My wife and I are taking a multi day road trip soon the first one in years. We’ve flown and rented cars most of the time. What sort of stuff should I have in the car? I have normal stuff, sunglasses, phone charger, box of tissues, hand wipes. Bringing some snacks and water. I’ve got a handful of tools, not that I’m going to be able to fix anything. But you know, should have a screwdriver and pliers just in case. What things do you travel with when not on a plane? I’m sure I’m leaving some important things out.
I always carry an umbrella, blanket, small garbage bags for assorted car trash and some sturdy paper towels.
Also some paper maps in case I lose GPS coverage especially if I am in an unfamiliar location.
Before I go I always have my mechanic check my car fluid levels, tire pressure and give the belts a once over. Maybe check to see if the windshield wipers and battery are in good shape.
I used to do this myself but it’s become a bit difficult with my arthritis.
Get a jump starter. A decent one will run you $50-100. Bonus if it comes with a combined air compressor.
Bring a spare car key you keep separately.
I don’t have a spare tire anymore but if I did, I’d be throwing the cordless impact wrench and the compact hydraulic floor jack into the trunk.
Otherwise as far as consumables go, unless you’re going off into the wilderness, everything else will be just a drive to the next exit ramp.
Tools probably aren’t going to be of much use if you don’t know how to repair anything but I’d always include some kind of multitool (or pliers, scissors, and a small knife). Flashlight and/or headlamp, roadside reflector for a breakdown, a map or printout of your route if your navigation unit should go out and you are outside of cell service, contact numbers and a list of hospitals or aid stations on your route, a weathershell and other clothing appropriate to conditions, and at least a basic first aid kit consisting of adhesive bandages, gauze pads, a couple of cravats (triangle bandages), disinfectant, burn gel, saline solution, butterfly or wound closures, tweezers, and if you are trained for it a tourniquet (I prefer SOFT-T but CAT or other windlass style tourniquets are fine).
And a towel. People won’t believe that you are a hoopy frood if you don’t know where your towel is.
The portable jump starter is a great idea and also serves as a battery bank for your phone (as long as you keep it charged enough that it still functions as a starter). I carry both a starter and cables in my truck but I’d always begin with the starter. Get a decent one that is reviewed well, not just the cheapest piece of shit on Amazon.com. I used to carry a spare key but haven’t done so in years since virtually every modern car uses a fob, but a spare coin battery if then one in your fob starts dying is a good idea.
Stranger
A small cooler is always helpful.
We love our portable phone battery - it’s saved our butts countless times.
Double check all the fluids in your car: oil, brake fluid, power steering fluid, coolant, and windshield washer fluid. If it’s coming close to time to get your oil changed, go ahead and get it done. Check your engine air filer and cabin air filter, change as needed.
Check the condition of your tires. Replace as needed.
Replace your windshield wipers before you leave unless the ones on the car are in very good condition / new.
Check the air pressure in your spare. Make sure you have a jack and lug wrench and that the jack works properly.
Along with your tools add a cheap Harbor Freight 12v air compressor.
Make sure you have a few road flares in your kit as well.
Carry a roll of paper towels and some glass cleaner for when the bugs get bad. A pack of baby wipes for dirty or greasy hands is a good thing to have on hand as well.
Make sure you have paper copies of your registration and insurance.
For road trips, we take a small cooler for cold drinks and a bag with some snacks: trail mix, beef jerky, and Cliff bars. We make sure the duffel bags are easily accessible in case we need to access a coat or hat. We make sure our music playlists and downloaded podcasts are ready to play. When we have the dog with us we make sure we have her water bowl and a long lead handy for when we stop.
We always have paper maps on hand in case the GPS doesn’t work or is unreliable. We’ve had long drives where there’s intermittent satellite reception but we knew the road so YMMY. A DeLorme atlas for each state you go through doesn’t take up much room.
Depends on what kind of road trip it is. Are you driving from town to town on established roads, or are you going to be in the wilderness?
We take maps because we are old, but for the most part any time you get so lost that you have no idea of where you are a map isn’t going to be detailed enough to help much, assuming you don’t take a whole library of local ones.
One thing we bring is a cooler. Good for water or soda bought at groceries, and even for lunch if you are not going to be near civilization during lunch time.
I usually bring my lap top because I hate doing anything complicated on my phone and make reservations for the next night using it. I usually work only a day ahead so that we don’t get stuck in case of problems or if we see something interesting that takes longer to visit than we expected.
Battery jumpstarter for sure, e.g. one of the Costco ones or a heavier-duty one… some also have a built-in air compressor to help pump up tires. But if you’re in that situation, it’s easier just to call roadside assistance.
