How to have an amazing couple’s road trip

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William and I love going on couple’s road trips!! Whether it’s just to a neighboring city or cross country, the car is “our place”. It is the one place we can go and just talk. When one of us is frustrated at the end of the day, we hop in the car and just drive. Most of the time there isn’t a destination. Taking a couple’s road trip just helps clear our heads and we talk about everything that has been on our minds and hearts. 

I think it has something to do with the fact that he taught me how to drive. Before I met William I didn’t know how to drive. But since he taught me how to drive. We spent a lot of time talking in the car while I was learning; we really connected on a deeper level. 

We also love road trips for their spontaneity. When we are feeling adventurous, we hop in the car with a destination in mind, but we usually stop multiple times along the way for one reason or another. It is also super nice because you are free to come and go as you please and you aren’t tied down to someone else’s schedule (Bus, plane, train, etc).

Here’s our ultimate awesome guide to an awesome couple’s road trip.

Things to Do on a Couple’s Road Trip:

The best memories made on any trip are usually made on the journey, not just at the destination. Here are some fun things to do to make the time pass by on a couple’s road trip.

Snack!!

No one likes to be hungry, and no one likes being in a confined space with someone who is Hangry. The best way to combat that is to always have food handy. We always have food in our car lol. Dollar tree is our BFF when preparing for a road trip. We save money on snacks that way. When we go on a long trip (or a short one) we make sure we have a mix of sweet and salty and healthy. I like salty and William likes sweet so we balance each other out in that way.

Plus, no one likes to feel gross after eating a bunch of junk food for several days, so we also have fruits and veggies on hand.

Another tip is to eat real food at least once a day. We usually eat breakfast out of our car, then go for most of the day with snacks, and then finish off our day with real food at a restaurant. 

Listen to Music or Podcasts

When I think of road trips, I always imagine BFFs hanging out in a car singing at the top of their lungs to music they all know. That is literally how it is most of the time while road-tripping with William. However, on a long trip, music will start to get old. When that happens, you can listen to PODCASTS!!! Podcasts are so much fun.

One of our favorite thing to do while listening to a podcast is to pause it after we hear something interesting. This usually leads to an interesting side conversation that sometimes leads to so many things that we forget the original podcast lol. Some of our favorite podcasts are Rise Together – with Rachel and Dave Hollis and Dear Hank and John.

A fun game to play when you are listening to music is Guess that Song. It is really fun to test your partner’s musical knowledge. It is also important to have playlists for each person. Williams likes the oldies: The Beatles, Elvis, Johnny Cash, etc. I like more modern so we have two playlists, one for him, and one for me and we switch off every so often. We also love Disney so we sing along to Disney when we want something we both love. 

Read Books

If music, talking, or listening to podcasts doesn’t suit our interests on our road trip, we pull out a good book. We used to read Narnia the whole collection and now we are reading the Lightning Thief. It’s fun for the passenger to read.

Talk

When do you ever have so much uninterrupted time to talk? Just start talking about anything and everything. Once you get going you’ll start to learn new things about your partner. 

It’s hard sometimes to figure out what to talk about. We get that, which is why we’re giving you some questions to prompt conversation.  

• What overseas location would you most like for us to visit together?
• What would be your ideal getaway for a long weekend?
• If you could go back in time to before you were born, what period of history would you choose?
• If you inherited ten million dollars, what would you buy first (after all the bills/debt were paid off)?
• In what way are you most like one of your parents?
• What two words would you use to describe my values?
• What talent do you really wish you had?
• What ideas do you have about how we could improve the ‘couple time’ we spend together?
• What made you decide to ask me out on our first date?
• What are the first two adjectives that come to mind when you think about our relationship?
• What is the strangest food you have ever eaten?
• What is something you did not want to do at all that turned out to be a terrific experience?

Play Couple’s Road Trip Games

The saying goes, “Time goes by faster when you are having fun”. What better way to have fun on the road than playing games!! Some of our favorites are Would you Rather, Mad Libs, and The Opportunity Light.

Would you Rather: This is a fun game to get to know your partner better. You ask each other to choose between two weird or gross or funny options and see what they say. It’s super fun because your partner might surprise you with a couple of questions. Here are a few to get your ideas rolling:

• Would you rather give up Google or social media?
• Would you rather give up your phone or your car?
• Would you rather hug a porcupine or an octopus? Would you rather have giant ears or giant feet?
• Would you rather be hated for doing a good thing or be loved for doing a bad thing?
• Would you rather lose all your memories from birth or not be able to make any new memories?

