and soo.. you all know i just got back from a road trip.. like two freakin' weeks ago. but it's never too old to tell the stories, is it? you've seen the pictures.. and now i thought why don't i make a little list of "how to road trip.."
1. make reservation.
of course this is the most important thing. decide where you can get the cheapest price to rent a car or maybe even an RV for your road trip. but make sure you make the reservation so you'll lock in the price of the car you're renting. and choose the plan that fits your need, such as, insurance that covers the car, the passenger, or both. of course, the less you insured, the cheaper the price is, but you definitely don't want to take any chance, do you?
2. list your stop points.
as your next step, you have to know how you want to plan your trip. decide how long you want to have this trip for. buy a map to figure out which points of interest you want to stop at. make sure to make all the list so you can figure out the route you want to take, which highway to take, and where you'll be spending the night. scheduling your trip is very important so you can reach the points of interest on the dot. as per my experience, we planned the trip to cross the 7 states starting from las vegas, nevada and ending in new orleans, louisiana. we rented the car in las vegas then we had about 12 stopping points including hoover dam, grand canyon, monument valley, arches national park, and some big cities we passed by along the way.
3. be flexible and stay open for new stop points you found along the way.
although you may have scheduled your trip on the dot, the point is to have fun. so when you found about new place along the way, and if it can fit your schedule, try to go around it. this was the case with our road trip when we found out from the flyer about the antelope canyon in navajo reservation area. from the flyer, we looked over the map and found that the place is on the north of arizona, near the monument valley which is already on our list of stop points. so when the original plan was to visit grand canyon first then sedona, we kinda switched it a bit so we can see sedona, go to see grand canyon and spend the night in page (the city where antelope canyon is located) as they are all along one path. and it all went smoothly and eventhough we kinda squeezed it in a little, it was perfect. same goes with the white sands national park. both came in when we started our trip, and we made a time to stop at both places.. and they were surprisingly magnificent.
4. always visit the visitor center.
when you are on the road, always look at the sign. they usually have the sign for scenic view, scenic road.. and believe me, sometimes it's better to follow those path if you are in for enjoying the view on the road. cuz believe you me.. interstate highway can be pretty boring. when you enter a state border or a big city, they usually have a sign for visitor's center. always look out for one and make a time to stop by and look for the points of interest at each place. visitor's center is really a big help to find out how to get to those places the easiest way and what to look for when you get there.
5. collect the travel coupons.
from the beginning, we know that we might have to stay over during the first couple of days cuz we want to spend more time in arizona-utah borderline where the national park lies. although our plan was to stay over in the nearest rest area along the way, we decided to stay over at the hotel/motel between the route of the utah-arizona borderline. so we got this coupon book from denny's and it was awesomely useful to get a nice room with such a cheap price. like a double bed room for $30. you just can't beat that!
6. travel size 'em.
since you'll be on the road most of the time.. you have to think about doing everything travel size. for example.. you'll be bored.. so when you usually go to the nearest computer.. travel size 'em with a laptop. hehehe.. ga gitu juga ya? well, you know what i mean. since we got big bags between the both of us, we took some clothes out and put in a little bag along with travel size toothpaste, lotion, toothbrush, etc. so we always have them available anytime we need them. books are recommended but i doubt you would even have the time to read 'em unless you're through a really boring road, which we never did considering the view was just breathtaking along the way. travel size 'em also means to bring everything but enough so that you won't burden too much of yourself. for example, shoes & sandals. you need one of each, and check the weather, cuz you might need a sweater and not just tank tops along the way. cuz as we crossed along the rockies, we actually see snow.. and it was cold. good thing i had my sweater in my bag and a pair of nice thick socks.
7. pictures.. pictures.. to capture those memories.
of course.. this is probably the most important things we brought on the trip.. for us, that is. i mean, it's probably the top of the list since both of us are into photography. paw brought his nikon f4 and the medium format by rolleiflex. and of course, tons of films, tripods, and backpack for those time we have to do some hiking. i had all the digital equipment. my d70, my sony pocket digicam to record the mpeg files, my laptop so i can upload the files after taking them, usb cables, ipod, i-trip.. we had so many electronics.. the trip was hardly a boring route. we even brought dvd with us just in case we want to see them along the way. :) and make sure to bring chargers for each one of them. all and all, i took about 1500 pictures, paw took about .. hmm.. maybe close to 400 pics and at least 20 mpeg files. just so you know.. it was more like a photographer's trip.. as we keep stopping everytime we saw a good spot to take picture at. so, if you want to do one of these trips ever.. make sure you know what you want to do. is it the shopping, the memories, the pictures, the experience, or what? it is very efficient to know this so that the person who goes on the trip with you.. know what you want. and my suggestion is to go with the ones who has the same goal for the road trip.. therefore, you'll be going to the same place and spend more time on the things you want to do most without getting on each other's nerve.
8. music and games are your friends.
what to do when so happen you had a fight with your road trip partner? well, turn to music, games.. anything that would entertain yourself without opening your mouth. really.. it happens! when only the two of you went.. and you had a fight, well.. do it paw's way.. listen to anthrax and turn the music up loud! heuahahah.. just make sure at the end of the day you kiss and make up. cuz if not.. it will only ruin the whole trip. talk along the way. tell the other person what you want to do on the trip.. where you want to stop at, so that you harmonize your plan. communication is very important. it's the key to a great trip.
9. bring lotsa water & snacks
it's kinda a given. i'm sure it'd be the first thing you'd think about when you're doing one of these road trips. cuz without 'em, the road would be a looong way and it's also important to keep them extra for those emergency nights you'll have on the road, god forbid. bringing along extra water and snacks also saves you time for those times when you just need to have snacks, but you're close to deadline. having them around, especially for breakfast, would keep you from having too many stops along the way.
10. directions.
and of course.. if you're gonna be on the road.. you'll need one of those books called maps. make sure you know how to read them so you can pinpoint which way to go to get to the points of interest you want to stop by along the way. my suggestion is to always try take the scenic route if you have abundant times in your hands, cuz interstate route could be quite boring and you won't see anything along the way except the roads. scenic route will take you along the country and you'll find nice views along the way. and that's what having a road trip is all about.
hope you'll find the list useful. it's not exactly a list you have to follow when you want to do the road trip, but it sure is a nice guidelines to follow. truth is.. the biggest point of having a good time on the trip is to keep a good company and just play it by ear where you want to go.. cuz along the way, you'll find it when a good company comes along.
till the next road trip.. ;)
:: sLesTa