You have roadside assistance, don’t you? (If not, get AAA or check with your auto insurance)
Download offline Google Maps for your entire route, or at least between major cities.
If you’re going to be camping along the way or otherwise spending time away from outlets, it’s great to have a big-ass battery for your phones. Don’t use the jumpstarter for this because you want it fully charged for emergencies.
Electronics aside, I’d also consider:
- Wet wipes
- Hand sanitizers (for the shitty gas station bathrooms that don’t have any soap)
- Glass cleaner spray + microfiber cloth (or get the glass wipes in a tube)
- Spare credit cards & cash, kept apart from your wallet… hide it somewhere in the car
- A spare car key, if you have one
- Some sort of emergency sleep kit (mylar space blankets or sleeping bags), plus maybe a bottle to pee in. Sometimes accidents etc. can strand you for hours. That’s more important in the winter than right now, but still.
- A couple of spare windshield wipers if you’re really cautious, but they’re usually easy enough to find along the way (gas stations and auto stores)
- I’d consider buying trip insurance if it’s not too expensive — it will more than pay for itself if you encounter any problems along the way
- A little trash bag for the car is handy to have
- Consider a roll of toilet paper and a camping trowel (small shovel) if you ever need to poop off the side of the road. Depending on your route, there may be many hours between rest stops.
A lot of these things are really only worthwhile if you’re going to be driving long distances between major cities & towns, along long stretches of rural roads. If you’re mostly going from metro to metro on major highways with minimal time away from civilization, it doesn’t really matter since you can easily restock along the way every hour or two.
Part of the fun of a road trip is the sense of adventure… being over-prepared takes away opportunities for improvisation 
Portable power bank for USB devices and charging cables. Make sure it’s charged before you leave.
If you wear prescription glasses or contacts, bring a spare pair.
Make sure all your “paperwork” is update; make sure you driver license is not about to expire, check expiration sticker on license plate, check your insurance coverage, AAA membership, etc.
Emergency cash in case your CCs don’t work.
This includes the date code on the side; replace if 7yo even if the tread is good as dry rot is not a good thing to have.
As the saying goes for all travel: take half the clothes and twice the money.
Assuming you’re in a first world country like the US, almost anything you need will be available everywhere. No point in trying to second-guess what might go wrong and try to take the kitchen sink with you.
One thing my wife and I always forget, though, is to put a couple of plastic bags in the suitcase, so we can easily keep worn clothes which need washing separate from the clean ones.
In that vein, I always keep liners in my truck but definitely having a small roll of contractor-grade liners (and a roll of gaffer’s tape) on a road trip can come in handy in so many ways from being a mud barrier if you have to climb under the vehicle, a way to tape off a broken side window, an improvised knapsack or poncho, and of course to pick up trash. Orange liners also offer high visibility and a signaling tool.
Stranger
Throw a couple of camping chairs in the trunk if you have room. If you are making any stops along the way for festivals, parades, ballgames or whatnot you’ll be glad that you have them (and they’re not something you would consider taking on a plane).
Just a little cash and a AAA card. Anything else can be bought at the gas station mini mart as needed.
Make sure your toll collection device/technique is up to date.
Bottled water. Even freeways can get blocked if there’s a big enough accident.
Wallet, phone, toothbrush, hastily assembled bag of clothes. It’s not much of a road trip if it involves too much planning. Frankly it’s too easy these days to get what you need on the road. There should be at least a little risk involved.
Oh one thing I ran into on my last road trip was bugs. Literally. As soon as the sun went down my windshield was caked with bugs. Now, it may have been the time of year and the location (I-90 along Lake Erie) but if there weren’t enough gas stations to stop at to clean my windshield, it woulda been a slow creep home. In fact the one station I stopped at I happened to grab the only squeegee available as the others had been stolen.
So, unless you’re traveling in the winter you might want to make sure you’ve got a squeegee and a spray bottle of Windex or water with you. YMMV
This was going to be my top suggestion.
We’re in the middle of an extended three-week road trip across France. When we get home, we’ll have put close to three thousand kilometers on the car.
Before we left, I tossed our 12v pump into the back, almost by impulse. I’m glad I did. Turns out we have a tire with a very slow leak that shows up only after a couple hours of sustained driving, when the tire warms up and the pressure increases. With the pump, it’s just an occasional maintenance issue to be handled whenever convenient; no need to deal with it during petrol stops. (With a mental note to have the tire shop look into it later.)
On plane travel I’d agree with you, but on a road trip it’s easy enough to throw extra things in the car & not pull them out until back home if they’re not needed.