Road Trip Itineraries and Tips

I know I repeat this a lot on Bridges and Balloons, but a successful trip will look different for different people

Some people get satisfaction from ticking off all the “must-sees” and packing in as much as they can. While others take a more leisurely pace and won’t lose sleep over missing big attractions.

We tend to lean more towards the latter, taking our time to soak in the vibes and only going to the attractions we really want to visit, rather than the ones we think we should.

Our guide to how to plan a road trip is filled with tips that you can adapt depending on your priorities. It’s filled with ways to save money, time and sanity!

Family road trips

Some people think we’re crazy for road tripping with young kids, but it remains our favourite way to travel – even with little ones in tow.

The key thing when road tripping with kids is avoid packing in too much and keeping the drive times manageable.

We’ve put together all our best advice in this guide to how to road trip with kids.

And we also have a road trip survival guide with lots of ideas for keeping kids entertained.

Road trip packing essentials

Like with most packing, it can be tricky knowing what to take on a road trip and it’s always tempting to overpack, especially as you can stuff things in the car (which we’ve done frequently!). But if you don’t want to end up playing Tetris every time you load the car, you need to be a bit more savvy.

We’ve put together a road trip packing list and here are some of the essentials.

Aeropress

A fantastic luxury item for making a quick coffee at beauty spots

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Torch

A torch is an essential travel item, no matter how you’re travelling.

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Packing cubes

Packing cubes are the secret to successful packing!

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Emergency kit

Make sure your car is stocked with essentials for an emergency

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Portable stove

A stove will come in handy camping or if you just want to stop for an al fresco meal or coffee.

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Coolbox

Keep your goods cool on the road with a sturdy cool box. Some even plug in to the car.

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Our top road trip destinations

We’ve done some of the world’s most iconic road trips, including the Pacific Coast Highway in California, New England and a one-month road trip in New Zealand. I could drive those routes over and over again!

And we’ve also done lesser-known destinations, like road tripping through Slovenia, exploring less touristed areas of the USA, and putting together what we think is the most colourful road trip in Europe!

Explore all our road trip itineraries, categorised by destination below.