Quick tips before you start your road trip

Check the product links at the end of this story. These tips include road trips limited to plains and not hills.

Who doesn’t like to travel? After all the long days of hard work, we earn one, don’t we? We may travel by various means like flights, trains, buses, ferries, etc., but nothing can beat a long road trip. Yes, traveling by road as we explore cities, cultures, and cuisines is quite fun. Without much ado, here’re a few tips to get you ready for a lovely road trip!

Before you get started make sure your car is in good shape. You may have an old car, but what’s important is that it should be in good condition. Regular servicing and car care is a must. I treat my car as a part of me, so I can assure you that my car is always ready to go.

Splitting this story into 3 sections: Travel tips, Car check tips, and Accessories and gadgets to have.

Travel tips:

Start early: Get started around 4:00 am. This will make you avoid the general traffic that usually crops up from 9 am onwards. I started at 4 am from Guwahati and reached Siliguri at 2 pm. This way I got full daylight and took rest early so that I can drive the next day.
Get a cartoon of drinking water bottles: It’s important to stay dehydrated. Whenever you get a chance drink water.
Pack some food: You can either cook or get some food delivered the previous night of the journey. We packed roti rolls with potato sabzi inside, fruits cut into pieces, and packed in tiffin boxes, dry fruits, biscuits, namkeens snacks, etc. No non-vegetarian food. I once ordered club sandwiches at night which we carried the next day morning as breakfast on the road.
Tissues: carry loads of tissue paper since we don’t want our cars to be dirty from inside
Pet care: if you are traveling with a pet, carry their bowl, and dry food along. We only fed Coco cerelac in the morning. All the way we fed him dry food from pedigree. If her vomits, I pop him half avomine.
Plan: Plan your journey ahead using Google maps. Zoom in and check every turn. Check if there are alternate routes available. Always prefer highways and expressways. Google sometimes reroutes through small lanes. Always avoid such detours. I tweaked my journey from Gorakhpur to Gurgaon by bypassing Lucknow city, saving us good 1 hour.
Day drive: Try driving during the day and take rest post-sunset. Unknown roads are less predictable.
Hotel/accommodation: Book your hotel for the night beforehand else try staying at a hotel which is on the highway. That way you can bypass the city traffic and confusing routes.
Never sleep in your vehicle with all the windows rolled up with air conditioning turned on. Always stay at places which are brightly lit like petrol pumps, stations etc.

Car check tips – get the below done at least a week before:

Servicing: Go to the service center and ask them for a complete check-up. This checkup would include, but not be limited to:
- Oil check
- Brake and brake oil check
- Coolant check
- Light check
- Wiring check etc
Battery: Make sure the battery is in good condition and also check if the water is adequate
Tyres: Keep a check on the tires as tyres without threads (which I call bald tires) are dangerous and would cause your more trouble than pleasure
Tyre pressure: Make sure your car tyre pressure is maintained the same across all the tyres, including the stepney. Since my Wagon R was supposed to carry all the luggage hence the tyre pressure was kept at 33 psi. I believe if the weight of the car is more, then the tyre pressure has to be standard. If there are few luggage then keep the tyre pressure less than 33 psi. In summer, the roads heat up and that heats up the air inside the tyre as well. If the tyre pressure is more, there are chances that the tyre might burst.
Stepney: Your stepney should be pressure checked and should also be dependable
Wipers: We often ignore them but these wipers are saviors in bad weather. Make sure they are wiping the windshield properly. Also, refill the wiper water tank.
Lights: Your car headlights, signal lights, brake lamps, and reverse lights should be working and there shouldn’t be any fused bulbs. I upgraded my headlamps from yellow to white. Check the llamp details below.
Car tools: Do check if all the car tools are available, especially jack, tow hook etc
Fastag: Make sure you recharge your Fastag at least around Rs 2000 to get started.

Accessories and gadgets to have:

Wheel screws: Get some spare tyre wheel screws, around 4. You never know. I got mine from boodmo app.
Torch: Get good quality rechargeable LED torch that can be charged from your car mobile charger
Phone charger extension: This is helpful for rear passengers if your car doesn’t have a rear charger port. They can charge their phones/ devices from this reach charger which extends from the front
Multimedia stereo system: This may cost a bit but is worth every penny. A good multimedia system can help you not only with good songs but also with navigation as it would connect with Google maps and provide you real-time navigation, traffic alerts, diversions, etc. Get one with Apple Carplay and Android Auto so that it syncs up with your phone and experience a hassle-free driving experience.
Apps: Do have these apps on your phone:
- Google Maps
- Spotify
- RadioTunes
- TuneIn
- Paytm/ Google pay liked to your UPI
Dash camera: You can get a dashcam for around Rs 3000. You can get that connect to your charger port so that it can run when you start the engine. You can try one with hardwire as well which can record day and night but you need technician help to get that connected. I am using DDPAI Mini which works fine and records good-quality videos.
Digital tyre pressure monitoring tool: This comes handy when you feel like checking your car tyre pressure
Puncture tool kit: Most cars are tubeless these days. It’s good to carry a puncture tool kit in case of any need arises.
Tyre inflator pump: Again, if required, this is a very helpful tool. Comes in small sizes too. I got mine in 2018.

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