Whether you’re a road trip novice or an interstate aficionado, chances are your road trip will be made 100% better by following these tips. Here’s a list of 12 activities that you can do in order to make your vacation truly unforgettable. From pre-trip planning and trip memento ideas, to outdoor adventures and on-the-road activities, there’s no shortage of great suggestions on this list. Check out what made the top 12 below!
Planning Your Trip
1. Make a Food Passport
A great way to try out different cuisines, foods, and restaurants that you might be interested in is to do a little bit of research beforehand and compile a notebook of your favorite selections in all of the areas that you plan on hitting up. Act like you’re adding stamps to a passport without ever leaving the country – maybe even add a few entries as you go – and before you know it you’ll have tasted everything you wanted to!
2. Plan to Cross Something Off of Your Bucket List (Alternatively, Make a Bucket List)
If you have your own personal bucket list, a road trip is a great way to check off a few boxes. And if you don’t have a bucket list, now’s the perfect time to start one! Just scribble down a few things you’ve always wanted to do, and you’ll have a long and full list of activities and experiences to aim towards while you’re cruising highways.
3. Create a Country Wide Scavenger Hunt
What’s more exciting than a scavenger hunt? Why, a scavenger hunt that takes place all over the country, of course! Plan out things for yourself and your friends to find along your trip, keeping track of everything you discover. First one to find them all, wins!
On The Road
4. Miss an Exit
It’s not a real trip without a U-turn, so miss an exit or two on purpose (or even by accident, we won’t tell) and circle your way back on track. Who knows, you might even find a little extra excitement out there!
5. Go Off the Beaten Path
It’s not a real trip without taking the ‘scenic route’ at least once. Check out a few back roads or make up your own shortcut (which might end up being a longcut, but that’s all part of the fun!).
6. Ditch The GPS
Paper maps only! Or, if you’re particularly daring, let one of your more directionally-savvy group members direct you to your destination. Either way, make sure that you keep your hands and eyes away from that GPS and do all navigating the old school way!
Outside The Vehicle
7. Go Geocaching
Geocaching is an activity where you use GPS or apps in order to find and hide containers called ‘caches’ all over the world (kind of like a treasure hunt). It’s an excellent way of spending time outdoors with your travel buddies.
8. Flea Market/Swap Meet
A flea market or swap meet is a perfect place to find cool trinkets and souvenirs that you could bring home. It’s also a prime spot to meet some of the locals and get their take on where you should go and what you should do next.
9. Leave a Bit of Good Luck Everywhere You Go
Leave a penny face side up every time that you make a stop for someone else to come across. There’s nothing better than finding a little bit of good luck, and if you brighten a person’s day with this simple act, it’ll definitely be worth it!
Trip Mementos
10. Create a Memory Jar
This is one trip memento that you can do as a group – every day of your vacation, jot down a note or two of your favorite memories of that day and slip it into a big jar. Once you’re all home, you can make an event out of dumping out all the notes and reading them out loud.
11. Instagram Photo Album
Back in the day, vacation photographs would be meticulously developed and added to an album after the trip is over. Now, with the advent of instant picture posting methods, most of these albums are kept online – but if you want one, you can still have a physical album made up of your Instagram photos and online pics using a variety of companies!
12. Make a Collage Out of Gas Station and Fast Food Receipts
Chances are you’ll end up collecting a respectable amount of receipts from the many gas stations and restaurants you hit up during your vacation. Instead of throwing all those scraps of paper out, why not re-purpose them into a one of a kind work of art? Just glue your receipts onto a poster board in whatever order or pattern you like, and voila!