Fab 5: Road Trip Readiness Sites
There’s nothing like a good road trip to create some family memories … hopefully all good ones! Heck, even the things that go wrong turn out to be some of the best stories to reminisce about later on in life. Of course, we hope things go smoothly and we can just enjoy each other’s company as well as the sights and sounds on the road. The best way we can assure smooth sailing is through some serious planning and preparation, and the Internet is a great place to do that! We’ve helped you out a bit and looked through our Top 20 Lists and beyond to come up with the best of the web, our Fab 5: Road Trip Readiness Sites. So Ready, Set … Drive!
1. Edmunds.com is a not only a great place to go if you’re shopping for a car, but they also have tons of articles on tips for everything you need to be road-ready. A search for “road trip” brings up tons of selections, including Top 10 Road Trip Games, Choosing the Right Road Trip Vehicle, and Top 10 Roadside Attractions.
2. Travel + Leisure is a gorgeous and inspirational site for both novice and expert travelers, with fantastic destination ideas, beautiful photos, hotel and restaurant reviews, and an informative blog. They offer thousands of articles on road trips including destination ideas, tips and checklists, and real person diaries of road trip excursions.
3. Travel Muse is like your online personal concierge and organizer. You can use their “bookmarker” feature to save any Web page while you’re doing research, then organize and schedule your trip with an interactive map and itinerary, then share and collaborate with friends and family! They also have a searchable destinations feature and a “get inspired” option if you’re unsure of where you want to go.
4. What better site for road trip advice than Roadtrip America? Completely focused on planning, routes and inspiration for road trips throughout the United States and Canada, you can’t go wrong here. Outside of the fabulous articles and tips, the discussion forum is a vibrant spot to talk to real folks about their favorite destinations, horror stories, and planning nuggets.
5. Finally, Google Maps is an essential site for any road tripper. Not only can you map out your route, email it to your Smart Phone and be on your way, but you can also look at real time traffic, photos taken by real people at various locations, videos taken near the location, webcam shots, buzz about what is happening, and the best areas for biking. Wow… an indispensable tool.
We hope you use this as your road trip primer, and we wanted to throw in one more suggestion as well. No road trip is complete without a good music playlist, and for some great ideas and inspiration for any occasion, we love Miss Moss! Check it out, and also find more travel ideas in our Top 20 Travel Sites.
