Travel Tip 100

Solo Road Trip Tips

Always watch for wildlife! I found these capybara all over the roads in Concordia, Argentina.

Road trip season is here!

Here’s my top tips for planning a road trip this year.

Welcome to my newsletter! There are a lot of new subscribers and I’m so glad you’re here! Every week I’ll send you a travel tip, plus links to my latest blogs and articles.

Are you planning a road trip?

Some of my most memorable adventures have been solo road trips!

One of my favorites started in Boise and took me north through Idaho to Montana, where I spent a week in Glacier National Park. Then I crossed the border into Alberta and visited Banff, Lake Louise and then Jasper before crossing into British Columbia and driving down through Washington and Oregon on the way back to Boise. I learned a lot along the way about planning and enjoying a road trip!

While my tips are geared towards solo road trippers, they’re equally applicable to group or family road trips.

When planning your route, check if you have to go through every city, or if you can go around them. I try to avoid Anta, Peru because of its moto-taxi traffic jams.

1. Plan the nitty gritty.

Get into the details of your route. Plan a realistic number of hours driving each day, figure out where you’re going to sleep each night and make reservations at hotels or campgrounds. If you’re driving through rural areas, make sure there are gas stations (or charging stations for electric vehicles) along the route. If you’re going solo, this is essential because you have to rely on yourself for directions and emergencies.

Part of planning is making sure you are hitting your destinations at the best possible time – and avoiding the worst. Avoid the gulf coast during hurricane season, the Midwest during tornado season and the mountains when the roads will be covered with snow.

Having a detailed plan doesn’t mean that there’s no room for spontaneity, but you can’t deviate from your plan if you don’t have one.

Give your car a thorough clean out before you leave so you’re not taking extra stuff that you don’t need.

2. Get the right gear.

Get what you need for the most common kinds of emergencies but don’t overload yourself with gear for every possible emergency. For you, get a good first aid kit (and know how to use it) and pack extra snacks and water.

For your vehicle, make sure you have what you need for dead batteries, flat tires and fender-benders. If you’ll be in areas with few gas stations, get a 5 gallon gas can and keep it full. Know what your vehicle is capable of, so you don’t put it in a preventable situation like driving on rough roads without all wheel drive.

For me, the right gear on any road trip also includes paper maps. Get a road atlas of the states or areas you’re driving through, just in case your phone falls in a river or the GPS malfunctions.

3. Share your route.

This is the most important step for solo road trippers. Make sure somebody reliable has your route and set up a time or day that you’ll check in, so they know you’re on track.

If somewhere seems like a bad place to park, take the time to find somewhere safer. This part of Trujillo, Peru was a bad idea.

4. Trust your instincts.

If a place doesn’t feel right, get back in your car and leave. It’s easy to get carried away in the excitement of a trip, so always consider if you’d advise your best friend to do what you’re about to do. Honestly, I’m not always great at recognizing sketchy situations on my own, so it’s easier for me to think about if I’d tell a friend to go for it, or to play it safe.

5. Be flexible.

I’ve written a lot about flexibility in travel, from being flexible on destinations to get flight deals to being flexible on activities to make expensive destinations more affordable. Flexibility on a road trip is mostly about accepting where you are and what you’ve got. If you planned to get to Denver on day three of the trip but in the afternoon of day two it snows on the mountain pass you have to cross, you’ll have to be flexible. Either change the timing of your trip, or the route, but that doesn’t mean you get to skip planning your change. Go back to tip 1 and start over.

Extra tip for Gen Z: Watch what and when you post.

Social media posts have been used to target home robberies of people who are obviously away, and it is possible to track people using social media. Consider delaying posts a day or two if you’re off traveling solo and perhaps post after you get home if you’re concerned about burglars.

The Quarry Trek goes up into the mountains from the Sacred Valley, then back down to Ollantaytambo.

Blog: The Quarry Trek

This week I went on the 3-day, 2-night Quarry Trek, with Intrepid. This trek ticks all the right boxes: beautiful landscapes, fascinating history, rural villages and no crowds. Click on the blog title above to read about my experience on the trail and how it measures up against other treks in the Cusco region.