Ultimate Road Trip Essentials for Families

Road trips are one of the best ways to travel! Whether you pack up your car, RV, motorhome, caravan, or campervan, they are the best option for exploring at your own pace. However, it can sometimes feel like packing everything, including the kitchen sink! So, how do you travel with the right essentials? I have created the ultimate road trip essentials for families, including some of our best purchases.

Attempting to Pack Light

As a family, packing light isn’t something that comes easily to us! I am the Mum who considers all possibilities that we MAY need something, and my teenage daughter will insist on having her medium-sized suitcase! We have attempted to get better this year; rather than packing five different bags, I insisted that we take two. This worked in theory until it came to filling the car. Suddenly, I was greeted with five additional items of luggage of all different shapes and sizes, plus a wheelchair, a stroller and a vacuum cleaner (yes, my husband insists). So you can start to understand what I am dealing with, especially when you have to pack road trip essentials.

What do you actually need on your road trip?

The age-old question of need vs want! Now, travelling in the UK is slightly different from Europe and the rest of the world. Some countries require you to carry specific equipment and documents or pay for toll roads, so it will help to consider whether your trip will need any of these. Another easily forgotten consideration is how long the journey is. We travel to Cornwall, which takes us 5-6 hours with traffic (ignore the sat nav when it says 4 hours; it lies), and we do need to consider what our road trip essentials are.

How often do you plan to stop?

A driver should take a break every two hours due to tiredness! We aim for this sometimes having to stop after just an hour and a half or not finding somewhere suitable to stop! On our last trip, due to travel restrictions, it took us nearly three hours before we found an open Starbucks!

Usually, I have this all planned out in both directions, but due to closed restaurants, traffic diverting our route, and the SAT NAV not finding any places to stop that wasn’t McDonald’s, it was hard to plan. I will be more prepared for our next trip.

I would consider the type of stops available. I was expecting that during our trip to Cornwall, we would have plenty of places to stop, but it was a struggle to find a toilet or a baby change. You want to be careful not to make mistakes that ruin your road trip from the start.

Preparation is everything!

Top 20 Road Trip Essentials for Families

First Aid Kit – I learnt when I became a first-time mum that having a First Aid Kit was a must-have for the car, my handbag and/or my changing bag. Now, for the car, I would suggest a complete fit, but your handbag or changing bag can either be a mini first aid kit or a DIY first aid kit, which I made myself. I also throw in a couple of sachets of Calpol!

Snacks/Treats/Nibbles—I am officially Pinterest-obsessed with travel snacks, how to store them, and what to take. Over the years, I have experimented with various storage options. Stopping for snacks can severely dent those travel savings, so I suggest shopping around in pound stores and supermarkets like Iceland for excellent deals.

Water bottle – Over the years, we tried different water bottles and last year, I returned to my faithful thermos (who remembers the lunch box ones?) I wanted a thermos flask that could keep my drinks cold for hours and wouldn’t leak during those car journies and theme park days, but also that could do hot, so on our recent trip to Disneyland Paris, we could give our son a porridge travel snack on the train, due to the early departure. It was amazing! It was still hot 10 hours later, and it didn’t leak! It was worth the price tag! I was very impressed with their selection of thermal pots for the kids.

In-Car Electric Cool Box – If you travel by car often, you will understand the need to keep things cool, whether it be snacks or drinks. We had a cool box that took ice packs, but after a 5-6 hour drive, it would be warm, and if we stayed in a hotel, there would be no way of freezing the ice packs, so we opted to buy an electric cool box, and it was the best thing we ever bought! It would be my number one; I couldn’t travel without it! It works off the car cigarette lighter and also off the mains, so if we stay at a hotel, we can plug it inside the room, and it’s cold enough for milk. The only downside is that if the car is off, so is the box, but we always throw in a couple of ice packs for that extra chill.

Technology/Gadgets/Smartphones – If you have kids, you know that for a peaceful journey sometimes i-spy or similar games just won’t cut it on a long car journey, so we are prepared with ipads, smartphones and our son’s Fire Kids Tablet, which was the best present we ever bought him. Due to his special needs, an iPad is too complicated, but the Kid’s Tablets give both of us control, and he loves sitting in the car with Netflix or Disney+, keeping him entertained. It doesn’t need wifi either if you download it in advance, so it is a win-win!

Camera—With smartphones at our fingertips, we sometimes forget to record memories along the way. I used to love taking my digital camera out and snapping everything from the journey to arriving at the accommodation. Believe me, phones get full!

Hand sanitiser—As the world becomes a little bit more aware of viruses, bugs, and germs in general, don’t forget to pack that all-important hand sanitiser. It’s now a given that we should use it. It should never replace hand washing, but when you can’t, it’s the next best thing.

