I grew up in a road trip family. If a trip was less than 20 hours we would always drive and occasionally we would take 2 week long road trips!

During all of these road trips I have really mastered the art of packing all the correct essential items for road trips and I wanted to share that knowledge!

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1. Snacks– bring neutral snacks that everyone likes.
2. Chargers- remember al the devices like phones and tablets that will need charged!
3. Car papers- make sure to have your registration and insurance with you.
4. Roadside emergency kit– one like this is great to start and then add anything else you may need.
5. Headphones– bring one set per person and then a couple extras as well!
6. Sunglasses- bring them for everyone, including make sure to get prescription ones if you wear prescription glasses.
7. Kindle– takes up way less space than bringing a bunch of books. Get one here if you don’t already have one.
8. First aid kit- better safe than sorry so stock up your first aid kit.
9. Car manual- even if you can find it online make sure to have one with in case you don’t have signal.
10. Cash– you’ll need coins for tolls and cash for occasional stop that don’t take credit cards.
11. Bug spray & sunscreen– be prepared for the conditions of anywhere you stop by having bug spray and sunscreen.
12. Camera– a better one than your phone camera. Capture all those wonderful memories!
13. Playlists– start your trip prepared with playlists that will cover hours on the road.
14. Rain coats/umbrellas– you never want to end up stuck in a thunderstorm unprepared!
15. Water bottles- not only are reusable water bottles way better for the environment but you’ll also save money by re-filling water bottles rather than constantly buying new ones.
16. Pillows– bringing one smaller pillow for everyone will significantly increase the quality of sleep everyone can get while on the road.
17. Sweatshirt– everyone is not going to agree on the temperature in the car which is why sweatshirts are so important for road trips. If someone is really cold they can put that on rather than fighting about the temp.
18. Extra shoes– you never know when you are going to start exploring somewhere and want sneakers or flip flops! So throw together a duffel bag with some extra shoes for everyone.
19. Personal hot spot- this is especially important if anyone needs to do work on the road. You can’t always depend on phone signal!
20. Basic medicines- grab a few of the basics. Throw together a bag of pain management pills, tums, Pepto , and allergy medicine.
21. Spare key– make sure you are traveling with a spare key for the car and have 2 different people each holding on to them.
22. Fast food savers- this means napkins, straws, plastic silverware, ketchup packets. Anything that could be helpful if a fast food restaurant forgets them.
23. Trash bags– these can be those grocery bags you have stashed under the sink or actual trash bags but having these to collect trash in the car will keep it much cleaner.
24. Jumper cables– make SURE you have jumper cables in your car and ideally try to also fit in a battery box that can jump your car if there isn’t another car near you to help.
25. Games– this is extra important if you are traveling with kids but either bring some car games or install games on your phone and tablet that don’t require any signal.

Stay safe and stay sane on your next road trip! Don’t forget to pack these 25 road trip essentials.

Korra The Explorer