By Julia Evans
A long time ago, I had a student job in an aquarium. I made several friends there and we all decided to go on a road trip across northern Europe. This wasn’t going to be easy, but the thinking was that you only live once so why not have a go and see how far we could get.
We flew into Paris, where the four of us rented a car and headed east. We would have to rent several cars along the way…it got complicated. The plan was to drive towards the sun in the morning and away from the sun in the afternoon, best we could. That would keep us on track to pass through Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, and Denmark, before hopping over the bridge to Sweden. Got all that? Needless to say, things went a bit wrong.
Now, before we get into traveling tips for road trips, we must cover one thing. And that is that things WILL go wrong. And when they do, you may need more support than a call to your parents. We’re talking about car crashes. A situation nobody wants to find themselves in, especially when traveling. We won’t get into the details but the multiple car situation did involve a small crash. With that said, it was a learning lesson on why it’s prudent to be prepared for all possible eventualities, no matter how unpleasant they might be. Make sure you always keep the right contact numbers on you in case of an emergency – get in touch with an auto accident lawyer if you do find yourself in a crash.
And now, as promised, a few road trip safety tips.
Have a solid plan, don’t do it on the fly
Don’t travel with loosely laid plans, they rarely work out. Road trips take a bit of planning. You’ll need accommodations, you’ll need to know your travelling times and when you’re stopping to eat. Most of all, everyone in your group has to agree.
I’ll jump ahead in my story to the time when I crossed Europe with three friends in a variety of hire cars, but one of us didn’t make it all the way. Due to differences in what we wanted to do with our time, one of my friends decided to stay in Amsterdam and fly home alone from there. Fair enough. But it was weird, and we didn’t feel that it was all that safe to just leave him. Plan out your days to keep your trip on track.
Stick to the beaten track
Don’t be a hero. Stay where breakdown services can reach you. This isn’t off-roading, stick to the main highways and roads. If you don’t want to get stuck on a roadside in the middle of Le Nowhere on the border of France what you think might be Luxembourg, plan your route. Having no phone signal on a dark dirt path is no fun.
Stay safe and have fun planning your road trip in advance!
Feature Photo by averie woodard on Unsplash
