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Ultimate Travel Packing List for your car

Who doesn’t love a good road trip. It doesn’t matter if you are driving straight through to your destination, or making stops along the way. I compiled the Ultimate travel packing list of 28 items to pack in your car for your next road trip.


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Vehicle Emergency Kit– Chances are this is already in your car. It’s your typical kit that has jumper cables, first aid kit, flashlight, safety triangle and much more. It’s first on the list because it is the most important item to have.

2. Sunglasses– No matter if you are driving east to west or north to south at some point the sun will be at the right spot to shine in your eyes. Sunglasses as you should know help protect your eyes.

3. Phone– Don’t leave home with out it.

4. Phone charging cables– I just love this 3 pack from amazon. It comes with a 1, 3, and 6 foot charging cable. The 1 foot I keep in my pack with my battery pack. The 3 foot stays up front with me and the 6 foot can reach back to the back seat for charging the kids stuff.

5. Battery pack– You just need a portable battery bank. With us always being connected your phone battery dies quickly. This battery pack has enough juice when fully charged to recharge your phone more than 3 times each day.

power bank, phone charger, portable, kmashi

6. Power inverter to ac car adapter– If you are bringing your laptop or any other device that doesn’t charge using a USB cord. This is a must have item in your car.

7. Headphones– These are a must if you have kids in the car. They will be able to listen to their tablet or game system without you having to hear it.

8. Kids activity tray– What kid doesn’t like to draw or color? This will give them a hard surface to use and they also have built in storage.

9. Seat Organizer– This is a must have item with all the stuff we bring with us in our cars. It helps keep most things organized. It also serves as a holder for a tablet for your kids movie watching pleasure.

10. Plastic shopping bags– You know the single use bags you get from Walmart or any other store. They make great trash bags for the car. Also good for putting wet cloths or dirty shoes in.

11. Knife– You never know when you might need it. The only question is do you grab a Swiss army knife or a leatherman?

12. Cash– You will definitely need cash on hand while on the road. Toll booths still take cash. So do most vending machines at rest stops.

13. Change– It is also a good idea to have spare change on hand. I like to have about $10 in quarters for parking meters and vending machines.

14. Rain Gear– Never leave home without it. Depending on where you are heading you might need it in an accessible place.

15. Water– I will usually buy a case of water or two to keep in the car. It is always a good idea to have water on hand. Plus it will save you money by not having to buy any at the gas station.

If you don’t like spending money on plastic water bottles invest in a refillable one. I love the Brita filtered water bottles. I’ve been using them for years a completely love them. You should check them out too.

water, refillable bottle, filtered

16. Cooler– There are so many coolers today to choose from it can be a little overwhelming. Just find one that can keep your drinks cold and sandwich’s cold as well.

17. Snacks– Put some quick and easy snacks in the cooler. Helps fight off an impulse buy while getting gas.

18. Tablet– Just think of how much better your road trips as a kid would have been if you had a tablet loaded with games and movies.

19. Nintendo Switch– This one can kill two birds with one stone. Not only is it helpful in the car, but when you get to your hotel you can hook it up there as well.

20. Nintendo 3DS– Another gaming system. Kids get bored easily today (don’t know how). If you have multiple kids they can even play against each other.

21. Bug Spray– You might just find a great spot to hike while driving on some back country roads. Having bug spray can keep you from getting eaten alive.

22. Sunscreen– Just for your left arm. Joking of course. Good idea to keep sunscreen in the car all summer long no matter where the road leads you.

23. Gopro– I use mine as a dash cam.

24. DSLR– Or any other camera other than your phone. Me doing a little photography, I always have one of my cameras with me.

25. Duffel Bag– It’s a good idea to have a small duffel bag packed and ready to go if you are stopping anywhere over night.

26. Clothes– A change or two of clothes in case you get wet or dirty on your road trip adventures. Keep it in the duffel bag.

27. Shoes– You don’t want to drive with hiking boots. You also don’t want to hiking with sneakers.

28. Toilet Paper– You never know when or where you may need it. DON’T leave home without it. Also don’t forget the hand sanitizer.

There you go the Ultimate travel packing list for your car. Do you pack all these items? Any suggestions? Were any of these items a surprise?

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