I love travelling, but travelling and driving is something that I hate and love at the same time.  The problem with driving is that its just so boring, there nothing to do other than watch the road, the countryside disappear around you.  Actually, this is the bit that I really enjoy.  I love picking up my Sat Nav unit, and heading out to a city that I’ve never been to and finding out what it’s really like.

The most important thing I can tell you to help your driving, it to take lots of breaks and get a good night sleep the night before. It just helps with your fatigue if you are fully refreshed and ready to go from a goods night sleep.  Once you’re on the go, make sure you take a break every hour to stretch your legs.  If you start to feel really tired, stop and drink a cup of caffeinated coffee and have a 15 minute sleep in your car before you carry on driving. Below are five tips that will make driving much more enjoyable.

Car Condition

There is nothing worse than being stuck on the side of the road, in the rain, with a car that has broken down because you have not looked after it correctly. If you want to avoid your car breaking down, you need to service it regular, and make sure you check the major things before you set off.  This means checking the oil, water and fuel levels, and making sure your tyres are at the correct pressure and there are no major problems with your car. 

Emergency Kit

There are ten tools that you need to keep in your car at all times if you want to avoid getting stuck and an emergency kit is probably the most important.  This means keep a small box, it doesn’t have to large, with a few items that you could need on your travels. The key advantage of having an emergency kit in your car, is that it saves having to call out help for a really small thing.  As an example, if you battery has gone flat, its not very difficult to jump start a car with another battery if you have battery leads, but if not, you have got a long weight for a tow truck to come and sort out your car for something very small.

Route Planning

Its especially important that you plan your route beforehand.  This does not just mean planning a destination point and entering it into your Sat Nav, but actually putting some thought into which roads you want to take, and which you don’t.  Motorways are very good at getting you places, but they are very boring to drive along. Its much more interesting to try and drive through towns across the countryside using A and B roads.  This way you can actually see what the countryside has to offer.

Entertainment

Together with planning a route, you need to make sure you have things to do or to see along your route.  Most the top of range sat nav models come with extensive points of interest databases meaning there is really no excuse not find things along your route.  If you buy a top of the range TomTom, it will comes with My Drive which is a great online website that allows you to pre-plan your route on your Ipad or computer and they upload it to your GPS unit.

Remember

Making driving trips enjoyable is about remembering the basics, and building upon it.  Its about remembering the fact that you have time on your hands and time to do things.  Maybe you forget the roads altogether and use websites such as offmotorway.com and nearthemotorway.co.uk to help you find a route and does not use roads at all.

North America offers a long list of spectacular drives. In fact, in the U.S. alone there are over 4 million miles of roadways to travel. If you’re looking to enjoy one of the most scenic, these five road trip options are remarkably camera-worthy.

 

Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado

 

For jaw-dropping mountain scenery, head to Rocky Mountain National Park, with its magnificent peaks towering over 12,000 feet into the nearly always bright blue Colorado skies. You’ll get to take in its many highlights from Trail Ridge Road, including breathtaking vistas of the entire Rockies in every direction. It spans for 48 miles between Estes Park on the park’s east side to Grand Lake at its west, and at the summit, you’ll be winding across the alpine tundra at nearly 12,200 feet in elevation. Keep an eye out for the abundant wildlife like moose, elk, and bighorn sheep.

 

Toronto to Bruce Peninsula National Park, Ontario, Canada

 

If you just purchased a home among the real estate in Toronto, this road trip provides a great introduction to the nature that awaits a relatively short drive from the city. A 3.5-hour, 290-mile journey will take you from Toronto to spectacular Bruce Peninsula National Park, which is made up of two parks, one on land and the other underwater. Along the way, stop to visit Greig Caves to soak up the impressive natural beauty of 10 caves by doing light spelunking or hiking. About an hour before you reach the national park, watch for Inglis Falls which tumbles for 59 feet. Some of the highlights once you reach your destination include the Grotto, with its brilliant blue water that opens up onto Georgian Bay, and Five National Marine Park on Lake Huron. Here you can join a glass-bottom boat tour to see shipwrecks and soaring dolomite columns that rise from the water.

 

The Florida Keys, Florida

 

If you’re looking for the feel of the tropics, the Florida Keys are the next best thing to being in the Caribbean. The Overseas Highway travels for 113 miles and includes 40 trans-ocean bridges. It will bring you to the southernmost point in the U.S., Key West, with one of the highlights Seven Mile Bridge. The longest of them all, it stretches for seven miles across the turquoise sea, providing panoramic vistas of the sparkling water as it connects Knight’s and Little Duck keys. If you’re into snorkeling or diving, this is the best place in the continental U.S. for viewing coral reefs and colorful fish, particularly in Key Largo’s John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park.

 

California’s Central Coast

 

The Pacific Coast Highway in California, which follows Highway One along the west coast, is legendary. The very best stretch is arguably the 123 miles between Monterey and Big Sur, often named among the world’s most beautiful drives. It hugs the seaside cliffs, with the waves crashing on one side, while towering mountains and giant redwood trees are on the other. Don’t miss the opportunity to visit Pfeiffer State Park near Big Sur, home to a unique beach with deep purple sands. The rare hue comes from the garnet and other heavy minerals in the rocks.

 

Historic Columbia River Highway, Oregon

 

This approximately 75-mile roadway that runs alongside the Columbia River which divides Washington and Oregon, was the nation’s first scenic highway, built purely for the scenery. It’s world-renowned for its waterfalls, with countless cascades to discover, including Multnomah, one of the most photographed in the country. Often called a drive that “must be done before you die,” you’ll take in a variety of beautiful perspectives of the Columbia Gorge, including sweeping panoramas of the river from 900 feet above.