I’m SO excited about my next book, all about planning a road trip across the country. This is obviously something very close to my heart and I just love giving advice about travel. Part of the book will be a frequently asked questions approach. I wanted to share one of the questions and my answer. If you have a burning question about planning a road trip, let me know below!

Disclaimer, the links to books below are affiliate links. This only means if you decide to purchase the book, we’ll get a percentage. We ONLY share links to things we have personally listened to and recommend.

How do you stay entertained?
One of the most entertaining things we do is listen to audio books. If you have multiple drivers, I would recommend being organized with the audio books. If you are able, use two different audio players. For example, we have two iPods, so we put my books on one and Bret’s on the other. That way, when it’s my turn, my book is already queued up.

Make sure you listen to part of the book before you leave! I’ll listen to about 3-4 minutes of a book to see if I like the author’s voice and if they’ll keep my attention. Biographies read by the author are really, really fun. If you can find one where the author took a road trip, even better. We happened to listen to a biography during our 2016 summer trip, Always Looking Up by Michael J. Fox, and he author talked about a road trip he took with his son and wouldn’t you know, it was on the SAME route that we were on!

On a smaller road trip, I didn’t take my own advice of listening to a few minutes before I left. I ended up with a book that was very interesting, but the reader’s voice was very monotone and wasn’t helping to keep me awake. Unfortunately, it was a night drive and the only book I brought.

Some of our favorite audiobooks have been – The Hunger Games series, the Harry Potter series read by Jim Dale, Born Standing Up by Steve Martin, Always Looking Up by Michael J. Fox, As You Wish by Cary Elwes, Wildflower by Drew Barrymore, to name a few!

We sometimes take a book of questions to ask each other. Writing prompts books are great for this. Or books that ask “What would you rather” or “What if?”

If you will have kids with you on the trip, know what keeps them occupied. Make a game out of the drive – count how many of blue cars we pass or have a bingo game. If you’re traveling in more barren areas, make sure to have bingo for that area.

Bret and I play the alphabet sign game where you call all words from signs in alphabetical order and you can’t repeat other’s words. So it would go like this (note, this is for example purposes only, obviously these signs would be thousands of miles apart:
Jen – Albuquerque! Buffalo Wild Wings!
Bret – Alexandria! Baltimore!
Jen/Bret – California! (whoever says it first gets its)

This is a great game, but it can be terrible if you’re in a stretch with few signs and buildings. I recommend the alphabet sign game near big cities and would you rather/what if games in wide open drives.

Another game we play is the alphabet volley game with movies/entertainment/actors. You have to say a movie/insert category here, the next person uses the last letter of the previous person’s answer.
Jen – All Dogs Go To Heaven, Bret – Next, Jen – Time Cop.

We change the rules depending on how long we want to play. Sometimes it’s just movies, other times it’s a huge realm – any actor, movie, tv show, etc.

Another way to stay entertained is having a good mix of music that you love for the times you want to enjoy the drive. Sometimes you’ll want to focus on what’s around you and not have the distraction of a story. I have a few playlists that I just love for my “thinking and driving” portions.

What about you? How do you stay entertained on the road? Do you have a question about planning a road trip? Let me know below!

(Note, you’ll notice Yes, Please in this picture. I did listen to part of it, but had to stop it. It was funny, but a little too crass for my tastes.

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