Traveling by plane, train or bus has its pros, but the main con is not having the liberty to shop whenever and wherever you want. Only a road trip in your car gives you this independence and makes the journey much worthier and rememberable. 

If you have long overdue & pending leaves from work and are planning for an adventurous road trip with family, friends, or even solo, you need a well thought and made road trip packing list. 

Worry not! 

We come bearing a list of 9 ultimate road trip must-haves that will ensure your journey is successful and does not transform into a nightmare of bad experiences. 

Travel Documents Needed

First thing first, whether you have planned for a cross country road trip or a cross-state road trip, you need to keep a list of documents that will make traveling smoother for you.

The travel documents checklist includes:

• Car registration certificate
• Your driving license
• Car insurance documents

These documents will be a lifesaver for you if you are stopped by a random police car patrolling on the highways or if you are involved in an unfortunate accident. Such documents prove that you are the vehicle owner and will ease any legal requirements made by the officials in the police department or any insurance claim matters.

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Travel Tool Kit For Car 

There is no way you can forget your car kit on a long road trip. It is like the spine of all your plans and cannot be left behind in your house garage. 

Make sure that you have an extra spare tire in the trunk for any puncture mishaps.

Your roadside emergency car kit should have battery booster cables to charge a dead battery promptly. Also, a carjack to assist you in lifting your car while you change the tire, tow strap for your vehicle towing needs, rachets, screwdriver, wrenches,  ice scraper, and tire chains to make traveling through snow convenient. 

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Travel First Aid Kit

Once you have ensured that your car safety essentials are packed, it's time to move on to your first aid/medical kit. Long adventurous road trips are full of happenings, and you must not overlook the importance of a car first aid kit. 

A complete emergency medical kit with all the road trip necessities should have bandages, painkillers, gauze, small scissors, surgical tape, tweezers, antiseptic wipes, antibacterial creams, and anti-allergy meds, among other important things. 

In addition to all these, if you take regular meds for issues like diabetes, high blood pressure, ensure that you pack your meds according to the number of days you plan to spend on this road trip. 

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Navigational Guides

No matter how much big a traveler you are, maps are always needful and life-saving.

Although in this modern world, navigational apps like Google maps have made reaching from point A to point B pretty easy. But the place of physical touch of a paper map can never be replaced by any application. 

Map reading for beginners can be sightly difficult, but after some guidance, you will be able to navigate it like the back of your hand.

You must be wondering why to keep a map when you have access to every street or even unpaved paths online. Well, road trips are unpredictable, and your gadgets running out of battery can be a usual thing. So, in such situations, if you are lost, a paper map is your best solution to getting back on track.

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 Backup Chargers

Road trips are long and a lot more fun without much stopping at inns. However, for such travel experiences, you need to keep a set of power bank chargers with you because cell phones running out of batteries are a common occurrence. 

In order to avoid such issues without having to stop against your set schedule, power banks are the ideal solution. 

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Personal Clothing

A well-planned road trip means you know all of the places you will be visiting and for exactly how many days you will be on wheels. 

Once you know these, pack your clothes carefully by considering the weather. You must keep extra clothes than the expected days of your trip, or else you'll have to stop at local laundromats for a laundry session to wear them again. 

Keep a limited set of shoes to make space for other things. Choose 2 to 3 shoes that offer comfort, protection and give a universal fashion appeal to all your dresses. 

The same goes for accessories. Opt for simple yet elegant, budget-friendly fashion accessories that won't take much place in your luggage but still make you look cool, trendy, and jaw-dropping even while you are on the move.

Don't forget travel cushions so that your family and friends can sleep comfortably while you drive them off from one city to another. 

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Capture The Moments In Travel Camera

Although phones are pretty reliable to take pictures, but having a dedicated camera makes everything much better. 

Thus it deserves a spot in this checklist of road trip essentials since you don't want to forget to take this essential gadget with you. Beautiful sunsets, horses drinking water by the pond, or a flock of birds flying across the sky, all such scenes are breathtaking and deserve to be captured. 

Especially when you are traveling with your family or friends, a camera captures all memories which your mind might forget after a few years. So for a trip down memory lane, a camera serves as the best possible gadget and should be on your road trip checklist for family adventures.

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Games For Road Trip Fun

Road trips need not be boring, especially when you have family or friends accompanying you. 

If you are wondering what to bring on a road trip for entertainment, board and card games are a lot of fun when played in teams. So be competitive and have plenty of fun while you travel across the country. 

You can also make your games on the way, like spot the car with a specific color or state license plate, dumb charades, or sing a song with a given letter. Such games are fun, entertaining and make time fly.

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Toiletries

We admit that this shouldn't have taken so long to come on your travel checklist but better late than never. So don't dare set foot outside your home without having the essential toiletries for your road trip. 

Starting from your oral hygiene items like toothbrushes, toothpaste, dental floss, you also need to pack shaving supplies, sunscreen, moisturizers, and face lotions. Make a small separate bag for all these self-care essentials that every traveler must have so that it is easier for you to find them when needed. 

Remember to keep wipes and hand sanitizer with you; these are ideal for your after-meal hand cleaning and come handy in removing makeup too. 

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Wrapping Up

Packing mishaps are a part of road trips and can ruin your vacations in ways you can only imagine. But to avoid all such mishaps, we have shared with you this ultimate packing essentials list that you must and must have for your long road trips. 

Starting from car essentials to emergency kits and moving on to some suitable clothing and entertaining games, we finally suggest you keep essential toiletries with you. These will be life savors and ensure that you have a wonderful time while on the move.