The road trip is one of the great American Traditions.  Whether you’re driving to Houston to go to Wrestlemania or you’re driving 10 hours to Ohio to go to the closest Rally’s for a burger there are a number of important things that you need for any real road trip.

1. SNACKS

You can come up with better snacks, but you get the idea.

You might have seen our other post on the Perfect Guide to Snacking while traveling, but this just goes to drive the point home.  If you’re going to be in the car for hours it’s always a good idea to make sure that you’ve got your munchies covered.  If you’re going to be traveling on the highways and byways of America it’s important to remember that any gas station that is convenient for you to stop at is going to have jacked up prices. The same things holds true for Fast Food joints too.  While a Big Mac might cost you $1.99 at your favorite Mickey D’s, it’ll probably run you closer to $5.00 off the highway.  Make sure to have all your snack food bases covered; get yourself something salty and something sweet.  Also make sure that you have a variety of drinks available to wash down your munchy goodness.

2. TUNES

Whether it be an amazing mix cd that a friend illegally downloaded from a P2P site, or bringing along your iPod (assuming that your vehicle has an MP3 adapter)  having the right tunes for your road trip is absolutely essential.  Most road trips are momentous events in a persons life.  Something that you can look back on when you’re much older and fondly recall the whimsy and carelessness of youth.  As such, and like any good buddy comedy, it’s important that you have the right soundtrack.  Imagine your road trip is a movie or a sitcom.  How would the score sound?  If it’s a trip to go see you’re long distance love be sure to have lots of “Journey” and “Chicago.”  If you’re on your way to a WWE event have lots of “Metallica” at the ready.  I’m not trying to tell you what to listen to but rather to make sure that whatever it is that you’re into you’ve brought along.  One rule of thumb is that you can never have enough music.  Road trips usually take longer than you imagine they will and you’ll find that you can listen your way through 4 or 5 cds in no time at all.

3. GAMES

For some people this might be as simple as a good game of Punch-Buggy (no punch-backs).  But for others, you might want to supplement your gaming pleasure for those long trips.  No matter who you’re going with, ultimately, someone is going to get tired of talking to your ass or vice versa.  When the time comes for all to be quiet, it’s important that you have something to take your mind off the monotony of passing guard rails for hours at a time.  Save for sleep, it’s always helpful to have a good gaming system to keep you occupied.  Of course Nintendo’s Gameboy has been the predominant system for many years and rightfully so.  But in the past few years both the PSP and the iPhone (or iPod touch) have come roaring onto the road trip scene.  They benefit of both is that in addition to having a full platform of games they are both capable of internet connectivity and watching movies or tv shows as well.  Perfect for late night boredom on I95.

4. PILLOW BLANKET

Shit, you can throw a snuggie in here if you want to as well.  The important thing is that you’re taking care of your sleeping needs for the trip.  Eventually the time will come where everyone in the car abandons the driver to all go to sleep, leaving him or her to drive great distances in dark silence while everyone else enjoys a good nap.  When it’s your time to nap you’ll quickly realize how difficult it is to get comfortable in the back of a Toyota Prius.  Having a nice blanket or pillow can help you make the best out of a cramped situation.  It also allows you to regulate your temperature for when the driver decides to blast the AC in futile attempt to keep themselves awake while no one is up to talk to them.

5. EMPTY WIDEMOUTH BOTTLE

Ok, I toyed with whether or not I should include this one (bad taste?) but then I recalled an episode of “The Office” where Dwiight Schrute employed this principle of proper Road-Tripping.  Perhaps this is only apros pro of trips with all male companions, but it certainly is applicable.  Depending on everyone’s tolerance of the situation (germs, public nudity, general uncomfort) having a bottle along for the ride can cut down on wasted travel time.  There is nothing worse than having to hold your pee because you’re the only one who has to go..   Strike that, there is nothing worse than having someone in your car who is always complaining because they have a tiny bladder and they’re begging you to pull over.  If you figure that every rest stop adds something like 15 minutes of stop time to your travel, you can see that 4 stops equals a full hour.  If you can limit your rest stops to food and gas only you can make your road trip that much more efficient.