Travel · 12 recordsPlan a road trip

Road trips are ruined by ambitious daily distances. This plans realistic driving days, books only the nights that genuinely need it, and sorts the car — because a breakdown a long way from home is the one failure that ends the trip rather than delaying it.

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Goal

A trip where the driving is not the trip Month 2

Shorter days than the map suggests, and the car sorted.

Route and nights Week 4

Four or five hours a day, not eight.

  • Draft the route in realistic daily distancesDo firstDay 7
  • Book the first and last nightsDo firstWeek 3
  • Leave the middle unbooked on purposeWeek 4

The car and the day Week 8

The one failure that ends a trip rather than delaying it.

  • Service it and check the tyresDo firstWeek 6
  • Sort breakdown cover for the whole routeDo firstWeek 6
  • Pack food, water and something for the dull stretchesWeek 8

Routines

  • Half an hour on the tripweekly
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Dates you will not have to remember

Set off

Month 207:00300 min
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Four hours, not eight

Distances look reasonable on a map and are not. Four or five hours of actual driving leaves a day worth having at either end; eight means the trip is the driving.\n\nBooking every night removes the main advantage of a car, which is staying somewhere an extra day because it turned out to be good.

Questions

Plan a road trip, answered.

Less than feels reasonable on a map. Four or five hours of actual driving leaves a day worth having at either end; eight hours means the trip is the driving, which is rarely what anybody planned.
The first night, the last night, and anything that sells out. Booking every night removes the main advantage of driving, which is being able to stay somewhere an extra day because it turned out to be good.
Service, tyres, breakdown cover — a dated task here rather than an assumption. It is the one failure that ends a road trip rather than delaying it, and it is entirely preventable the week before.
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