I used to think this was a silly idea, until I discovered the Cushion Lab travel pillow… at the risk of sounding like an ad, this is the only pillow I’ve ever had that was able to fully support my head without discomfort. And it rolls up neatly into its own little holster. I bring it everywhere, and love it so much that I also bought its full-sized version for the bed at home. But that love isn’t universal. My cousin bought one too and hated it — between the supportive (read: firm) feel and the contouring, he found it too painful to sleep on even for a night. He gave it to my aunt, who does love it.
But yeah, your own pillow that you are comfortable in can be a lot better than the shittier motel ones! It’s one of those luxuries that a road trip affords that a plane normally wouldn’t. Good call.
Heck, I don’t take long overnight flights without my own pillow. It’s not some huge thing that can’t be squished up in a tote, and once in my seat I can put it by my side at takeoff and no flight attendant will give me grief about having to stow my pillow. It’s, in essence, a freebie carryon.
Well, i don’t go that far, but when i drive in the winter, i always throw a warm coat in the car, even if i don’t plan to wear it. (I often don’t bother wearing a coat if I’m just running into the supermarket or a friend’s house, from my heated car to another heated space.) Even puttering around town, there’s a rush the car might break down, it run out of gas, it whatever, and i want the option of warm clothing.
I guess i didn’t do road trips of more than a few hours, so my suggestion, other than, “download any maps you’ll need onto your phone” is “bring a small plastic bag to use as a trash container”. You never know, you might want to pick up an apple or something and it’s nice to have a place to put the pit.
There’s jumper cables, a roll of toilet paper, and a small first aid kit that always live in my car. In the winter i add a small shovel suitable for moving snow away from the wheels if i get plowed in.
I have an inflatable C-shaped one that I use. Invariably, people will look over at ‘what’s that noise?’ when I’m inflating it…& I feel like I’m reviving Otto.
As for maps, ADC used to make county map books which would show each & every road on the county in it; they were great, at least until you fell off the end of the earth crossed into the next county.
For road trips I’ll do at least some planning at home on the larger monitor & frequently break it up into pieces on my phone because google sucks when it comes to tolls, as it route to Point B w/o tolls & then tolls from that point on (or vice versa, depending upon direction); that can save anywhere from $10 (for about 90 seconds more on a 2 hr trip) to $50 a trip. The other thing I’ll do is highway partway & local roads only for the rest of the trip as I absolutely don’t mind taking a little longer to get somewhere if the drive is interesting views &/or fun to drive (twisties); which interstates absolutely are not!
When we were in Beckley, WV a couple of years ago I took the old metal bridge at the bottom of the gorge…repeatedly rather than I-64 over the top. A lot longer but what a blast to drive thru the switchbacks!!!
Well, trips, issues and local climates are ever changing. I don’t advise that sort of cold-weather preparedness for my folks living in Las Cruces NM after all. My kit comes from coving edge cases I’ve already been in.
In 1998, I had moved to Colorado from Albuquerque NM, and was driving a little two wheel econo-box (3 cyl, 2 doors, hatch, nominal back seat) and was supposed to drive to see my Mom in Amarillo TX for Thanksgiving. Yeah, there was snow predicted, but it was supposed to be light. Yeah, you can see where this is going. By the time I got to Raton, it was bad for visibility, and was starting to go from worrysome slush to deep. I had just gotten gassed up when they told everyone that the road east (my next leg) was being closed, and that they were going to close Raton pass in 15 minutes after divirting traffic. I turned around and got over the pass before it closed, but on the way back, I had to stop twice to clear my wheel wells of packed snow/slush because I only had a few inches of clearance. At the time, I had a light close and gloves only, because “I was going to be the car the whole time”. And I had a hand-scraper, not a full size, as the best too available to clear out that snow.
Even with the Subie I’d gotten later, I’ve turned off a main road and gotten stuck, high-centered on mounded snow that a plow had pushed off into a pile when the handled the main roads. Ugh.
