5 Things I Always Do After Booking A Road Trip

You’ve booked your road trip – exciting times! But before you get too carried away dreaming about the open road, there are a few things worth doing while you’re waiting for departure day.

From potentially saving money on your accommodation to getting your activities organised and making sure all those travel essentials are in place, a little bit of extra planning now can make a big difference later.

Here are 5 things I always do after booking a road trip to help make the most of your adventure ahead.

1. Recheck Your Accommodation Prices Before Free Cancellation Ends

If you’ve booked accommodation with free cancellation, revisit the booking shortly before the cancellation deadline. Check whether the same room, dates and conditions are now available at a lower price.

If they are, you could cancel your original booking and rebook at the cheaper rate.

If you’ve booked direct, check booking platforms like Booking.com and vice versa. The cheaper rate might now be available through a different booking channel.

We’ve managed to get a cheaper bookings several times by doing this. Sometimes, free cancellation costs a little more upfront, but it can save you money in the long run.

Road and Roam tip: Check the cancellation deadline and make sure the new booking has the same conditions before cancelling your original one. You don’t want to lose your existing booking!

2. Start Planning and Booking Your Attractions and Activities

Now that your trip is booked, it’s time for the fun bit! Start researching what there is to see and do at each of your stops.

I like to collate all the attractions, activities and places of interest that catch my eye. I don’t necessarily decide what we’re doing each day just yet, but having everything in one place helps me build an idea what’s possible.

Check whether anything needs booking in advance, has seasonal opening hours or requires timed entry.

Also, look at what’s happening in the areas where you are staying. If you’ve read my article on what I do before I book an overnight stop, you’ll know we once booked a small overnight stop without realising it was home to The Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Over 400,000 people descend on this little town for the festival!

Road and Roam tip: Use my Attractions and Activities Planner to keep all your ideas together while researching. That way, you won’t forget that little place you stumbled across along the way!

3. Get Your Accommodation Details Organised

This is actually one of my favourite things to do. It’s sad to say but I do love a spreadsheet. It also gets me excited again, especially if I’ve booked my accommodation so far in advance that I’ve forgotten where I’m staying!

One of the most important things to check when booking accommodation on a road trip is parking. If it’s not not included, you’ll need to make alternative arrangements.

In my experience it’s generally easier in America, where most accommodations outside cities, come with parking. In Europe, that’s not always the case.

We’ve just finished a road trip around France, and five of our seven overnight stops didn’t have parking included. One of those five did offer parking, but I had to pre-book and pre-pay.

Unfortunately, we also had our car broken into in Bordeaux. Nothing was taken, but it’s not a nice feeling turning up to your car in the morning to find a smashed window. It’s SUCH a drag sorting all that out when you just want to enjoy your holiday!

My spreadsheet includes headings like:

Accommodation name and address
Is breakfast included or do you need to wake up and research where to get good coffee!
Is there parking? Do I need to pre-book or pre-pay?
Check in and Check out dates and times
Track your costs (in local and home currency), plus deposits paid and balances due.
Cancellation policy
Booking platform (Direct or through a third party)

The booking platform comes in handy to know. Not only is it quicker to grab your booking details, but booking direct can sometimes give you access to priority upgrades or complimentary extras.

You don’t need to record costs, but if you are anything like me, you’ll want to know which accommodation was the cheapest and most expensive accommodation, how much you’re spending in total and your average cost per night!

I’ve put my own spreadsheet together for you to use. Feel free to download it and change the headings to suit your trip.

4. Get Your Travel Essentials Sorted – A Bit Boring but Necessary, As We Found Out!

Now that your road trip is booked, it’s worth revisiting some of the practical arrangements you’ll need to make before you travel.

Depending on your destination, these could include:

Entry Requirements: It goes without saying, but check whether you need an ESTA or visa if you’re travelling to the US or elsewhere. It sounds simple, yet Joe and I got caught out! Once you’ve purchased an ESTA, it is valid for two years. Within the first year Joe had to renew his passport. We didn’t think anything of it, but when we came around to our next visit the following year, we realised at the very last minute that the ESTA hadn’t been transferred to the new passport. You must get a new ESTA if you get a new passport.
Currency: Check whether your credit or debit card can be used abroad without additional charges. Will you need to arrange some local currency?
Car Hire: Revisit your booking and double check who’s listed as the main driver. This might not be the person the booking is under. We’ve been caught out before and ended up paying a daily charge for a second driver. You will always need the credit / debit card you made the booking with and your driving licence.
Toll Roads: Particularly important in Europe, where tolls can be charged in different ways. Check whether you need to pay as you go, pay online or arrange anything in advance.
Phone arrangements: Are you going to be charged extra for roaming? Might be worth sorting out before you go as otherwise it could be costly. Mine is included within my phone contract – yours could be too.

Road and Roam tip: Check out my travel tips article. I’ve pulled together lots of ways you can make life easier for yourself or save money!

5. Get Excited About Your Upcoming Adventure

Sometimes we book so far in advance we actually forget what we’ve booked!

Go back over your itinerary and get excited all over again. Head over to YouTube and watch videos of each of your overnight stops and the surrounding areas.

You may even discover something new that you missed during your initial research!

Road and Roam tip: Search for videos of your actual accommodation. It’s a lovely way to get a feel for where you’re staying and build up that excitement before you arrive.