Planning a 7-day road trip is a little tedious. And no matter how much you plan, there are just some things you won’t know you need until you’re on the road. After embarking on the adventure of a lifetime, here are some tips and tricks to plan the ultimate road trip for your crew.
1. Figuring Out Your Route
This is the most important part of planning! Really figure out what you want to see. Do you want to see a lot of tall trees, canyons, historical museums, aliens, etc? When I was planning our Southwest Road trip it was originally a cross-country road trip starting in Chicago. But while researching I realized the things I was most excited to see were all in the Southwest more specifically in Utah.
Also, be very realistic with your route. At least one thing will go wrong so have a little flexibility in your driving plans. On our first day, the gear shift in the campervan stopped working so we had to wait overnight for a new campervan. If only one person will be doing a majority of the driving, don’t have them driving for 8+ hours straight.
2. Be Realistic
I guarantee you, you will stay at places a lot longer than you anticipated. Allocate at least 3 hours to each place. It’s better to spend less time somewhere than spending 4 hours longer than you thought you would. We went to the Coral Pink Sand Dunes thinking we’d spend two hours max and we ended up being there for 4-5 hours.
A road trip is a different type of vacation. No matter how much energy you think you have, please give yourself one chill day. Our chill day was Day 5
Unless you wake up early prior to your road trip, you won’t be waking up early during the road trip
Gas is expensive, especially for a campervan. Add another $500-$600 to your budget strictly for gas.
3. Instagram vs. Reality
Listen, do not believe all the IG posts lol. Instagram is a great place to get picture ideas but head to Youtube to get realistic depictions of the things you want to see.
There are a lot of popular places people recommend but honestly, a lot of those places are just pretty for pictures. There’s nothing wrong with going to a place just for pictures but if you’re tight on time try to keep those to a minimum
4. Helpful Content Creators
Youtube is your best friend. Van life is popular in the U.S. so it’s really easy to get ideas of places to go. I watched a ton of videos but my main two channels were:
- The Other Side
- Ana and Ian were my go tos while planning our road trip. The quality of their videos are amazing and they do a good mixture of popular sites with lowkey things. I watched their Southwest videos numerous times
- Adventures of A&K
- Mainly watched them to figure out what hikes would be possible
tips 5-8 are also part of The Ultimate 7-Day U.S. Southwest Road Trip Itinerary
5. Showering
Before I fully embraced the thought of van life, I had to figure out how we were going to shower. I remember watching a video about van life and the Youtuber said he hadn’t showered in seven days…
To each their own but seven whole days without showering was an absolute hell no.
I decided on this rechargeable portable shower because it was the simplest and had the best reviews. I really liked this because it gave us the freedom to shower wherever & whenever we needed to. The tent gave us privacy and the shower head made the process super quick.
6. Road tripping While Black
I unfortunately had to think about the safety of road tripping while Black. It sucks that as Black people we have to worry if a town will be safe for us to stop in but it’s our reality.
When planning out our route I made sure we wouldn’t be driving past sunset. I also made sure to research the towns between the National/State parks we wanted to visit. Fortunately, we didn’t have any problems or run in with racist.
But everywhere we went there were only about 1-2 other Black families. Which is the reason I really wanted to document this trip. I am very happy to have been able to partner with Travellers Autobarn who is working on promoting not only diversity but inclusion into the industry. Remember exposure leads to expansion.
7. National Park Pass
Make sure to get an Annual National Park Pass! It cost $80 but covers admission to all national parks in the U.S. for a year. Without it, we would’ve had to pay $35-$40 for each national park we visited. The Grand Canyon alone cost $70/per car.
8. Campsites
I didn’t book any accommodations prior to the trip because I didn’t know what city we’d be staying in each night. This was partly genius and partly not lol. From research I thought we’d be able to “camp” in Walmart parking lots but we quickly learned that was a lie. Thankfully, I downloaded an app called iOverlander. iOverlander shows you where all the campsites are from established sites to parking lots. I found every accommodation through here. 10/10 recommendation.
9. Mosquito Net
I wish someone would have told me this! Most campervan’s have no air conditioning at night so you’ll be tempted to keepthe doors open before going to bed. The downside—mosquitos everywhere. We’d spend about 10-15 minutes every night killing as many as we could. Defintely make sure to pack a mosquito net!
10. You Won't Be Able To See Everything
Seven days is not that much time when you really think about it. There’s so much cool stuff in Utah we could’ve spent all seven days there.
- Moqui Caves
- Belly of the Dragon
- Bentonite Hills
- Factory Butte
- Arches National Park
- Antelope Canyon
- Fire Wave Hike at Valley of Fire State Park
- Narrows Hike at Zion National Padrk
Hope this is helpful. If you have any other questions don’t hesitate to message me!
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I recently went on the adventure of a lifetime— a seven-day road trip through America’s Southwest! Before deciding on this trip, the only thing I knew about the Southwest was the Grand Canyon, but there is sooooo much more. This region is seriously underrated in how many cool and beautiful places there are to explore.
![Rio’s Carnival isn’t the time to be shy about your outfit! Whether it’s glitter, feathers, or a barely-there fit, wear it with confidence 💅🏾. If you’ll be at @visitrio carnival this weekend, here are some outfit tips:
[📌 save + share with your carnival crew]
👙 Bright colors & bold prints like neon, sequins, rhinestones, feathers are go tos. There’s a ton of vendors selling items throughout the city so buy once you land in Rio. I personally like wearing mainly black so I opted for ways to elevate the outfits through rhinestones & metallics
🪩 Tutus, bodysuits, and fun accessories are super popular. If you went to the Renaissance Tour, repurpose that metallic fit!
👟 Comfortable shoes are a MUST. You’ll be dancing and walking A LOT
💎 Keep the jewelry (especially gold) to a minimum. Opt for fun, inexpensive pieces instead
🎒 A fanny pack or small crossbody is your best friend to keep your essentials close & your hands free
My Outfits Info 👇🏾
Look 1
Corset: @shopakira
Skirt: @kaicollective
Rhinestone leggings: @amazonfashion
Underwear: @savagexfenty
Boots: @nastygal
Look 2
Shirt: @basicoperonitido_
Skirt: @shopakira
Shorts: @yitty
Sunglasses: @loewe
Look 3
Tank top: @kaicollective
Skirt: @amazonfashion
Look 4
Strictly only for an early morning photo shoot b/c wearing the flag has negative political connotations during carnival
Top & bottom: random vendor on Copacabana beach
Pants coverup: @fashionnova
Sunglasses: @amazonfashion
Look 5
Same skirt from look 2. It’s actually a maxi dress coverup](https://eileenivette.com/wp-content/plugins/instagram-feed/img/placeholder.png)