Portable Powerpack – It’s the most inconvenient thing when your phone starts flashing battery, and you are nowhere near your car. It happened to me so many times. So I insisted we all get one portable power pack. It changed my daughter’s life! They usually can charge two to three full charges before they need a recharge. This is one of our road trip essentials when there are only two car charging points!

Travel journal—I wish I’d done this earlier in life. I wrote diaries as a teenager but felt I never travelled enough to keep a journal. However, I have learned that you forget more than you realise at the time. So, I highly recommend a travel journal or a journal of some kind.

GPS/Sat Nav—We used to own a TomTom. We had the first-generation TomTom and upgraded a few years later to a newer one with a larger screen, but our recent cars have come with a built-in Sat Nav. I find we often use both our phone and the car because the car can’t locate traffic as Google Maps does, but using a phone will drain your battery, so I can highly recommend a GPS. Also, packing a British road atlas, in case there is no signal, batteries die, or just for reference, could actually save the day.

Music—We love music as a family, and over the years, I have created what we call the ROAD TRIP playlist on Apple Music and Spotify. I have always made sure we have pre-loaded music for those times when you fancy a shuffle to mix things up.

Books, Magazines, Audiobooks and E-Books—In recent years, my love for reading has grown stronger, so I am packing at least three books, plus my Kindle and various other reading devices. The good thing about having a Kindle Unlimited subscription is that I have access to magazines and the newest best sellers. In the last few months, I’ve really gotten into audiobooks; the smuttier, the better, so having access to the latest audiobook is vital for my peace. Having an audible membership means that I can scroll through the recent releases, sit back and not have to stress about reading.

Sun lotion—I must have about 10 different versions of sun lotion for myself, my husband, and the kids. I also use moisturiser with SPF, as you can never be too careful with your skin. My go-to brands are Boots Soltan and Nivea Kids. I love the smell of Nivea, and I always prefer paying for the obvious brands over cheap ones.

Gadget/Cable Organiser – We are that family who throw their leads into one bag, arrive at the other end to find them tangled and then spend two hours (I kid you not) trying to split them. Then I discovered that there were products like cable organisers which organised not only our cables but also SD cards, chargers, power packs, camera batteries, earphones, you name it. It was my best buy of 2019!

Washbag/Hygiene Essentials—We don’t camp, and we are still saving for our motorhome (home on wheels), but I like to keep a washbag handy for hygiene emergencies or in case of queues. I usually pack mini bottles, like if you travel by plane, as you get more in the bags that way.

Torch/Flashlight – We mostly travel first thing in the morning, but if you like to get up before dawn or arrive late, it’s worth having a torch that you can grab from inside the car in an emergency.

Emergency Car Kit – The AA and RAC have encouraged us, drivers, for years to take precautions and pack an emergency car kit. In case the inevitable happens. I’m not ashamed to admit that it’s only something we’ve purchased recently. If you are venturing outside the UK and entering France and the rest of Europe, different rules will apply. You must carry a Euro travel car kit with you, and you are required to take a high vis vest for all travellers inside the vehicle, and you must have access to these from inside. I have also heard rumours that the police are waiting near ports and the Euro Tunnel to pounce on UK arrivals to check that they are following the rules. It is a hefty on-the-spot fine if you don’t, and you really can’t afford to have it not part of your road trip essentials.

Wet Weather Gear—Unfortunately, living in the UK usually means rain. So it is best to pack a waterproof coat. If travelling in autumn, winter, or spring, waterproof walking shoes/trainers or wellies may also come in handy. You never know when you might need them!

Universal Multi-way Power Strip – You know, what it’s like you get to your hotel or accommodation and find there are one or two sockets, and you have ten different gadgets to charge. I wasn’t sure when we visited Disneyland Paris if there would be any British plugs, so I packed a universal multi-way power strip that someone recommended. I went for the flat one over a tower for ease of packing, and it even works with my electric toothbrush. It does have a British plug, so you will need to take an adapter to use it in Europe or internationally.

Comfortable Travel Clothes – You want to choose clothes for comfort; I often travel in leggings, a baggy t-shirt and an oversized hoodie. It’s pretty similar to if I was on a plane. I usually dress my kids in lightweight clothes that I don’t need to worry about if they get dirty. These days, joggers and a t-shirt or hoody, when they were babies and toddlers, they often travelled in sleepsuits and pyjamas wrapped up with blankets.

Strollers/Buggies—If you have little ones, sometimes they need a stroller for long walks. The Demi Grow is perfect for growing families as it can expand to a double or even a twin. It is also easy to fold, store, and switch between modes.

Leaving Home Essentials—I like to call these the items you really can’t afford to leave at home. They include cash, keys, bank cards, medications, ID, and holiday book details—you know, the things you use daily.

These are just my top 20 road trip essentials; I could probably find 50 or even 60 if I wanted to bore you all. Remember, it pays to be prepared, especially if you are miles from home or leaving the country. The last thing you want to do is get to your destination and find you’ve left your child’s favourite toy—the one they can’t sleep without!