Travel Tip 152

Solo Road Trip Tips

They did not let me drive this 1934 Rolls Royce, but I think it would be a fun road trip vehicle!

 Road trip season is here!

 As promised last week, here are my top five tips for solo road trips.

I’ve been writing a lot about airlines and airports lately, because chaos, but what I’d rather focus on is a good old fashioned road trip.

What is a road trip?

Most people think of a road trip as getting in their car and driving off into the wild blue yonder. The idea makes me starry-eyed, but I haven’t owned a car for seven years. For those of us who are trying to reduce our carbon footprint, how can we go on road trips? Certainly, we can hop in a car with friends and the more the merrier. But does it have to be a car?

My next road trip is by bus in four stages: Huaraz to Chavín de Huántar, Chavín to La Unión for Huánuco Pampa, La Unión to Huánuco and then Huánuco to Lima.

Can traveling by bus count as a road trip?

I don’t have an answer for you and hope you’ll weigh in. Leave a comment at the bottom of this newsletter!

This weekend I’m in Huaraz with Socorro Andino to see how they train guides to work with helicopters during search and rescue operations. I had to fly here but I’m planning a mini-road trip afterwards. From Huaraz, I’ll be taking a bus to Chavín de Huántar, then the next day a bus to La Unión to see Huánuco Pampa, then another bus to the town of Huánuco for a few days before catching a fourth bus back to Lima.

I drove to La Paz, México to see whale sharks but found that the drive was just as much fun as swimming with the sharks.

Some of my most memorable adventures have been solo road trips – in a car!

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.

Another favorite solo road trip was when I rented a car in Cabo San Lucas and drove to La Paz. I rolled the windows down and turned up the cheesy Mexican pop music as loud as the little car’s speakers would go. That drive across the desert felt like the definition of freedom.

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

I was caught off guard by the snow on a road trip across the Atlas Mountain in Morocco, but thankfully my friends were prepared.

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. (For a classic example of not planning ahead enough to avoid snow, read Blue Highways by William Least-Heat Moon).

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.

If you’re heading into a national park or somewhere with limited services, like Morro Calzada in northern Peru, make sure your vehicle can handle the roads.

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.

Whether you’re driving a few hours from home or around Argentina, tell somebody where you are headed each day.

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.

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.

Build some buffer days into your schedule in case of car trouble or wanting to stay an extra day somewhere like Ensifera Ensifera.

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. 

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.

This is what Rainbow Mountain really looks like. All marketing photos are saturated and edited to the max.

Blog: Don’t Do Rainbow Mountain

I’ve been putting off writing this for years because I thought I should go back before I write about it, but I don’t want to go back to Rainbow Mountain. If you know anybody coming to Cusco, send them this blog because Rainbow Mountain photos are everywhere on websites and in marketing – but they’re all so edited that I think they are false advertising.