Have you started planning the trips you’ll take this year? Every other summer we take a 4-5 week road trip, and this summer is a road trip summer! We’re still waiting to hear where one of our family reunions will be, so we haven’t been able to plan out our itinerary yet, but that hasn’t stopped us from thinking about where we’d like to go. We’re also planning some shorter trips closer to home for the spring and fall.

Have you started planning camping trips and road trips for this year? Is this your first year road tripping with an RV or camper?

Here’s some must-have items for your first road trip.

1. GPS

Many vehicles come with GPS, but if yours didn’t, or you don’t like the system it runs on, have a separate GPS unit. We like to have two available, since we never know when one won’t work properly, or will send us on a wild tangent. So we have a Garmin GPS on the dash and Google maps on our phones. We don’t always have cell signal, so the satellite GPS on the Garmin is a great backup.

2. An old-fashioned atlas

Call me old school, but we still bring a paper atlas on all our road trips. It’s easier to get the big picture view on a paper atlas than a little phone or GPS screen. And it’s good to have on hand in emergencies: no signal or batteries needed.

3. Apps

We like the Allstays Camp & RV app ($9.99 for iOS only), which shows all sorts of information, which you can filter depending on what you’re looking for. Campgrounds, gas stations, military campgrounds, Army Corps of Engineers campgrounds, low bridges, truck stops, Walmarts and other locations that allow overnight parking, RV dumps, the list goes on. Super useful and we use it every time we hit the road.

The free GasBuddy app (available for iOS and android phones) lists gas stations, with prices, in the area. You can view the prices by list (high to low, etc) or in a map view (my preferred option) to help you find the best deals around. They also have a savings program: the free membership will save you 5 cents per gallon at most gas stations and the paid memberships will save you 20 cents per gallon at most gas stations. I just found out about this program when I went to the website, to look up info for this post, despite having the app on my phone (and using it) for the last 8 or 9 years. We’ll definitely be looking into the savings programs for this summer. RV gas tanks are large and those savings add up.

4. Roadside attraction guides

This book has tons of places to go and things to see, regardless of your route and where you’re headed.

This one has fun places to visit with the kiddos along for the ride.

5. A travel journal

Travel journals are perfect to record where you went, what you saw, the weather, distance traveled, people you met, whatever you want to remember. You could buy one on Amazon, or you could buy one that’s been handmade just for you. Read my post about my handmade leather journals, or go straight to my Etsy shop.

6. Campground membership(s)

We love boondocking (camping without electricity, water, or sewer hookups), but there are definitely times (super hot weather, for one) when we want to have all the hookups. Campground memberships make those stays cheaper. Depending on which one you use, there may be hoops to jump through, but in general, once you learn the ropes, they’re more than worth any hassle you may go through.

Thousand Trails (read my post about Thousand Trails) is about $575 per year, but there’s frequently sales running to lower that cost, and you can divide the fee into monthly payments. Use this link to get a $100 discount on the annual fee. Depending on what your annual fee ends up being, after you’ve camped 10 nights or less, you’ll have paid for that annual fee and be camping for free. It doesn’t take long to make your money back on this one. Some of the campgrounds are older, so if you’re looking for super nice, state of the art campgrounds, this isn’t for you. We’ve stayed at three different TT campgrounds so far, and enjoyed them all.

A Harvest Hosts membership will give you access to hundreds of wineries, breweries, museums, farms, and so on. You call ahead to make sure they have an opening, then park in their parking lot for one night. There’s no fee to spend the night, but you should purchase something from the gift shop to support the business. You’d probably buy something anyway, so this shouldn’t be too difficult 🙂 Use this link and take 15% off your annual membership fee, which is normally $79.

Passport America is a membership that discounts your nightly rate by 50% at many (more than 1800 at last count) campgrounds across the US, Mexico, and Canada. It costs $44 per year and if you enter my ID number (R- 0313853) when you register, I’ll receive a small commission (thanks for supporting this site!).

7. A national parks pass

We try to visit as many national parks as we can on our road trips. Not all require an entrance fee, but many do. Buy the National Parks pass once, visit all the parks as often as you want for the next year. Read my post here about the different types of national parks passes available and why we love ours.

And most important: have fun on your road trip!