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Introduction
When you’re planning a road trip, you need to be comfortable from start to finish. This isn’t just about comfort, uncomfortable drivers can quickly become distracted or tired, which then becomes dangerous for everybody involved. Avoid that by planning ahead and creating a comforting environment for your journey. Here we have five tips that’ll help you do that.
Our tips are generalized so that everybody can use them. It doesn’t matter if you’re driving a hatchback or an RV, there are always ways that you can make your driving trips more comfortable. When you are driving a mobile home, you can get things like a mattress topper for your RV that make your bedding more comfortable to lie in, if needed.
- Get Enough Sleep
Having mentioned bedding, the most important thing is that you get enough sleep. Passengers can sleep on the trip but, for a driver, you absolutely need to be fully rested before you attempt a road trip. This is because being tired has the same detrimental effects on your body as being drunk. You wouldn’t drive drunk, so you shouldn’t drive while tired too.
For two nights before the road trip, get a full night of sleep. While it differs for everybody, that will typically be seven to eight hours of full, uninterrupted sleep. You have the most energy at the start of the day, so it’s often best to start your road trip in the morning. If you can’t leave until the evening, you may want to incorporate stops into your journey. We have more on that later.
- Stay Hydrated & Fed
We get energy from the food we consume, so naturally, you should also be hydrated and well-fed when starting your journey. Hydration is important for many reasons while eating food will stop you from getting distracted by a rumbling stomach and hunger pangs.
Staying hydrated is as easy as keeping a lot of bottled water at hand. You’ll need to go to the bathroom more if you’re drinking a lot, so factor that into your road trip plans. For food, you should keep foods that are nutritional but are easily snackable. You can’t prepare and eat a gourmet meal when you’re behind the wheel, after all, so cereal bars and other healthy nutritional snacks are your best friend.
- Use Rest Stops
Being stuck behind a wheel all day can be draining for your body and mind. To shake off the rust and stay comfortable during the drive, you should use rest stops and other opportunities to your advantage. There, you can snack and relax, and maybe even stretch your legs if you’ve stopped somewhere safe. We’d recommend stretching your legs every two hours, approximately.
Many stops come with stores that sell snacks and other products too, perfect for topping up your snack stash or enjoying some retail therapy. It also allows for some light tourism on the way.
- Practice Good Posture
Even if you’re taking regular breaks, you should keep a good, seated posture so that you don’t start aching or feeling pressure in your joints. The seat should be properly adjusted so you’re at an acceptable distance from the wheel and the pedals.
Keep an eye out for so-called trances where you zone out and stop focusing on the drive. If you feel any pressure along or toward the base of your back, you may need to change seating arrangements or make even more breaks.
- Find Audio Entertainment
Lastly, part of being comfortable is being entertained. When you’re not entertained, you may focus on the minutiae around you in search of something entertaining you. This isn’t just distracting but, if you don’t find anything, you’ll get distracted with thoughts, daydreams, or even falling asleep.
Fortunately, we have more audio-only content than ever before. You can download and have novels and other interesting books read to you, so you stay focused on the road ahead. You can also check out Temecula party bus for comfortable trips. There are also podcasts covering every niche you can think of. True crime podcasts and comedy podcasts are the most popular right now, so you should think about getting into them. They can be both informative and rife with casual, funny conversations that stimulate laughter, which helps fight sleep.
Whichever you choose, having some audio can help keep you focused. It can help kids keep quiet too, for long journeys where they may get restless. You’ll also be enjoying yourself, which is even better than just being comfortable in your seat.