Last month we packed up, opened up Google Maps, and hit the open road for a RV trip from Minnesota to Mackinac Island, MI. We’re fortunate to have a father (in-law, for me) that owns an Ice Castle – RV edition, and opted to use that rather than stay in various hotels. It was not our first road trip of the year– that was earlier this year when we drove to Orlando, FL. Now THAT was a long drive. This was however, our first extended road trip (out-of-state) with the Ice Castle. I’ve had this “good idea” for the past couple of years, to go experience Michigan’s gorgeous views, sand dunes, and amazing coastlines. So instead of putting it off for yet another summer, I allocated a few working sessions to research campsites, national parks, must-see tourist spots, and of course breweries, and created what I hoped to be a successful road trip. It was definitely a roadtrip where a dash cam would have been fun to have to capture sights, moments, and even some accidents! Thankfully though we avoided getting a flat tire, dead car battery or any massive issues.
With three boys between the ages of 3 and 9, being organized, prepared, and patient were key pieces in prepping for the long trip. Even though we were only going to be gone for four days (3 nights), when you’re bringing your “house” with you, there’s a ton to plan for and consider! There were definitely some things that were absolute “must-haves” for this vacation. Although we towed a trailer and camped, this list can definitely be used for a standard roadtrip as well (no camping required).
Below are some of the best road trip accessories we personally used and highly recommend! This road trip checklist is a great way to set yourself up for success on your next trip.
1. WATER BOTTLES
Water bottles are usually the first thing I put in the car while we pack up for any trip, especially a long road trip. Pending the ages of our kids at the time, I’ve varied what types of bottle I like best. Check out the below for some of my favorite reusable water bottle options for kids and adults that we have personally used and loved.
Kid’s Thermos Water Bottle
My personal favorite is the Simple Modern brand, as I love the thermos quality of keeping water cold for a long time! They are durable and this mama’s peace of mind likes my kids using plastic-free drink ware as much as possible. Having easy access to the water bottles is also super important during road trips, and having one that fits into cup holders is key!
Kid’s Plastic Water Bottle
At times though, I opt for a more light-weight option rather than a thermos-type bottle. I’ve found that both strawless and bottles with straws have their pros and cons when traveling (kids in the back seat and therefore minimal adult help). Spills happen, if not closed properly water drips out of the top, etc. A strong favorite, especially of my oldest son’s, are these Gatorade squeeze water bottles. He has used it for his daily water bottle at school, various sport practices and competition, and totes it along for roadtrips as well. This style has been great for minimal spills, lightweight, and can hold a perfect amount of water for traveling (not too much, yet not small enough where you have to fill it up often). I packed this one also to use when we went biking! It was great to toss in the bike bottle carrier for easy grab-and-go. I definitely opt for plastic (BPA-free) for sports and activities.
Adult’s Thermos Water Bottle
If you’re like me, you have your fair share of water bottles. Probably, many of which mainly take of space in the cabinet with best intentions of helping you hit your daily water goal. However, my beautiful white marble Simple Modern water bottle has definitely been my favorite for a few years. Both the stainless steal water bottle and the plastic mouthpiece have held up wonderfully, despite the daily drops it endures. It is a big too big for our vehicle’s cup holder, but since the mouthpiece folds down into the lid, I can easily put it on the floor of the car or in a backpack when traveling, no prob. The 30oz size for me is perfect, as it is big enough for ample water, yet not too big and clunky, especially since it is stainless steel and not plastic. I also like how the lid has a place to grab and hold onto, so you don’t have to always hold around he bottle itself. Water stayed cold in here for hours and ice has even stayed solid and not melted when in there overnight!
Adult’s Hydrojug Water Bottle
These massive water bottles definitely have a great purpose and for goal-getters like me, I love having the time and slogans on the bottle as well to motivate my water intake! Given my affinity for water bottles, I didn’t want yet another one to just be added to the collection, especially one this size! I also wanted to be more mindful of how much I spent on it, if it wasn’t going to be one I ended up liking or using as frequently. However, this hydrojug has been a great option! At 64oz, it’s big enough to hold almost a day’s worth of water, yet not overly large or heavy to deter me from traveling with it.
2. SUNSCREEN
In our family of five we have an array of fair skin tones– some much more tolerable to sun exposure and some (like me) who are much more prone to sunburn within a few minutes of exposure. Also within our family of five, it seems as though nearly everyone has a different personal preference what type of sunscreen they prefer. Therefore, it isn’t uncommon for us to travel with at least 3 different types to best appeal to the masses and make the nearly impossible feat of applying sunscreen without tantrums, a bit easier. Goodness knows, failing to have sunscreen on hand results in a ruined day (or week)!