Mad Libs: Mad Libs are just random and funny.  Download an Adult Mad Libs app or buy a book from Walmart, the dollar store, or wherever they are sold near you and have the passenger ask the driver for the parts of speech needed. In the end, you’ll have a ridiculously funny Mad Libs story to read!

Opportunity light: Opportunity Light is less a game and more just for fun romance. Essentially what you do is, when you come upon a red light you make out until the light turns green. It’s a super fun way to add a little fun romance to your trip.

Get out and explore!!

That is what we love about couple’s road trips. The freedom to see something on the side of the road and stop to look. Doing this is such a good idea because it breaks up the monotony of driving, and gives you both a chance to stretch your legs. Some of our favorite memories are of the places we stopped at on the way to our destination. Some of them were planned, like St. Louis Arch, and some of them were spontaneous, like the Great Platte River Road Archway in Nebraska. That was something we saw and thought looked cool, so we stopped to check it out. It wasn’t just an archway, it was actually a museum, so we went through it and it was way cool! 

Things to Bring on a Couple’s Road Trip:

Here’s a road trip checklist for the most important things you’ll need to take on your couple’s road trip to help avoid mishaps!

Refillable water bottle

Bringing a refillable water bottle saves money. Instead of buying bottled water all the time, you can save money and refill your water bottle when you stop for gas. It is also more eco-friendly because you aren’t using single-use plastic water bottles.

I highly recommend this water bottle from Simply Modern. It is now my comfort water bottle. I take it everywhere I go and it keeps my drinks cold forever!! And, it comes in so many cute and fun colors. I got mine in the marble color but there is a lot to choose from.

Cigarette Lighter Power Inverter/Converter

This nifty device charges all your devices depending on how powerful you get. A 120-watt charger will only be strong enough to keep your phone charged. However, if you get a 300-watt charger as we have, you can keep all of your cameras, computers, and other technology charged. We got ours from Amazon and there are so many for under $100.

Snacks 

We notice that we tend to bicker the most on road trips when we are hangry.  So we make sure there is always food in the car and we always stop for dinner somewhere to get some real food.

Bedding  (Blankets, Pillows, etc)

You never know what might happen on your couple’s road trip and it’s always best to be prepared. We suggest bringing along some blankets and pillows just in case you get stuck somewhere and can’t make it to your hotel/Airbnb for the night. You’ll be able to cozy up in the backseat and it will be part of the fun adventure. It’s also good for the passenger to use to nap if you are driving a long way and want to switch every so often.

Offline maps

Yes, most of us have Google/Apple Maps on our phones, but what do you do if you don’t have service during parts of your road trip? We suggest downloading an offline option of Google Maps before road trips. Or like us, don’t miss a Google Maps turn and you’ll be OK 😀

Spare Key

Just in case! You never know what might happen and you probably don’t want to end up stuck somewhere in the middle of nowhere!

I ended up getting locked out of my car with it still running and my phone inside…Genius right?!? Yeah, not really…It wasn’t my favorite experience.

Wet wipes/napkins/hand sanitizer, etc

These are good to have to wash your hands after snacking or using a gross rest stop/ gas station bathroom.

Sunglasses

Headaches from the sun are no fun. Plus sunglasses look cool!

Cooler

We like to have a cooler filled with ice so we can keep our water, veggies, and sometimes a gallon of milk (for breakfast) cold. There are many types of coolers hard-shelled like yeti and some are soft-shelled cooler backpacks which is what we use.

Camera

I literally never leave on a road trip without my camera. I like to have a way to document all the fun things we see and do so we can show you

 

All the practical stuff

The practical stuff is all self-explanatory and a no-brainer, but they can still be easy to forget! Since forgetting something like this can be a big deal and often not easily replaceable, make sure you have all of these items on the couple‘s road trip checklist.

• Car registration
• Car insurance
• Driver license 
• Car user manual
• Spare tire
• First aid kit
• Flashlight
• Car charger for your phone
• Jumper Cables

I hope this guide helps you to have a fun couple’s road trip. If you have been on a road trip and have any other fun things you do not see mentioned in this list, comment below and tell me your experience or idea.