Printable Road Trip Planner for Stress-Free Vacations!
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Dreaming of hitting the road soon? Before packing up your vehicle, it’s a good idea to do some road trip planning. Which is where our Printable Road Trip Planner comes in handy.
Keep your trip details organized, and all in one place, so they’re easy to find and use.
Our years of experience exploring Canada and the USA by car made sure just the essential vacation planning tools were included. One’s we use ourselves on our family road trips.
To help you avoid bad gas station food, and trip disasters (though they do make for some epic stories!).
We’ve also included some pro road trip tips, for smoother travels and memorable experiences.
Whether you are heading out to a National Park, a camping trip close to home, or a cross country adventure, having road trip planning templates will help plan all details of your trip.
So you can just relax knowing everything is taken care of.
Enjoy the sites, hotels, and unique food, without worrying about your next destination, where to eat, or your house / pet back home.
This is where our 50 pages of Road Trip Planner Printables come in.
- Each checklist and page will help you walk through all the essential steps you need to plan the best road trip possible. Easy & fun to use, watch your dream trip
If that many pages seems overwhelming, not to worry. You don’t have to use them all. We just wanted to make sure we covered as many aspects of road trip planning as possible.
Just print off and fill in the one’s you need for each and every family, couples or friend road trip.
Bucket List & Pre Trip Vacation Planning
Road trip planning is best done step by step.
If you haven’t created a road trip bucket list yet, grab your kids, partner or friends, and get dreaming of where you want to go. Brainstorm with no limits. Now isn’t the time to worry about finances, or practicalities of how to make it hapen.
Then narrow down to your top choice.
If you need some ideas a road trip to Zion, Bryce & Grand Canyon is fun. Or how about California dreaming with a Big Sur road trip then a drive to Yosemite National Park for a couple of days.
Then check out the pre-road trip planning checklist & car prep log. All the road trip essentials you’ll need to consider, and ideal timelines.
Most importantly, make sure your car / RV / vehicle is in tip top shape. Nothing worse than an unexpected, expensive repair bill and a few days delay in some small town in the middle of nowhere. Ask me how I know ?!?
PRO TIPS: is our favourite way to plan our route & stops. We love that you can collaborate with friends & family and plan out your whole route. Plus the suggested sites to see in your area.
Gas Buddy – Save $$ on gas, by finding the cheapest gas enroute.
Road Trip Budget Planner
Now you have an idea of where you want to go, and what steps you need to take to prepare, you’ll need to consider your budget and set it up in your budget planner printables.
We actually recommend considering your budget first, before even deciding where to go. Some vacation ideas may not even be possible with the amount of money you can put aside for your next family road trip.
Avoiding going into debt can reduce financial stress post travels. The amount you save on interest payments can go towards your next trip.
When looking at your road trip budget you’ll need to consider the costs of:
- Gas
- Food
- Souvenirs
- Activities & Tours
- Accommodations
- Travel Gear (weather & activity dependent)
- Car / RV rental costs if not using your own vehicle
- Entrance fees to Parks, Monuments & National Parks
- Miscellaneous Expenses
PRO TIP: Grab the America the Beautiful Park Pass to save money on US National Parks. It covers entrance fees for driver and passengers for National Park and Federal Rec Sites. Especially useful if you are planning on a long road trip or visiting more than one park in a year.
Road Trip Itinerary & Research
Now comes the fun part. It’s time to do a little research for your accommodations, route, and activities.
No matter where your trip takes you these road trip planner templates will come in handy before, during and after your trip.
Things to consider in your research:
- Which destinations are a must see for your road trip?
- Where do you want to stay? Do you prefer camping or VRBOs? Or maybe budget friendly hotels or sleeping in your vehicle is more your speed.
- How many activities do you want to do each day?
Road Trip Route Planning
The benefits of road trip route planning is you can save money on gas costs, and ensure you see the special sites, viewpoints and activities on your road trip bucket list.
How to plan your road trip? Consider these things:
- How much driving you’d like to do every day
- Where you want to go
- What does your family, friends or partner want to do on this trip
- Peoples ages and abilities. Young kids won’t likely be able to do 12 hour days, day after day
- Road construction, delays
- Weather and seasonal travel considerations
Map out your entire route and your day to day schedule. Just keep some space for spontaneous adventures, detours and new directions.
The travel magic often happens when we let go of our rigid plans, and be open to where the road takes you.
Road Trip Packing Lists
Travelling by car means space is not as limited as a trip by airplane. Bit more room often means packing more stuff.
Help avoid the tendency to overpack with road trip packing lists. All the essentials in one list, just check them off as you go.
Consider what activities you want to do on your road trip, and the season you are traveling in. This will help guide you in items you need to pack.
Often you can rent kayaks, and skiing gear at your destination if you are short on space.
Pet Sitter & House Sitter Printables
Leaving behind your home, and furry friends can feel stressful.
Prepare your house sitter and petter sitter with these important information worksheets. So you can just relax on your vacation knowing your hoome & pets are well taken care of.
Printable Travel Journal
Keep your memories by writing in your printable travel journal. The good, the bad & the funny / ugly. Look back on your road trip for years to come with friends and family.
Monthly Undated Calendar
Plan for the best year yet!
Make travel plans for the whole year with the monthly undated calendar.
Print off and use month after month, and year after year to make your road trip dreams a reality. Print off all the road trip printables and create a road trip binder to easily keep track of all your vacation details.
Road Trip Meal Planner
The road trip meal planner will help you plan out your road trip meals, plus give you a sample 7 day meal plan & tips to help get you started.
Inside you’ll find:
- 2 Weekly Road Trip Meal Planning Sheets
- 2 Individual Meal Planning Sheets
- Packing List Pre-filled
- Packing List (Blank)
- To Do List (Blank)
- Road Trip Snack Ideas
- Road Trip Meal Ideas
- Shopping List (Blank)
- Family Favourite Meals Tracker
- 7 Day Meal Plan (Example)
- 7 Day Meal Plan Shopping List
- Road Trip Meal Tips, Cooler Tips & No More Soggy Sandwiches Tips
Do You Need Help Planning Your Entire Road Trip?
Get the Ultimate Road Trip Planner Bundle to make planning your next adventure easy & enjoyable.
Make your vacation planning even easier by grabbing your Ultimate Road Trip Planner Bundle.
The Ultimate Road Trip Planner Bundle will help guide and make planning every aspect of your road trips a breeze.
So you can just sit back, & enjoy the adventure, knowing everything is under control.