Spray Sunscreen
It’s hard to argue the convenience and easy application of a spray sunscreen, whether it’s on someone else or yourself. Admiringly, I don’t love aerosol sprays, because of its convenience and mess-free appeal, I do often opt for a spray sunscreen for our family. The Neutrogena Beach Defense 50 SPF is a common go-to for us. We’ve had good luck with it’s protection, effectiveness, and I like the smell of it in comparison to other brands.
Stick Sunscreen
I finally gave this a whirl this year and loved it! I think we can all agree that sunscreen fingers is no fun, so this mess-free and easy to apply sunscreen is amazing! It works best for face and neck (places with smaller surface area to cover), and worked especially well for my pickier of kids who strongly dislikes the sunscreen application process and also refuses to use the spray sunscreen. Since it’s a newer product for me, I haven’t been able to test out various brands yet, but I’d highly recommend this type of sunscreen: Thinksport Kids SPF 30.
Lotion Sunscreen
My six-year old (the one with skin most like his mama’s…quite fair), prefers lotion sunscreen. For higher SPF and shielding from the sun’s rays, I usually get SPF 50 for the kids. I’m not great at remembering to reapply, and with a higher SPF I feel like I have a bit higher grace period, although I’m sure that’s negotiable. Lately we’ve been liking the Thinksport SPF 50+ sunscreen. It has great coverage, application, and kept their skin well protected throughout their active day of swimming, sweating and running around. It’s been the best option to have on hand for any of us in the family and one I often keep in the diaper bag in a plastic bag.
This is also the one that I usually apply to my face and body as well! I love that this brand is rated highly by the Environmental Working group, making it a more safe option with better ingredients. As someone what from a younger age has been dealing with basal cell carcinoma spots throughout my body, while I LOVE the feeling of soaking up the sun, I need to be more cautious about sun coverage these days as well. Pending the day, I sometimes go for the SPF 30 Thinksport sunscreen if I’m not needing quite the SPF 50.
3. FIRST AID KIT
It didn’t take more than one time to realize how quickly a cut, bug bite and/or a runny/stuffy nose, could instantly ruin an entire day (or trip!). Now I have a go-to first aid kit or small travel bag dedicated just to a few key items. The main item in the kit are band-aids, in an array of sizes. I’ve learned the hard way that when even a minor cut or scrape happens, depending on the kid, unless a band-aid is provided a meltdown will ensue. For this trip I picked up one of these band-aid cases for easy storage and added it to the other personal care items in the diaper bag. Its compact design helped to not take up much space at all, and it quickly became one of the best travel accessories!
Other items I included in the kit were Vaseline, antibacterial hand gel, chapstick with SPF, and a couple of my favorite essential oils (Purification and Peace and Calming).
Since we not only had our truck but also towing the Ice Castle RV, we made sure to also have a roadside emergency kit for that as well. Things like jumper cables, gas can, bucket of tools, and a generator were just a few examples of items we had at-the-ready in the bed of the truck. Thankfully we never needed any of them! But we were all set just in case.
4. KIDS’ ACTIVITY BOOKS
Full-disclosure: electronic devices are at the ready and fully charged for our road trips. The long hours for all are broken up with Netflix shows, Disney movies, and video games. However, I also am sure to pack non-screen time road trip gadgets and activities for them to entertain themselves with, too! I look for ones that don’t include a ton of small pieces (that can and will get lost), aren’t too messy (I.e. markers), and can serve as a fun activity for in the car and if/when we stop to eat at a restaurant. The mess-free coloring books are always one of the best things to have handy and each of my kids thinks they are fun! For a previous roadtrip (from MN to FL), I bought a few travel-size board games like Guess Who, Candy Land, and Sorry. These did come with some smaller pieces, but the kids did great with them and they made for a fun game to bring into a restaurant when we stopped for meals.
5. FLEECE BLANKET
It never fails, at some (or many) points en route especially on a longer road trip, someone in the car is freezing and someone is super hot. Enter: a cozy fleece blanket. It’s the perfect way to snuggle up, warm up, or roll it up in a ball for a small “travel pillow” to rest your head on. I like a throw size blanket to bring in the car with us so it’s not too big and takes up less space. Especially during summer month’s when it is hotter outside and harder to temperature-control evenly the inside of the vehicle, we have at times put the blanket in the window (rolled it down, tucked it up and over the top of the window, and then rolled it up to hold it in place as a make-shift curtain). It definitely helps provide shade and keep direct sun out of the eyes of our kids in the backseat, therefore keeping crying and tantrums to a minimum. A win-win! You could have a fleece blanket you just keep in your car trunk specifically for travel, or like me just grab the throw blanket off your couch on the way out the door!
