Ah, the great American road trip.
Just saying the words, “Road trip” conjures up images of people piled into a car, cruising Highway 66, and blasting sing-along music with the windows down.
But, what if the record scratches and the image of a road trip becomes just one person in the car?
As solo travel gains popularity, especially among women, the idea of the perfect road trip is changing. But, if it’s your first time taking a road trip alone, you probably have some questions, and perhaps a few fears to get over first.
So, You’re Interested in Road Tripping Alone?
First of all, THAT’S AWESOME!
I’m so glad that you’re here, and considering hitting the open road with you, yourself, and you. You’re going to find so much freedom in the journey, and will come back a more independent and interesting person. So cool.
If you aren’t sure where to begin, THAT’S FINE. Keep reading, because that’s what you’re going to learn!
Recommended Additional Reading:
My breakdown of the financial aspect of spending 6 weeks on the road
Watch the video of my week-long drive through the Balkans
Read about how I make friends while traveling solo
Here are the four areas that we’re going to cover to ensure that YOU have a successful road trip alone:
- Mindset – Your mindset is the foundation of doing anything well. We’ll talk about moving through your fears and getting EXCITED about this growth opportunity.
- Logistics – What you need to do BEFORE hitting the road to ensure smooth sailing.
- What to Bring – Ah, yes, packing lists galore. PLUS all the apps and other things that you shouldn’t leave home without
- On The Road – Doing the darn thing, and doing it well.
*Side note before we get started:
I do teach this in a course. In this article, I’m going to tell you what to do. If you want to get some 1:1 advice on how to do it, then join the course here.
1. Mindset: The Core of A Solo Road Trip
What is the reason that you have not yet taken a solo road trip?
1.1: Eliminate What’s Holding you back
For some, it’s the lack of opportunity: you’re young and haven’t been on your own long enough to hit the road without your parents. For others, it’s fear: you’d rather have someone alongside you in case anything goes wrong.
When you’re preparing to take a solo road trip, it is important to identify what has held you back from taking one in the past.
Once you’ve identified what is holding you back, think about what you can do to eliminate that risk.
For example, I was not looking forward to spending hours upon hours staring at the windshield. On top of that, I don’t know much about cars, so I was worried that if something happened to my car, I would be stuck in the middle of nowhere, plus have the expense of towing and getting my car fixed.
To decrease those reservations, I took my car in for a check-up, got the oil changed, and subscribed to AAA. To combat all the boring time behind the wheel, I downloaded e-books and podcasts to keep my mind busy.
1.2: Decide what will move you forward
Once you’ve figured out what’s holding you back and how to decrease or eliminate your fears, you can fuel that energy into excitement.
This means that you get to start planning your trip and creating ideas of what you’d like to do, and what you want to get out of your trip.
For example, do you want to hike a mountain alone? Do you want to spend hours driving Highway 1? Maybe you want to tour a bunch of breweries across the state of Montana (and then not drive afterwards, of course!).
When you think about what will move you forward, don’t just think of bucket list items. Instead, think about what will help you achieve your goals. For example, many people want to become more independent, so they decide to road trip alone.
- Will you feel more independent when you’ve stayed in an AirBnb solo?
- Will you accomplish that feeling after learning to paddleboard in Florida?
- Will you succeed in feeling more independent after finally figuring out how to use the self-timer feature on your camera to showcase your solo travels to the world?
It’s up to you!
2. Logistics: What to do before hitting the road
Besides moving through your mindset, the logistics can feel like the most daunting part of the road trip.
Want to know a secret? I rarely plan more than one activity per day when I’m traveling solo.
This lack of planning means that I only focus on the important things: What will be fun, and where will I sleep?
However, I know that there are lots of things that I need to do to have a successful road trip. Let’s break it down in to three less cumbersome categories:
- Where you’ll stay
- Preparing your car
- What to do along the way
2.1 What You’ll do
It might seem counter-intuitive to plan your activities before you plan your destination, but trust me here.
Think about this: If you decide that you want to road trip to Minneapolis from where you live in Chicago, that’s great. But, what if you find something super cool that you want to do, but it’s a couple of hours out of your way. If you went ahead and booked a hotel in Minneapolis, you might end up doing something completely different, just because you locked yourself into accommodation first.
Instead, take the time to plot out all the fun things that you want to do. You can find quirky roadside stops by searching RoadsideAmerica or SillyAmerica. You can ask your friends, locals, and blogs about cool spots in and around the places you’ll be visiting.
