With the Covid-19 pandemic still going strong, we’re being told to isolate as much as possible. However, that doesn’t mean that we have to stay at home with our doors locked. Taking a road trip is a great way to get out while still remaining segregated from the public.
Whether you take an RV or a car, you’ll need to do a lot of planning to both make the most out of your trip and ensure that your trip is safe health-wise. For this reason, we’ve come up with a list of tools and apps that can help you plan the ideal pandemic road trip.
Planning and Navigating your Trip
There’s nothing wrong with hopping in your car and going wherever the road takes you. That being said, if you have time constraints or want to see specific sights, you’ll need a route planner. The best thing to do is to use mapping software like Maptive to plan your route. This software will allow you to figure out the best ways to get to where you want to go and enable you to plan stops along the way. You can plan how long you want to drive before stopping. You can select sights to see and plot the best route to get to all of them. You can even estimate how many things you can do within an allotted period of time. Once you know where you’re going, Maptive will guide you there with turn by turn directions.
Fueling up
Budget is another thing to consider when planning a road trip. One of the biggest budget benders is gas. To keep your fuel costs under control, the tool to use is FuelMyRoute. This website finds the cheapest sports for refueling along your route. Simply input your starting point, your destination, and the type of fuel you use, and the site does the rest. You can also modify the route by inputting how far you’re willing to go off your main course for fuel, as well as select what gas station brands you prefer.
Figuring out Where to Stay
Whether you’re in an RV or a car, you will still need somewhere to stay for the night. If hotels make you nervous because of Covid, then a campsite or an RV park is your best option. Apps like Campendium will show you campsites along your route. Or you can use the Harvest Host app to find free places to camp.
If you would prefer a hotel, then an app like Hotel Tonight is ideal because it allows you to find a hotel in advance or on the spot. This allows you the flexibility of either planning your hotel stay ahead of time or booking on the fly when you’re ready to stop for the night. Plus, the more you use the app, the more discounted rate you’ll receive.
Keeping Yourself Fed
Road trips can be tricky when it comes to food. You can go hundreds of miles without seeing a single food stop or be inundated with billboards for tons of restaurants. And there’s nothing worse than missing the last food stop before entering a stretch of a food desert. Therefore, to ensure you never go hungry, you’ll want to take advantage of an app like iExit. iExit shows you the next 100 exits on your route so you can know exactly what’s waiting for you up ahead. It will show you all the food options (or lack thereof), so you know when to stop or when to go a little farther to get something better. Additionally, you can do a custom search. So if you’re craving Mcdonald’s or absolutely need some Chipotle, you will know precisely how far you have to drive to get what you want.
Getting Reliable Roadside Assistance
An absolute must for any road trip is a reliable roadside assistance app. The last thing you want is to be stuck in an unfamiliar area and not know who to call for help. Blink is an app that gives you access to a network of roadside assistance providers. With this app, you can get towing services, jump-starts, spare-tire installation, vehicle lockout service, up to two gallons of fuel delivery, and roadside winching. Blink offers a flat rate for each of its services, so you know what it will cost you ahead of time. This makes getting help convenient and affordable.
Keep Yourself Entertained
Despite the scenery, it can get boring driving for hours on end. For that reason, you’ll want to make sure you’ve planned a way to keep yourself entertained. Consider an app like Spotify to keep boredom at bay. This app has a library of over 40 million songs to keep your toes a-tappin’, and it features a wide array of podcasts to occupy your mind.
Summary
Just because we’re in a pandemic doesn’t mean we can’t have a little fun. A road trip is a great way to remain isolated from others while also getting out and seeing your country.
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