I have taken a spontaneous road trip alone several times in my life. They are usually to another city that is within 3-4 hours but I have also planned one that was over a week. While the trips involved different levels of planning, there are some underlying tips to both a long term and a short term trip that I want to make sure that I share in this post.
Both of my trips have involved less than 12 hours of planning. For the sake of this post I will extend that time frame to a solid 24 hours. Here are my tips for a spontaneous road trip alone when you have less than a day to plan.
If You Have a Day to Plan
If you have a day before you leave then I would make sure that you go and get an oil change. Also, get your car checked out. You can find the time and I would also make sure that you clean your car out as much as possible. I will often go and just vacuum out my car and wipe down the inside to have a fresh start to my trip and also make sure there is room if I decide to buy things while on the road.
If you don’t have a lot of time to pack your clothing, then you want to travel with clothes that are interchangeable and can be turned into several outfit combinations. You want to make sure that you are packing lots of underwear. Have you ever seen that meme that asks “Does anyone else pack underwear like they are planning to shit themselves twice a day?” I am that person.
There are many ways to do a road trip and sometimes that involves sleeping in the car if that is what your budget allows. You always want to have clean underwear. I’m going to include a packing list but it should definitely involve some laundry detergent.
Where are you sleeping?
If you have 24 hours to plan your spontaneous road trip alone, then you have several options of where you can lay your head. My suggestion is to take advantage of the “Priceline name your price tool” or their “express deals.” You can definitely save a bunch of money using those two tools.
If you have a full day to plan then you should have the time to pick some Airbnb options. The pickings will usually be slim and the cheap options won’t be available as plentiful as if you had of booked months ago but you might be able to find some options that were recently cancelled.
If you are looking for a bit of adventure than you can try sleeping in your car. It is not my first suggestion. It isn’t really any suggestion that I would make. What I will say is that there are people who will stay at campground sites and will sleep in their car. They will also stay in parking lots. I personally would not feel safe in my car but there are some that make it happen.
If You Have 12 Hours or Less
If you have less than 12 hours then you are going to have to cut your list of things that you want to accomplish before you leave. This should still be enough time to get a basic check on your car. If you haven’t had a recent oil change then this should be the first thing that is on your list.
You should have enough time to pack a real suitcase that you put some thought into. I am going to leave a small packing list at the bottom of the post. What you really want to focus on is making sure that you are covering the basics which is safety, food, shelter, and your budget.
At the very least you need to have food to eat and an ability to pay for your gas. Are you putting all of this on a credit card? Do you have money in the bank? A spontaneous road trip is not the time to just “wing it.”
When I did it:
I actually did a trip like this when I got out of the Navy. It was a last minute decision when I was being separated that I was going to go on a road trip. I went to Vermont, Massachusetts, Maine, Pennsylvania, and a number of other states when I drove from Rhode Island back to Texas.
How I made it happen is that I booked on a day to day basis. I started off with booking an airbnb and when I was approved, I hit the road. This was a situation where I didn’t have a job that I need to be at and just wasn’t ready to go home. I was looking for a bit of catharsis after going through a difficult situation.
When I had secured housing for my next destination then I would move on to another city. I set an overall budget goal and found cities that fit within that budget. I stayed on the outskirts of cities instead of in the center. A great budget help was to stay in places that offered breakfast for free.
I also skipped out on activities and spent my time starting this blog and being out in nature. It isn’t always feasible to go skydiving and get tattoos on every trip. There can be a lot of joy in quiet trips without frills.
If You are Literally Getting in the Car and Going
Alright, you are seriously just getting in the car. I have done this before and lived to tell the tale. I literally decided that I was going to drive to the Virginia boarder when I was living in NC and ended up driving to Richmond in the middle of the night. It was 9PM at night and I was bored, so I went on a road trip.
What I did was make sure that I had someone who knew that I was hitting the road. If you are going to be on the road by yourself then you for sure need to have one person that you can check in with and can look out for you. If you don’t make it home or don’t make it to your next location then they can call the authorities.
When I did it:
The first thing that I did was make sure that I had gas in my car. I knew that It was about a 3-4 hour drive and that I could make it on a tank of gas. There wasn’t enough time to get my car checked out but I already knew that my tires were good and that I had recently had my oil changed. There was little chance of my car having a major issue during the trip.
When I left, I made sure that I had a credit card on me. There are so many little things that can happen on a trip and I wanted to be prepared. If you don’t have a credit card then you need an emergency fund that you can lean on.
I stopped by the grocery store and stocked up on snacks. This way I could avoid stopping while on the road, in a place that I was unfamiliar, and also in the dark. Luckily my trip was short and I ended up driving right back after I drove around the city.
A Basic Packing List
Here is a very short packing list. If you are looking for a more comprehensive list then you can find that here.
- I always pack at least one pair of underwear for every day that I am going to be away.
- A small bottle of laundry soap is a must. If you end up being away for longer than anticipated or you don’t pack enough, you can stop and wash at a laundry mat. You can also get a bottle of water and wash on the side of the road and lay your clothes out on the back seat to dry. There are options.
- Always make sure you pack some cash. If you don’t have a lot of time to plan then you don’t know when you may run into a toll road or a circumstance where you will need cash.
- Pack some snacks which will save you from having to stop at convenience stores and spending a bunch of money.
- You want to make sure you have a copy of your driver’s license. I take it on every trip. At the very least make sure that you actually have your DL on you.
There you have it. Those are tips to get you started with planning a spontaneous road trip alone. Let me know about your own trips in the comments. You can also check out my post about planning a road trip. I am have a post about what to expect on your first solo female road trip.