And of course there was the year where it decided to give us a very late snow in mid-May where I didn’t have any of the kit with me because I normally take it out first of May, and I had to clear my car enough to get to that all-time-of-year box in the car to get a pullover, because and then had to clear enough snow off the car to drive home, leaving me in soggy sneakers, wet socks, and numb hands.
Colorado’s front-range weather can be extremely fickle, so better safe than sorry!
These are great! I have one that is about the size of a cell phone, comes with short little jumper cables. Fits under the seat. You should have seen the look on the guy’s face when I jump started his car with my ‘cell phone’. Also will charge a laptop computer 2 or 3 times and a cell phone about 6.
Also an air pump. I have a Craftsman that is also small enough to fit under the seat, plugs into the Aux port (used to be called the cigarette lighter). These 2 things will keep you from getting stranded.
Side note - I am glad that almost all of us have mentioned the need to keep your backup powerbank / jumpers / compressors topped off especially before a road trip. I currently have a scheduled event on my phone and Alexa to do a household wide charge cycle on my various devices (especially ones that don’t get used frequently) every 3 months. What sort of solutions do others use?
I use recurring Outlook tasks for all that stuff. But one for each gizmo & scattered around the calendar. A generic “charge all the toys” task ensures I’ll charge e.g. 4 of the 5 and never notice #5 until I go to use it.
I put a charger in the same drawer as the devices. Something with a crapload of ports, like this:
Battery banks, smart watches, ear buds, smart glasses, cameras, VR controllers, and other stuff that I only use on occasion just stay plugged in all the time. I wind the power cord out the back of the drawer to look less messy. I also get short 6" USB cords to minimize the mess inside the drawer.
I guess this wouldn’t work for devices with custom charge ports, but almost everything is USB-C these days.
I’m busy phasing out a lot of my obsoleted devices with non-standard chargers, and I too use a multi charger, but I was more asking if people have a routine for topping off all their various devices. I have… 4 power banks (2 rated for carryon, others with more “oomph”), a couple of weather/emergency ratios, LED flashlights, etc. No, most of those aren’t in the car, but they and other devices that aren’t used every day/week/month and so I need to make it a habit.
There’s no need to top them off if they’re just plugged in all the time. Unless it’s for daily or near-daily use (phone or tablet), it just stays in the drawer connected to the charger. It was getting annoying to have so many devices with their own individual chargers and a power strip, but USB charge ports are cheap now.
It has a capacity of about 500 Wh, which is like 25 full phone charges. I also charge the jumpstarter when I remember, but if I don’t, I can always charge it from this one instead (it’ll take a while, though).
Instead of worrying about keeping everything charged, I just remember to bring this one big boy, and it simplifies everything else. Great for picnics, car camping, etc. too.
(Edit: Wow, actually, Anker doubled the battery capacity in this revision. The one I bought a few years ago was the same price but half the wattage & capacity. That’s crazy they managed to do that…)
I think most of this has already been mentioned, but I would make sure I had a jump-start battery pack (the Li-ion ones are remarkably small and pack a lot of cranking power) and an air compressor in case of a slow tire leak. I’d also make sure I had everything necessary to change a tire (I thought I did once but the original equipment lug wrench didn’t fit the new aftermarket wheels). Obviously a cell phone, and the ability to charge it from the car. And keep a good first-aid kit and a few bottles of water.and either inside the car or in the trunk, depending on weather.
Personally, I’ll always have my dedicated GPS with me when I travel long distances, but if you prefer to rely on your cell phone get a proper holder for it and make sure you know how to use it for navigation.
Well dang, then you’d have to bring a couple extra spare tires. Extra bulbs for the brake lights, grease gun for the wheel bearings, spare tie downs, tarps, the list goes on. Gonna need a trailer for that trailer to carry all that stuff.
A single edge razor blade and holder (paint scraper) is handy for removing the bugs faster than a squeegee in many cases. Sometimes there just those two bugs in the middle of your view and the wiper/washer won’t take it off.
