Road Trip Packing List: 9 Must Haves for the Road

What kind of road trip are you hoping to have? If you are looking for an extensive list of both optional and necessary items for your next road trip then you can find that here. If you are just looking for a list of the must haves then this is the post for you. Here is a basic road trip packing list with 9 items that I can’t live without on my solo female road trips.

Water

More than anything, water is the first thing that I pack in my car. I always have a reusable water bottle that I can carry around with me when I am walking around. In addition, I will make sure that I have a couple of water bottles just in case.

Dehydration is a real thing. Even in the Winter where the temperature might not seem like a big deal, the dry air will suck the moisture from your body. I find that staying hydrated really helps me to make sure that I am staying awake and feeling my best. Staying alert on the road will prevent accidents.

Cash Money

This is mostly the case for unexpected tolls and places that don’t take cards. If you are from a major city than you can often be ignorant to how other states in the US function. Have you ever driven through Nebraska or Western Texas? There are a lot of states that have dry areas where the services available are limited. They may have $10 minimums in their gas stations or restaurants that don’t accept credit cards. You want to have cash on hand in those cases.

If you run through an unexpected toll, they more than likely will not be taking cards. If you don’t have cash and can’t pay the toll then you will get a ticket. Who wants a ticket thousands of miles from their home?

Clorox/Lysol Wipes

Inevitably you will spill something on a road trip. If you don’t end up spilling something then you will find some sort of grease, snack, dirt pile somewhere in your car and you are going to want to have wipes on hand. Even more important to that, road trips can be germy. You may occasionally want to wash down your steering wheel and other parts of your car to keep it clean.

You will be stopping by rest stops, hotels, restaurants, and you never know who or what has touched your space before you. It’s possible that you might want to wipe down the remote and light switches in your hotel. There are a lot of uses for cleaning wipes and you want to make sure that you have some.

Paper Maps

Paper maps are a good thing to bring on the road because you never know what will happen to your technology. I have been on the road several times where my phone just wouldn’t work because I was in an isolated area and had absolutely no service. The last thing you want is to be out on the road and you have no idea where you are and how you can get help.

At least if you have a paper map you can follow along in order to get to some place where you can get help. What is great about a paper map is that you can almost always get them for free from the visiting center. Once you get home you can frame them and put them up to remind you of your travels.

Portable Charger

I got absolutely no where without my portable charger. If anything was to happen to the car that you are driving then you have a way to charge your phone. It is great if you are walking around a city and can’t find a place to charge your phone. A portable charger has saved me on several occasions.

Copy of Your Important Documents

I always keep a copy of my license and passport when I am traveling. This way I can carry those around with me and leave my originals in a safe place to avoid having them stolen. This is also good if you are leaving your originals in a dry bag or ziplock to avoid them getting wet if you get stuck in the rain.

Weapon

I know that this might put off a lot of people, but I always bring a weapon with me. I make sure that I always bring my small bat with me that has a flashlight on the end. It’s called a bling them and beat them approach to defense. I also travel with a couple of knives.

I don’t have a gun license or a gun of any type. If you want to bring a gun with you then you will have to do some research about traveling with a gun and crossing state lines with a gun.

Snacks

It’s important to pack your own snacks. Unless you have the budget that allows you to stop frequently for snacks. That will quickly start to build up though. $5 here and there can easily turn to $50 or more dollars, which in a lot of states is about 2 tanks of gas.

I will try to go to Costco or Sams Club and stock up on snacks that can be easily bagged up in little baggies. It is also super helpful to get snacks that won’t melt in your car or require refrigeration. You can pack a little cooler if you want but then you have to worry about getting ice, leaks, and keeping the snacks cold so that they don’t go bad.

This doesn’t apply if you are traveling in the winter and it’s so cold outside that you can just stick your stuff outdoors. This was the case when I went to the Grand Canyon in December. It was about 14 degrees at night.

Grocery Bags

I always bring a couple of grocery bags. This helps to keep the car clean. If you have some snack or papers, you can keep throw them away. This helps to consolidate your trash in one convenient place. A week or two can really create some trash and this is a small solution to some of it. This is an easy addition to your road trip packing list that you probably already have in your house.

There you have it. 9 of my must haves for a road trip packing list. This goes for short and long term road trips. You can also check out my post about planning a road trip right here. There is also a post that I have with a longer list of road trip essentials.