How I pack for a Road Trip

I was contacted by Emma who is the Community Coordinator at Relay Rides, which is a car rental system.
She had seen my blog, and saw that we go on a few road trips throughout the year.
She had asked me to do a post on my must haves for our trips.
At first I wasn't sure.
But then I thought, why not, it would make for an informative blog post and you may get a tip or two out of it :)

I am a list keeper, always have been and always will be.
This is a list that I keep in a page protector in my planner.
I am from Canada and many of our weekend trips are to Minneapolis or Duluth, so there are certain things we need to have to cross the border.
Passports, American money and Health Insurance making the top of that list.
We use this list for all of our road trips though, we just omit the things we don't need when traveling in Canada.

I have always let the girls pack their own bags.
If one of them was to young to read, then an older sister or I would read it to them.
If they forgot something (which has happened), believe me they would remember it the next time.
The reason for this was to give them responsibility at a young age to be responsible for themselves, and to know how to pack.
It worked :)

Now you know I had to pack a creative bag ;)
I always bring a book, magazines and a journal or note book.
I don't travel without a note book or journal.
I like to write my ideas down, or what we did on our way, or funny things the girls say during our travels.
I probably never look at the magazines…but I have to bring them just in case.
This bag sits by my feet.
It also has side pockets to hold my pens, adhesive and white out.
I also use to pack goodie bags for the girls when they were younger…They still ask for them, lol.

This is my newest bag I take along with us.
It is a soft cooler that folds up flat.
I can never finish my meals when we go to a restaurant, so I like to bring my left overs back to the hotel for a later treat.
I have even brought them back home on a few occasions.
I love this bag.
Not only does it fold up nice and flat, but once open it is pretty big.
There is a front zippered pocket where I keep 2 large ziplock freezer bags.
I fill the freezer bags up with ice from the ice machine in the hotel and we are good to go.
I also keep disposable cutlery in the zipper pocket, just in case I do eat it at the hotel.

I just love road trips.
I know it takes longer to get to your destination, but there is so much to see on the ride there.
And if/when I fall asleep, my honey will wake me up to see them.

How about you. Do you love Road Trips?

I hope you all had a very Creative Thursday :)

Tracy :)