Why Everyone Should Take a Road Trip – Part 1

There is no better way to experience a new place or country than by going on a road trip. You get to see the real world—breathtaking scenic drives, connect with actual communities, explore famous landmarks and discover natural wonders. Sometimes, a road trip is also a good way to disconnect from your daily routine, especially if you are feeling stressed or drained. There are so many reasons to go for a road trip that you should stop making plans and start getting in your rental car and just leave.

To get you excited for your next great adventure, or if you need some inspiration for the Instagram captions that will accompany your own vacation photos, we at VroomVroomVroom have asked some of the best travel bloggers around the world to share their reasons on why everyone should take a road trip now. The response to the question has been so overwhelming, so we decided to divide this article into two parts. Check out the most popular reasons below.

To discover new places

Chris Christensen from Amateur Traveler

Create wonderful moments

Shannon O’Donnell from A Little Adrift

A road trip is the ultimate way to slow down and create the wonderful moments and serendipitous travel memories that make for the best stories. Although we have a culture of “hurry up and get there,” on a road trip we seem to remember that the journey is the point. My best road trip occurred on a week-long drive across south of the US as I was moving from Los Angeles to Florida.

We took Interstate 10 nearly the entire way, and it’s not the most intriguing stretch of road unless you have a sense of fun. We ate in roadside diners and chatted with our servers. Then we stopped at kitschy roadside attractions, we hiked up hillsides we had spotted from the road.

More than anything, we remembered to stop and soak in the fun of exploring a new place, finding quirky aspects we wouldn’t have otherwise found. Whether you’re going solo or singing songs in the car with family or friends, road trips add a sense of discovery to the journey that you just don’t get when flying.

Go on an adventure

Leah Smileski from Kid Bucket List

Australia is an incredible country to explore and one where a road trip needs to be on the cards to really experience everything that it has to offer. Road tripping provides the opportunity to adventure out to some of the most interesting towns, sites and attractions that are off the beaten track and accessible only with a little planning and a good set of wheels.

The Australian Outback is the bucket lists of many visitors and locals to this island continent with a road trip the very best way to see some of the most incredible aspects of the country. We headed to Broken Hill from Sydney recently, spending 12 days exploring parts of NSW and Victoria along the way. The wildlife was abundant (we saw emus, kangaroos and wallabies in the wild) and we saw many most incredible sites including the Mungo National Park and Murray River.

Watching the landscape change from the water views of Sydney, to the bushcape of the Blue Mountains and then the red dirt of Broken Hill was incredible. You can’t really capture that experience from a plane window! The greatest appeal of a road trip is the ability to stay within any budget as long as you have a reliable car and good roadside assistance insurance. Accommodation options are then up to you: from free camps through to boutique hotels along the way.

You can design your own itinerary

Jarryd and Alesha from NOMADasaurus

There’s nothing quite like being on the open road, having the freedom to stop when you want, where you want, and to design your own itinerary. That’s just one reason we think everyone should take a road trip.

We’ve been lucky enough to go on long drives countless countries, from New Zealand to Ireland, Chile to Australia, but our all-time favourite place has to be Canada, where we travelled from Vancouver, BC to St John’s in Newfoundland (and back) in an old campervan.

The west coast has some of the most beautiful mountain scenery in the world, with the Rockies being the pinnacle of majestic peaks. The centre has endless prairies, which give the size of Canada true scale. Once you hit the east coast you’ll find gorgeous coves and rugged valleys, and one of the planet’s best road trips – the Cabot Trail in Nova Scotia.

One of our big tips for any road trip is to make sure you have plenty of good music to listen to. A great playlist may end up becoming a soundtrack for future trips, and will transport you back to the road every time you hear it.

The freedom to keep driving, or to stop when you want

Brandon Elijah Scott from Eye and Pen

One can not truly see a destination without the willingness to explore its lesser known areas. If I can offer one invaluable piece of advice, it’s to skip the guided tours and rent a car, because it is by far the best way to see most places in our modern world. I got a car in Scotland and in Iceland, and in the USA, and with it I was able to get away from the touristy shenanigans…

What I discovered was that each had a remote beauty unlike any other, which I would have missed completely without a car to take me wherever I wanted to go.

There is something to be said about the freedom to keep driving, or to stop when you want. As a photographer, nothing less of absolute freedom would have allowed me to take the powerful, eye-catching, breath-taking and off-the-beaten path photos that have made my life all the more richer.

It allows you to see what you want to see

Josh McNair from Through My Lens

I love taking road trips because it really allows me to get to see an area. Being able to take my time and explore for 3-4 days lets me stop at lots of places, take photos whenever I want to, and try new food without being in a rush. For example, most people travel to Los Angeles or San Francisco when they visit California, but if they took a week and flew to one then drove along Pacific Coast Highway to the other, they would have a fantastic vacation and get to know more of what California has to offer.

This is the same with other states and countries around the world, road trips can lead to some of the best vacations you can go on.

My only tip for a good road trip is just to plan enough time to experience the area. If you have only a short period of time then you might want to do something else, the best road trips are the ones that allow you the time to stop when you want to stop and see what you want to see.

It’s meditative – a journey to discovery

Adonis Villanueva from Always Wanderlust

I once lease a car and took it for a road trip around Europe through parts of Turkey for nearly 3 months. I once drove over two thousand miles circumnavigating Utah and California over a long weekend catch a good sunset.

One thing a good road trip taught me is, it’s never about the destination but the journey itself. It’s meditative but exciting at the same time. It’s a journey to discovery that serves those seeking adventure and the unknown.

A road trip offers many benefits and I think everyone should take one. What else could break the weekly routine of a 9-5 than an awesome road trip? Get out of your comfort zone and change it up a bit. Hit the road without a definite plan and discover new places you haven’t seen before. Having that “discovery” component of a road trip is key to excitement and adventure.