Once you have an idea of where you want to go, you’ll be able to decide where you want to stay.
I always caution people, though: Plan one big thing to do per day. This way, you don’t get bogged down trying to rush from activity to activity, rather than just enjoying the big-ticket items on your list.
2.2: Where you’ll stay
I’ll start by saying this: nobody can plan your dream trip for you.
Therefore, you need to stop and think about what you want this trip to look like. If your idea of fun is a 5-star hotel that you never have to leave that has a great view, then do that. If camping off the grid in a national park for a week is more your style, then do that.
Here’s how I recommend booking your accommodation:
- Figure out where you plan to enjoy yourself. This is important because if you want to climb mountains in Rocky Mountain National Park all day, staying in downtown Denver probably isn’t your best bet. Therefore, when you know where you want to spend your time, you can better plan your accommodations
- Use the map feature on sites like booking.com and airbnb.com to find accommodation close to where you want to be
- If you plan to camp, use reserveamerica.com, bookyoursite.com, pitchup, or hipcamp
While you don’t have to book your entire trip’s accommodation before you go, it’s a good idea to get a feel for what it will cost, and if the places you want to visit are booked out in advance.
2.3: The Drive
Now that you know where you’ll go during the day and where you’ll lay your head at night, you can plan the trip itself.
When it comes to driving, here are a few things to keep in mind:
- Know the laws about talking on the phone while driving, and adhere to them. Nothing bums out a solo trip like getting a ticket
- Download audiobooks, playlists, and podcasts in advance to avoid using a bunch of data
- Save your destinations in offline Google maps to make sure that if you lose signal, you can still get where you’re going
- You can save all your attractions as pins in your Google maps to make them easily accessible
Before you go, make sure to take care of your car:
- Get the oil changed
- Have an expert make sure it’s safe to road trip with
- Fix any headlights, etc.
- Know where your spare tire is and how to use it
- Make sure your AAA membership is up to date in case you need it
3. What to Bring: Technology & Packing to road trip alone
If you take one thing from this portion of the article it’s this: If you forget something, it’s okay. You can probably buy it or download it where you’re going, because other people who travel there need the same things that you do.
So, before you start creating your packing list and downloading these apps, take a deep breath. These are guidelines, and if you forget something, it’s okay.
That being said, there are a few things that I recommend every traveler do.
3.1: Download the right apps
First, you’ll need to make sure you have the right technology in your phone. The first thing I want you to do is download Google Maps, then do the following:
- Use Google Maps to plot the locations that you’ll be visiting
- Share that map with someone as an extra layer of safety
- Download offline maps of where you’ll be going in case you lose signal (here’s a how-to video)
Additionally, here is a list of the apps that I think every traveler should have.
Other apps you might want to download include:
- Accommodation – hoteltonight, hipcamp, reserveamerica
- For your car – AAA, gas buddy
- For listening – Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Audible, Libby
3.2: Now, let’s talk packing.
The best thing about road trips is that you don’t have to fit your world into a carry on. If you want to, you can fill your backseat with every piece of clothing that you own!
However, overpacking is still a thing, and I don’t recommend it.
The thing is, I can’t tell you what to pack, because a camper will need very different things than a city-based sightseer. And maybe, you’re going to be both of those things on this trip!
Here’s what I recommend:
- Write down the places that you’re going to visit, and what you’ll need at each
- See which activities need the same items. For example, you might need a sundress for sightseeing and also for lunch with friends. You might need a flashlight for camping and also if you visit a cave attraction.
- Then, make your list and see where you can use the same item for multiple activities.
- If you need someone to check over your list or give you additional help, reach out to me, or ask a friend that has taken a similar trip.
- Again, if you forget something – you can probably pick one up along the way!
4. Hit the Road!
This is the fun part!
You’ve done what you can to prepare yourself. Your car is set, your plans are made… now get out there!
Part of the growth experience of solo traveling and taking a road trip alone is the ability to maneuver when something goes wrong. Not everything will go according to plan. You might forget to buy a ticket for something and not be able to do it. You might sprain your ankle on a hike. Who knows, you might get tired and decide to skip activities altogether.
However, you’ll also be able to do something different than you originally planned. You’ll kayak instead of hike. You’ll drink a cup of coffee and do something different.
That’s the beauty of taking a road trip alone: you get to decide what you want. It’s all about what makes you happy, comfortable, and independent.
So get out there!