I’m just packing right now for a rather extended road trip. I’m headed to a church for weekend where I’m starting a transitional coaching role, preaching at the services and then carrying on to a pastor’s retreat for a few days. We’re going be on the road for about a week, staying in two different locations. I pulled up my mega road trip list, deleted the things I don’t need to bring and started working through the list packing.
It raises a few things I’ve added to my list over the years. Some of the things on the list I’ve discovered by trial and error that I’ve needed them, so I thought I’d pass on some of these ideas of my road trip list that might actually work for you. Now this trip I’m going on this time is actually a driving trip and not flying, which changes things on my list a little bit. But some of these ideas work both ways.
One of the things that works both ways is a plug-in power splitter, so you can plug it into an outlet and allow three people to plug it. This is useful in hotels or wherever you’re staying. It’s useful in airports or coffee shops where there’s maybe limited plug-ins and you can ask to share a plug-in that someone else is already using. Plug in your splitter and away you go; now you have power. It’s a very, very useful thing to have.
Something else is useful, but not something you cannot take if you’re flying, is a multi-tool. I have a Leatherman and it’s such a useful little tool. It’s got a knife, a Phillips screwdriver, a regular screwdriver and a pair of pliers. It turns out to be useful in a lot of situations. Sometimes in a hotel room there’s something need to fix or something in your equipment. I’ve used it so many times for so many things that whenever I’m not flying, I make sure to include it on my list.
When driving especially I always like to make sure I’ve got lots of water. Since there is no sense in buying water on the way, it’s easiest to bring it along from home. You just don’t ever want to get dehydrated while you’re on the road. It’s better to have too much water than too little, so I like to have water bottles stuffed everywhere. We have our reusable bottles. I’ve got a stainless steel and my wife has a plastic one, and then we’ll often have bottled water always within arm’s reach.
Something we often bring on our driving road trips is bear spray. We do this because we like to stop and go for a walk and go for a hike from time to time where we’re staying. Since we are an area where there’s bears, both grizzly bears and black bears, so bear spray is a bit of a no brainer that way.
In Canada where I live, it’s illegal to use bear spray in self-defense or on people. But when you’re on the road, it’s kind of nice to have that bear spray in case you’re broken down somewhere remote or in some kind of other situation. Sometimes there are hikes where the wildlife isn’t the most dangerous thing out there. Bear spray is illegal to use in self-defense, as far as I know and probably illegal to even encourage to be used, but it’s nice to have.
I often bring an HDMI cable because it’s useful if you’re staying somewhere and you want to plug your laptop in and watch a video or something. Or a lot of times have gone to places where I’m hooking my laptop to a TV of some kind and they actually don’t have an HDMI cable. I just want to make sure I can hook my computer up. It’s come in useful many times.
Even though I travel with a laptop, if I’m on an extended trip like this one, I will throw in a mouse as well because it’s nice to have if I’m doing a lot of work. It’s nice to have something besides the little trackpad on the computer itself because it’s much more efficient. I discovered on past trips how having paperclips and sticky notes come in handy. They’ve been useful so many times when I’m speaking or leading meetings.
There are a few other things that I might throw in from time to time. Depending on where I might be staying, I’ll bring swimwear or gym clothes if it has a pool, hot tub, or a gym where if they’ve got an elliptical trainer or something. It’s nice to be prepared to jump on and get a little workout or go for a swim.
Sometimes depending on the trip, we might actually throw in our own pillows. We like our pillows and we might throw them in, though not all the time, but on a road trip or driving they come in handy.
Those are a few of the things, in addition to the obvious things, that I pack for an extended road trip. Maybe there’s an idea in there that will save you some grief or make things more convenient on the road.
Thanks for listening. Have an outstanding day. God bless. Press on.
