Road trips are a fun way to sightsee while traveling to your final destination, and a great way to have quality bonding time with family or friends. The only problem? They take a bit more planning than other types of trips.

Whether you’re a fan of long road trips or not, everyone knows that packing for a road trip is a much different task compared to packing for a plane ride. It entails much more than just the few outfits and pairs of shoes that you’d pack in your carry-on.

For road trips, the need to pack effectively is usually overshadowed by our desire to bring unnecessary items, which can be an issue. Also, when road-tripping, certain items that aren’t essential for plane rides may be essential to make your trip as comfortable as possible — think food, water, pillows, blankets, etc. So there’s a lot to think about.

To help you out, I’ve created a list of tips on how to pack effectively for road trips. I’ve found these guidelines to be useful and I hope that you will, too. 

Table of Contents

1. Use Duffel Bags

Though this may not come as a surprise to seasoned road-trippers, many people make the mistake of using suitcases for road trips because it’s either all they own or they think they’re easy to stack. Duffel bags, however, are the best choice. They help preserve space because they can be “squished” down, making them smaller, allowing them to take up less space in the vehicle.

One thing to keep in mind when packing clothing items in duffel bags is that your clothes, inevitably, will wrinkle. I always make sure to only pack things in duffel bags that I know I won’t mind if they get wrinkled — comfy shorts, sweatpants, sweatshirts, t-shirts, under garments, etc.