A college student’s guide to surviving long roadtrips

As a college student (and especially as a student of state school), it is almost inevitable that you will have to embark on the long and treacherous journey back and forth from your hometown to school and visa versa. Whether you’re riding a bus or driving yourself here’s a few things you can do to make that horrible, monotonous trip a little more bearable.

Have a good playlist

This is pretty much a given, hence why it’s the first thing on the list. No matter where you’re going, no matter whether you’re in the car for an hour or sixteen, some good music will always keep your spirits up as your butt goes numb. If you don’t have a lot of songs in your music library, making a driving playlist on Spotify or Google+ is a great thing to do. With their almost endless choices, you can make a playlist as long as the drive itself and you never have to worry about hearing the same song twice (unless you want to; you do you).

Get an auxiliary cord 

If your car is as old as mine is, it most likely doesn’t have Bluetooth capabilities (if you car does, you can skip this). I lived for years without an aux cable, and while I managed well enough with my phone as loud as it could go, barely amplified by the cup holder, it really does grind your gears (no pun intended) after your fourth hour of somewhat audible tunes. With an auxiliary cord you can play music from your phone right from your car speakers, and it is magic if magic really exists.

Have a trip buddy

While driving solo has its perks, nothing beats having someone with you to share in the misery of driving for hours. Having a trip buddy is great not only for keeping you entertained and awake, but it’s always good to have an extra set of hands to grab snacks or drinks, or maybe text your mom an update while your hands stay firmly on the wheel (because no multi-tasking while driving!).

We were jamming out to Moana in this particular moment

Bring easy to eat snacks

Food is always an essential when making long trips, and you’re not going to want to stop every time you get hungry. Whether you have a buddy with you or not, always make sure to bring snacks that are easily accessible. Before you leave on your journey, take some finger foods like Goldfish, Cheez-Its, or whatever your snack of choice may be and put them in a Ziplock. That way it’s easy to open and close without much fuss, especially if you are driving alone.

Have an actual GPS

I understand the ease of having Maps on your phone and being able to access things all at once, but when you are multi-tasking on the device that is supposed to be giving you directions, it makes it very easy to miss a step or two as the voice of your maps app is overwhelmed by the music you’re trying to play. With an actual GPS, it’s on at all times and it provides not only a voice, but a large map and written directions so you always know what the next step in you trip will be.

Get Waze

A GPS is definitely an essential, but depending on what GPS you have it may or may not give you traffic details. That’s what Waze is for. Waze is a traffic app for your phone that once it’s on, it will alert you to any reported stopped cars, traffic jams, presence of police, and other delays. Unlike the official traffic hotline (511), Waze is built upon those who use it and its updates on traffic conditions are significantly faster and more current than other options. I just started using Waze this past year and I can’t imagine taking another long trip without it.

Have a car phone charger 

Last but not least, if you’re going to use your phone for anything on your drive, make sure you have a phone charger readily available for when your battery hits its low point. My suggestion would be to plug in the phone charger before your drive even begins so you don’t have to go fumbling for it and try to plug it in while driving.

Hopefully this list helps you on your next long haul, but remember the most important tip, drive safe!

@thenamessteph