Packing for a Road Trip: 7 Ultimate Essentials

Packing for a Road Trip: 7 Ultimate Essentials

February 18, 2019 No Comment

You planned everything: you bought air tickets, booked a hotel room, purchased insurance and rented a car at rentalcars24h.com through the Internet. Well, your suitcases are ready, everything you need is taken – you can go! However, just in case, let’s go through the list of belongings that you definitely should have with you if you plan to travel by car…

Documents

First of all, you must have a passport and insurance, but as for the driver’s license, you need to clarify a few questions.

So, check the expiration date of your driver’s license. It must be at least 1 year from the date of rental, otherwise there may be difficulties at the car rental counter. The rental company won’t provide you a car for expired or temporary driving license.

Next, you need to find out if your domestic driver’s license is suitable for driving in the country you are traveling to. The fact is that in some countries it’s allowed to drive by using only a domestic driver’s license, while others necessarily require an international driver’s license.

Smartphone, GPS Navigator and Chargers

In the car rental center you will probably be offered to hire a navigator or pay for the use of what is already installed in the car. In case you want to save money, just take your navigator from home or simply download the appropriate application to your smartphone. Of course, don’t forget to download maps of the required areas in advance so that the device can work without the Internet.

Also, it’s important to grab the chargers that connect to the cigarette lighter socket or have a USB connector. It may be worthwhile to take the digital video recorder, especially if you feel more confident when using it.

Cash and credit card with sufficient limit

If you rent a car, you probably already know that you need a credit card with a fairly large limit. The fact is that a rental office will block a deposit in the account, which is at least $400-1000 depending on the car, but in any case is several times higher than the cost of car rental itself. This deposit will be unlocked only after you return the car, and sometimes it takes several days. So take care to take a credit card with a limit of at least $1000-1200.

Also, it’s recommended to have cash of small denomination, especially if you plan to use toll routes or stop at gas stations. So, you will avoid unnecessary difficulties if the card machine is inoperative or the terminal temporarily has no connection with the bank.

Music discs or cable to connect a phone to the car media device

If the traveling distance is long, the road is easy to get bored. Of course, radio is installed in almost all rental cars, but it’s not a fact that you will find a radio station to suit your taste. What’s more, if you plan to travel to remote cities, the choice can be reduced to one or two options. Therefore, it’s better to bring your own music. Since it’s difficult to predict whether there will be a device for reading disks or flash memory cards in a rental car, it’s recommended to take both disks and a smartphone with downloaded music.

Water, food, and a small cooler bag

Bottled water should always be in your bag – you can quench your thirst and wash your hands with it. Sandwiches, vegetables, fruits or some snacks are also among the must-have things in the car. If you can, grab a small bag that keeps cold. It’s not necessary to take a full-fledged auto-refrigerator – bag with walls lined with special foil is often enough so that the products don’t deteriorate within a few hours.

Medicines

Be sure to take an anesthetic, antipyretic, a drug-sorbent, an antihistamine, as well as a remedy for motion sickness, wet wipes, disinfecting local agents, bandages and patches. If you or someone of the passengers is taking specific drugs, it’s also important not to forget them: it can be difficult or impossible to buy them on the spot.

Other items that will make the trip more convenient

Traveling by car will become more convenient if you take comfortable clothes and shoes with you, for example, a soft tracksuit and sneakers. Small pillows and blankets for passengers are also useful, especially if you are going to travel with children.

If you have a trip to a hot sunny country, then prepare a special lining on the windshield, which is installed at the time of parking. It’s made of a material with a reflective surface, thanks to which the car heats up less.