There are many reasons for taking a road trip instead of making your way to the airport – to me, the most important reason is that road trips are a ton of fun. Even if you only embark on a road trip adventure once, the experience is one you’ll remember forever.

To make a good road trip a great road trip, you need a couple of ingredients. Most importantly, you need a destination. Unlike a vacation that involves airlines, the road trip destination can be the least important part of your vacation – the real fun is in getting there!

Picking your destination

Deciding where to go depends on several factors – how long do you want to be gone, what do you want so see, and who will you be traveling with.

The length of your trip determines how far you can go. Be realistic in your calculations – it may be fun to pull an all-night drive once, but doing that every night for a week will probably put everyone in a foul mood.

What you want to see determines the route you’ll be taking. On your way to your destination, you’ll come across hundreds of worthy stops. Roadside America is a brilliant resource for finding amazing attractions on your trip.

And finally, when picking a destination, keep in mind that kids will probably be the one factor you can’t control. Eventually, all kids get bored of “I Spy”, and will need a rest stop; younger kids may not do too well on anything over 5 hours a day.

Decide when to leave

A sure way to get off to a bad start is to leave your home and spend the next 4 hours stuck in traffic just trying to leave town.

Pick your departure time wisely – leave early, or leave late, but avoid rush hour. Take advantage of technology by investing in a GPS unit with traffic, or traffic enabled mobile phone application. Of course, listening to the traffic report on the radio is an old fashioned, but reliable way to know what is ahead of you.

Turning a road trip into an adventure

Sure, it may be fun to sit behind your computer and determine the exact schedule of your road trip – but don’t be scared to leave a couple of question marks on the calendar. Hotels are everywhere in the country, and as long as you don’t plan to find a last minute room on a major holiday, most small towns will have plenty of room for a family of last minute visitors.

Harness the power of your mobile gadgetry to find available hotels. With an iPhone and the Homewood Suites mobile application, you’ll be able to pull up all available properties and book a room right from your phone.  Sleepy travelers with other phones can access mobile versions of the hotel web site.

Spend hotel money wisely

After a long day on the road, resist the urge to check in to the first hotel you see – make your money go further by finding a hotel with large rooms, a pool and free breakfast or dinner. Also, don’t underestimate the luxury of free high-speed Internet – checking in, then having to pay an extra $20 just to get online can quickly deplete your vacation budget.  

Remember that vacation time is a perfect time to be wacky

See the roadside sign advertising the “mecca of albino squirrels”? Use that as a reminder that vacation is the time to be wacky. These roadside attractions are usually the best part of a road trip – unexpected, and often a ton of fun.

Locals love people coming to visit their weird attraction, and it is these experiences that will often provide the best memories of a trip.

Use technology when you can 

The days of relying on stacks of maps are long gone – there is no shame in cheating a little with GPS, online maps and other gadgets.

Best of all, these gadgets can make the difference between a car full of whining kids and a car full of peaceful and entertained kids. Sure, in an ideal world, kids would look out the window and enjoy the scenery, but sometimes a portable DVD player with some Sponge Bob Square Pants is just much more effective.

If you do want to rely on a GPS for navigation, make sure you have your maps updated to the latest version and consider spending some time adding custom “points of interest”.  Adding your favorite hotel chain to your GPS unit means you’ll always be able to locate a place to spend the night. 

The ride home does not have to be the end of the trip 

With most vacations, the trip is over as soon as you get back home – with the road trip, you can plan the ride home to last a couple of days. Use those final days to relax, spend some less time on the road, and some more time enjoying the hotel pool (or spa). Once you resist the temptation to pull a couple of all day drives, your final days on the road can help you arrive back home without the stress of air travel.

If you are traveling with kids, or you just want to surprise your wife, add a surprise night onto your trip – hotels are really affordable and the joy of an unexpected night on the road will put a smile on everyone’s face.