If you’re one of the many people in the world who identify as wanderlust spirits roaming the earth, then you need to go on adventures once in a while to feed your soul. And what better way to achieve that than by going on a road trip with your best buds while searching for good food?
With a functioning vehicle, an undying pursuit for culinary creations, and friends that are one call away, you have covered all the foundations to establish a tradition for days when you want to get away from your responsibilities.
Going on frequent food and road trips might be tagged as an escapist move on your part. But if it’s what can help you be in control of your life, then so be it. No one should be able to stand in your way when you’re allowing yourself to breathe and recuperate from your daily stressors.
Planning the trip shouldn’t be stressful, given that you’re going on the adventure to relieve your stress. To make it that much simpler, here are four easy steps to plan a perfectly imperfect food and road trip with your friends. And since it’s so quick to put together, you can even turn this into a weekly or bi-monthly event.
Step 1: Decide the Route
The main goal of any road trip is to reach a destination, but not without making the travel memorable. Deciding on your destination and the route you’re going to take will allow you to make a list of all the restaurants, food stalls, or cafes that you can hit up, along with the pit stops for gas refills and bathroom breaks.
Having a route won’t take the spontaneity out of the trip, but it can lessen the possibility of getting lost or losing time over deciding where to go. You and your friends can take turns in deciding where you’re going to go for the weekend so that you can have equal opportunities to showcase your interests.
Step 2: Equip the Vehicle
A road trip is simply impossible without a reliable vehicle that you can use to travel to and from places. The size of your car is heavily dependent on the number of people you’re traveling with, which means you need to nail that part down before you embark on your adventure.
Since most of your time will be spent inside the car, you will need to equip it with the essentials: pillows, blankets, snacks, and drinks. Of course, you will need privacy when you’re enjoying your time, and that means that the car should have window tinting so that strangers won’t be able to peek inside when you’re parked somewhere.
Step 3: Prepare Activities for the Road
Being on the road for long spans of time can be boring, which is why you will need to prepare fun activities that you and your friends can do. The activities you can do can include mind games, themed karaoke, and a fun trip down memory lane while you’re on your way to creating new ones.
You can also write down “remember when…” prompts on pieces of paper that you can all take turns picking for when you have run out of things to talk about. Sparking conversation among friends is not always as easy as people think, so having backup like this can be a life-saver.
Step 4: Bring Enough Pocket Money
You won’t want your adventures to be halted by something as measly as money. That’s why it’s important to prepare for a trip like this, so you can save enough pocket money from your monthly budget like the responsible adult that you are.
But don’t go overboard with spending like you’re a one-day millionaire. You don’t need to go broke every time you go on a food and road trip with your friends, especially if you’re planning to make this a frequent event.
What you can do is set a spending limit and budget that you won’t exceed so that you will still have enough money to pay your bills. Going on an adventurous trip with your friends won’t become an escape from reality if you’re returning to more problems than you are left with.
It’s not always easy being an adult. You have more responsibilities weighing on your shoulders, and you can have more people depending on you to bring home the bacon. But it’s not wrong to want to break free from such responsibilities once in a while, especially if it means that you can reignite your carefree inner child.