Road Trip Plan: How To Plan An Epic Adventure

After an 8-day road trip to the east, traveling 4,000 miles and enduring 74 hours of driving, we learned a few things. We have refined the road trip planning process through multiple road trips lasting 3-10 days.

Here is how to plan an epic road trip!

Explore the full trip with us in this 4 part series (planning, the road trip to Maine, exploring Maine, and the road trip home) before you plan YOUR next road trip.

Road Trip Plan: How to Plan an Awesome Itinerary…

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Although very necessary, planning is my least favorite (and most stressful) part of a road trip. To maximize how much I can do on a trip and to minimize stress, it’s important to have a road trip plan.

A little planning goes a long way when planning a week-long road trip.

Man Plans. God Laughs

You don’t want to over-plan and stress yourself out to stay on a timeline. But you don’t want to underplan and waste time figuring out what to do next or where to go.

We have found a system that works well for us. Come along as I build our next road trip plan!

Road Trip Plan Step 1: Dates

Step 1 of the Road Trip Plan is figuring out the trip dates. This year, we don’t have a lot of wiggle room on timing.

After taking into account our work schedules, the kids’ school schedules, and babysitter availability, we found just one week that works well for everyone.

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Road Trip Plan Step 2: Destination

Step 2 of the Road Trip Plan is figuring out where to go. I choose to select the destination after I know the date because the date affects the destination.

For example, we don’t want to visit a very hot location in the middle of summer. Or visit a very cold destination in the middle of winter.

Since we have a mid-June week available, we choose to go north. And since we have 8 days available, we choose to go the maximum distance from our home (Arkansas) as possible.

We both agree on Maine since neither one of us has been there before.

Road Trip Plan Step 3: Main Activity

Step 3 is the fun part of the Road Trip Plan. Pick the ONE thing you want to make sure you do/see on your road trip.

What is the BIG activity that you can’t miss? Maybe it’s a bucket list item. Or something you have always wanted to do. Or something you have always wanted to see in person. What is that one thing? Make that your main activity.

After some brainstorming, we listed out some things we have always wanted to do in Maine.

For him- see lighthouses, and take a coastline drive. For me- whale watching. After realizing Acadia National Park is in Maine, we both decided we really wanted to visit the park as well since we are avid park go-ers (state + national).

Since we have 8 days, we decided to have 3 “main” activities that are doable: Acadia National Park (even if just a very short drive through), whale watching, and a coastline drive.

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For the main activity, we always book in advance to ensure we have access to the activity once we arrive.

We did some online research on whale-watching tours and companies and then purchased tickets for the midpoint of our vacation (day 5).

We already have a National Park Annual Pass that will get us into Acadia. And tickets are not needed to drive the coastline. So all 3 of our primary activities are covered!

Road Trip Plan Step 4: Other Activities

For step 4, Other Activities, we put our main destination in Google Maps, scan the route, and see if any other big-ticket stops show up.

When we put in the route from Arkansas to Acadia National Park, we notice it runs almost directly into Niagara Falls. Neither of us has seen Niagara, so we add that first to the list of other activities. Nothing else jumps out at us so we move on to Pinterest searching.

Pinterest is FULL of ideas. Typing in “Maine Itinerary,” “Things to do in Maine,” and “Things to do in Acadia” gives us hundreds of options.

Our “Other Activities” list fills up quickly and then is narrowed down to: see Stephen King’s estate in Bangor, visit covered bridges, hike the Ocean Path Trail and Beehive Loop in Acadia, see Thunder Cove, and visit West Quoddy to stand at the easternmost point in the US. We add those activities to our Road Trip Plan.

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Road Trip Plan Step 5: Accommodations

For a road trip, accommodations can be the trickiest thing to pin down. Booking accommodations ahead of time for each night of the trip can tie you to a tight timeline.

In the past, we have booked a night or 2 at the midpoint of the road trip to ensure we had a nice place to stay/camp. For this trip, we decided to not book ahead and just see how things go.

We travel in a self-contained camper van so boondocking is always an option if we are not near a campsite or can get a spot reserved.

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Road Trip Plan Step 6: Itinerary

Step 6 of the Road Trip Plan is building the itinerary. I pull all the information gathered into one cohesive, tentative plan.

This step requires some use of Google Maps to calculate drive times and route planning. It doesn’t have to be in-depth, but more of a general guideline on how the road trip will progress.

For our Maine road trip, our final itinerary (before leaving), looks like this…

*all camping + boondocking accommodations to be planned on the go, depending on where we end up

Road Trip Plan Step 7: Lists

The final step of this process, the LISTS. And yes, that is plural. I love lists. It’s helpful to break the lists into sub-categories. I ended up with 5 lists (hear me out)…

1- Clothes to Pack. Do research on what the weather will be like at your activity stops, and pack accordingly. We will be traveling through many temperature ranges (leaving 90-degree humid weather, and ending up in 45-degree cool nights in Maine).

Layers will be helpful for this trip. I pack a couple of tank tops, 1 pair of shorts, all of my fav leggings, cotton tops to layer with pullovers and button-ups, a couple of sweaters, a light coat, a rain jacket, and sweatpants/shirt for the cool nights.

read 13 Road Trip ESSENTIALS to Pack for an Amazing Adventure

2- Van List. This includes everything that needs to be done, cleaned, or put in the van. I scan through all supplies to see what needs replenishment (silverware, plates, cups, bowls, paper towels, toilet paper, soap). And we make sure our essentials are cleaned and loaded (towels, sheets, cooking utensils).

Robert checks all the van mechanics (air in the tires, oil, etc.) and loads the storage box on the back (with chairs, table, etc).

3- Other Things to Pack. This list includes anything not on lists 1 and 2.

Examples- work bags, laptops, chargers, toiletries, hiking bags, hiking boots, binoculars, sunscreen, bug spray, and passports.

Be sure to scan the activities list to see if there are any activity-specific items you need to pack.

4- Grocery List. Make a meal plan, and then make a grocery shopping list. The van fridge will hold roughly 3-4 days of meals for us, so we meal plan for that amount of time.

On this trip, we will need to make a pit stop at the halfway point to reload on groceries. We always keep plenty of road trip snacks in the van and have a cooler stocked with water on the back of the van.

5- Things to do before we leave. This is anything we have to take care of before leaving for vacation. Any little or big tasks that need to be done.

Some things on my list- water the garden + all indoor plants, make a to-do list for the one watching my house and animals while I’m gone, catch up on all laundry, etc.

Road Trip GO TIME!

The planning isn’t always fun but is necessary to help things move along smoothly, with the least amount of anxiety and stress as possible.

It’s all worth it to feel ready to go and leave without feeling like you have forgotten something important. Then you can RELAX and ENJOY the road trip!

Part 2: Remarkable Road Trip to Maine. Testing the Itinerary

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