Humans aren’t that good at small group activities, and nothing demonstrates this better than a road trip. Poor planning and conflicting music tastes will always make for an interesting journey, and those memories forged on the highway are hard to forget.
If you want to keep your sanity, you need to plan your road trip to avoid the breakdown of both the car and the companionship and find somewhere nice to experience that famous Gold Coast sun. Before you pile into the car, let’s take a look at what you need to know before you hit the coastline.
Avoid the Breakdown
If you’re one zen yogi, then having the car breakdown on a driving holiday could be seen as both a learning and teaching opportunity. For the rest of the population? This is an opportunity for recriminations and, in extreme cases, harsh questioning about one’s parentage. Breakdowns are inevitable and typically occur miles from civilization in either scorching merciless heat or torrential rain. Sound familiar?
Prevention is always the best option, so ensure you get your car serviced by a mechanic in the Gold Coast prior to the trip. It’s also an idea to make sure the spare tyre is roadworthy and pumped, not to mention checking that your car registration and insurance are paid up to date. That way you’ll avoid fines that are likely more than the cost of your entire trip. So unless you want to spend hours in the middle of nowhere with a carload of people pointing out all the ways they should be having fun, put your mechanic’s number in your phone and pray you won’t need to call them.
Pull Over and Take in the Sights
When planning your road trip, think about selecting sights and attractions that will interest everyone. Captaining a family road trip with the rule that the car won’t stop at every attraction with the word ‘World’, ‘Super’ or ‘Big’ in the title – might not win you any fans. At the end of day two, you can expect a mutiny, led by some pretty determined back seat insurgents. Mapping out the sights and stopping points well in advance, while removing the surprise factor, does give everybody an opportunity to have their say and contribute to your auto adventure. The Gold Coast has many marvels, and sharing the trip provides your passengers with the opportunity to identify alternatives to participating in the stops. This could be staying in the car to talk to friends, finishing a work assignment, or planning an alternative route on the way back.
Find Some Local Hospitality
Have your ever tasked yourself with choosing the accommodation, only for someone to turn around and ask “Who picked this dump?” I mean, what’s not to love about a quaint Queensland AirBnB shack adjacent to the world’s noisiest 300 carriage freight train? The accommodation has a critical impact on a road trip, so don’t deny yourself a comfortable sleep that you earned behind the wheel. The key things to consider are:
– Get group buy-in to ensure happy campers or lodgers
– Be strategic with your rest stop, positioning yourself close to amenities
– Book ahead of time to avoid the wrath of peak periods
– The more space the better, so you can all recharge.. and eat those treats you hid from the others
If you are planning an unforgettable Queensland road trip, then plan to avoid car breakdowns, team breakdowns, and accommodation that misses the mark. There are so many Northern wonders you won’t want to miss, and taking care of these important considerations will give you a road trip stretch as long as those QLD summer days.