6. USB CORDS
In our household, it seems as though we use every single type of charging cable! Ones with a USB-C port, USB ports, USB-lightning, USB-C to lightning, USB-C to USB-C…it makes my brain hurt just thinking of all the different ones! The last thing you want on a long roadtrip though is to have a phone battery die when you’re in what seems like the middle of nowhere and now no way of getting to your destination. Some vehicles now do have a specific car mount spot for a phone to charge without using a cord, but if you’re like me, you still have all the cords and need to make sure to had these personal items to your road trip checklist! These USB-C charging cables are ones we most often use, and like their length especially for in the car so that there is enough slack for freely moving around and not having it come unplugged.
7. CAR TRUNK (OR BACKSEAT) ORGANIZER
The easiest way to help ensure the road trip goes well is to have snacks on hand! A quick grocery store run a few days before you leave to grab some of everyone’s favorite snacks and a trunk organizer for the goods, and you’re all set! I like to actually use an organizer like this one and keep it in the back seat floor space so that the kids can access it during the drive. As the passenger I also have access to it as well and can help provide goodies to those in the front and/or backseats. It has made for one of the best car travel accessories, and I love how it can fold up for easier storage when we’re not using it.
8. COOLER
Depending on how far we’re traveling, what type of snacks and/or food we bring, and mainly if we have enough room, a cooler is often a good thing to utilize for a road trip. We love Yeti coolers since they do a phenomenal job at keeping ice frozen for a long time and therefore keeping drinks and food cold. Another cooler that has become a part of our road trip gear is our hard sided Igloo cooler with shoulder strap. It can hold enough snacks for the day along with a few beverage cans, which makes it more space-friendly in the car. Plus during the trip it can be a nice grab-and-go cooler to toss over your shoulder and head out the door.
9. WIPES
One of my most loathed things about traveling is a messy car. At every stop, we make it a point to round up the miscellaneous garbage and toss it in the trash/recycling to help keep things a bit tidier. Sticky, messy fingers are a great way to wreck a car seat, seatbelt, and an outfit, so wet wipes are something I ALWAYS have on hand, and in multiple packs. This is a daily use item all throughout the day, and it’s such a simple thing to have on hand to make for easy clean-up and keeping spirits high. Even though our kids are now ages 9, 6, and 3 we will still continue to travel with wet wipes.
10. MY FAVORITE OVERSIZED SWEATSHIRT
Regardless of when I travel, I dress in layers! It allows me to better adjust to temperature and comfort level My favorite travel gear includes black leggings, a comfy graphic t-shirt (from one of the many concerts we go to), and an oversized sweatshirt. Lately, a go-to sweatshirt I toss on and off throughout the day is this one from Amazon, and it comes in a variety of colors and sizes. It’s the perfect accessory to have on-hand on a car trip to help keep you cozy if cool or shed the layer when you make a pit-stop to stretch the legs and catch some fresh air and sun.
Other essential road trip planning tips that I’ve added to my arsenal over the years have included:
- A specific swim/beach bag that houses beach towels, sunscreen, goggles, and swimsuits. The past few years I’ve used the same bag– a utility tote bag that has metal wire sides (inside of the cloth exterior) to help keep its shape and stand up-right. This bag is readily accessible for when we get to our destination so kids can quick throw on their swim suits and start swimming to expend some energy. It has been a game changer and helped better organize these accessories so I always know where they are. Even when we get home, the items are washed by then returned to the same bag and stored until next needed time.
- A designated shoe bag or tote: much like the beach bag, a shoe tote has been handy for us as well. For clothes, I like to have a suitcase for each person, but I’ve found it’s been helpful to keep shoes separate for a few reasons. Shoes are dirty and I don’t love the idea of tossing them in with clean clothes. They’re also bulky and take up quite a bit of space, so having them in a luggage bag seems to not be the best use of space. By keeping them separate, it’s also been helpful to have everyone’s shoes all together so that when we’re on the go, changing activities, etc., I don’t need to locate 5 separate bags and pairs of shoes, but rather just one bag.
Hopefully you found some helpful ideas with this road trip packing list. Storage space is always a premium, so I like to be intentional with what makes its way into the packed car and what needs to stay home. The Upper Peninsula in Michigan was such a great place to visit and we had an awesome road trip experience! These ten items proved to be some of our most useful road trip accessories, and I wanted to share them with you to best prep for your next adventure or long journey! Safe travels and let me know what some of your best road trip essentials are!
