How to Have a Road Trip With no Itinerary

While some travelers might feel lost—both literally and figuratively—without their destinations and reservations set in stone, taking to the beckoning highway with no specific game-plan in mind can be a refreshing and unforgettable escape. If you have an open mind and are willing to follow where the road leads you, a weekend escape with no agenda can be a true eye-opener.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• A car and a tankful of gas
• A coin to toss

1. Load up your car with a cooler full of goodies, choose a general direction to go in, and start driving. If you can’t decide which way to go, flip a coin--or pick a general area within driving distance out of a hat full of several options you’ve written down.
2. Consider bringing camping gear (if you have any), which will give you the option of campgrounds in addition to the various hotels, motels and B&Bs you’ll likely encounter on your getaway.
3. Bring along appropriate CDs for a road trip, and it can even be fun to create your own ‘mix’ of classic road songs to liven up the journey. The Doors’ ‘Roadhouse Blues’, the Talking Heads’ ‘We’re on the Road to Nowhere’, and the B-52s’ ‘Roam’ are three good examples.
4. Follow your heart and your instincts as you proceed—and resist the urge to start planning ahead, which we’ve all become accustomed to doing. And don’t rush; after all, you’ve got no destination in mind, so there’s no hurry.
5. Explore by back roads and smaller byways whenever possible rather than just motoring along on a large freeway. As the late Charles Kuralt once said, “Thanks to the Interstate Highway System, it is now possible to travel across the country from coast to coast without seeing anything.”
6. Choose your accommodations from whatever choices are available when you tire of driving. If you have traveling companions try to form a consensus—resorting again to ‘flipism’ (tossing a coin) to solve any dispute or indecision.
7. To find a reliable restaurant or fun things to do wherever you end up, an innkeeper or motel clerk is often a good source of info, and many lodgings offer numerous brochures of area attractions and eateries as well.

Tips & Warnings

• The best part of traveling with no set destination is you can never get lost!
• While it’s good to have a cell-phone and some roadmaps handy to use when necessary, the idea here is to wing it without making a lot of phone calls or directional planning.
• This type of travel should be avoided during busy travel weekends such as Memorial or Labor Days when most lodgings and many restaurants are totally booked.
• Don’t pick up hitchhikers no matter how benign they may appear.

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