check to make sure everything is working properly or if anything needs to be fixed.
I think that the solar powered cellphone charger is a great idea. And I shall follow your recommendation to stock up some money in the bank as an emergency fund.
Great tip about the emergency travel fund. When I was a freshman in college my friends and I took a road trip from PA to Cali (we only made it to Arizona) then we broke down on the way back and had no money or phones (this was in 1999 so no cell phones). What an experience that was! Now that I have kids I would never let them do that!
My mom used to travel with extra traveler’s checks and she still does, but she was robbed once while vacationing overseas and was “crap out of luck” with the emergency funds when they stole them. So, we now also recommend that you stock up some money in your bank account and don’t touch it while traveling unless an emergency. If you get robbed traveling, you can still access it. Don’t rely on credit cards for emergency funds as thieves usually steal those!
I think that I haven’t been on longer road trips in so many years that I didn’t think of all of these tips, but I do bring my cell phone charger with me. I also think I may get one for charging in the car.
We have an electrical cell phone charger and one that plugs into the cigarette lighter in the car. We are now thinking about getting a 3rd one…one of those solar powered cell phone chargers since we spend a lot of time outdoors when we travel. ie. camping, hiking, etc.
The one tip I haven’t really done as much as I should is set up an emergency travel fund. I’d have extra cash and traveler’s checks with me , but nothing special to access.
I really hat it when the GPS you are depending upon makes you go the longer way!! I have one of my sons on speed dial because he usually can figure out very quickly which way is the correct direction. And guess what I did call him today!!
Jo-Ann we took a trip down to the Jersey Shore back in June and had to go a different route due to construction. Our dang GPS not only took us a different route but it’s suggested route (the one it had us take) took us 97 minutes out of our way…ugh!
These are great trips. #5 is one I never used when all the kids were small and we took so many road trips during the holidays. I’m going to pass these tips on to the kids. Thanks for sharing.
Carol L
Awesome tips!!! Enjoyed reading! =)
Useful tips, thank you. And that is a sweet car!
I love that blue color and I love the hatchback, that would be cool for traveling!
What I still need to do is to take my car into the mechanic. I was just happy that getting gas was no long a problem.
I like to have a GPS and a supply of maps perhaps with the trip planned out by AAA
Thanks for your comments Jo-Ann. We use both a GPS and Paper Maps when we travel because we found that GPS systems are not always as accurate as they claim to be.
Thanks for all these great tips. I’m traveling a short distance today, but it is good to be reminded of all the things to do to be prepared
Thanks for the advice these are all great tips to remember on our next road trip!
Thanks Amber! Glad you liked the tips!