Seven Tips for Planning a Road Trip on the California Coast (or Road Trip Tips to Anywhere!)

We recently spent eleven amazing days exploring the California coast. We began our adventure in San Francisco and drove down Highway 1 until we reached Los Angeles. Most of our trips include just one destination, so this trip took a little extra planning. I’ve outlined a few tips to help when planning a trip like this. Some tips are specific to California, but others could be good advice for any road trip!

1.       Determine if you will fly or drive.

This will depend on where you are located and the length of time you have allotted to spend on your trip. Since we live in Georgia, we chose to fly to California and then road-trip from there. At this stage in our lives, our full-time jobs and pets keep us from being away too long (this eleven-day trip was our longest to date!), so we wanted to spend as much as time as possible exploring California. One day we may be able to take an epic road trip across the country, but not this time.

We chose to buy separate one-way tickets. We flew in to San Francisco (technically Oakland as it was actually cheaper for our flight) and out of Los Angeles. Some people like doing a loop and going in and out of the same airport, but for us, it didn’t make sense-again because of the time issue. Some people do this route in reverse. I think either is a great trip.

 

2.       Decide where you want to visit and how much time to spend in each area. Have an outline, but be sure to leave room for flexibility.

I knew we would spend the most nights in the Bay Area. There more things we wanted to do for this trip in the area and my uncle lives in Berkeley, so our plan was to spend several days visiting with him too. We ended up with five nights and we all felt that for this trip, it was the perfect amount of time. If we had not been visiting my uncle, four would have probably been enough. I knew we would end in Anaheim for three nights with two days at Disneyland. The middle of the trip was a little fuzzier, but it left us with two nights. We ended up staying in Monterey one night and South of Santa Barbara in Oxnard the next night before moving on to Los Angeles for the day.

We discussed as a family all of the highlights we wanted to see, and then I made a loose timeline. I made sure to set expectations and let everyone know this was subject to change. I highlighted the need to remain flexible, but everyone had at least one “must-do” on their list, and many of them we had in common.  I highly suggest doing this. This gives each family member input and gives them some ownership in the trip. Even if you have younger kids, they may be able to give input. I usually check out/buy books from the library and show my youngest movies/YouTube videos (that I’ve previewed in advance!) about a destination prior to our trip. This gives her something to look forward to and gets her familiar with the destination. She thinks it is so fun when she sees something that she has seen in a book or movie!

Using our highlights we had decided on as a family, I went ahead and mapped out how much time to allot between each destination once we set out from San Francisco. Tip: If using Google maps, you have to force it to take Highway 1 (Pacific Coast Highway) if this is where you want to go because it often wants you to go another route that is faster, even if you have the ‘avoid highways’ option selected. (I definitely suggest doing this. The drive along the coast is some of the most beautiful scenery I’ve ever seen. We “oohed” and “ahhed” the entire drive!)

I understood we may end up skipping some of the destinations, and traffic can vary, but I just wanted to have a loose idea of how much time it took to get to each destination and it really helped us budget our time. Here is an example of how I mapped it:

Destinations                                                 Drive Time

San Francisco >> Santa Cruz                      1 hr 30 min

Santa Cruz >> Monterey                             48 min

3.       Book hotels (or not).

I took a hybrid approach to this. The planner in me fought with my free-spirited side and came to a compromise. We would book the first leg of the trip and the last leg and leave the middle open. With just two nights to “wing it” in the middle, I felt like I wouldn’t have too much anxiety about not knowing where we were staying. I chose not to book those nights ahead of time, because I didn’t want us to have to rush through somewhere just to get to our hotel. I also didn’t know how far we would feel like traveling each day. This plan really worked out well, however, our family does wish we had more time in some of the areas between San Francisco and Los Angeles. Two more nights in this area would have really been nice.

4.       If you are flying, reserve your rental car in advance.

I used AutoSlash to book our car. If you’re not familiar with this company, here’s how it works: You put in the details of your dates, locations, and type of vehicle, and they email you with multiple options for you to choose from. This really saved me a lot of time and money! We had absolutely no issues and got a great deal!

5.       Pack to fit your trip.

If you will only stay a night or two in each destination, take that into account when you pack. Some people like for each person in their household to have their own suitcase (carry-on size preferably so it fits in the car!), but we actually used three suitcases for four people. A small, medium, and large. We each also had a backpack or large purse, in my case.

As far as what to pack, for a longer trip like this, you may not want to pack an outfit for each day. I am NOT a light packer, but I tried to consolidate as much as possible. Try to adopt a capsule wardrobe mentality-neutral pieces that can do double-duty and layer well (look it up on Pinterest if you need examples) work great. This strategy does cause you to have to wash clothes at least once during your trip. I know some people don’t like doing laundry on vacation, but this cut down on the amount we had to pack. I washed clothes three times on our trip, with the last loads on our final night. I love to do this because then when I get home, I just have to put our clothes away instead of having to do mountains of laundry when I’m already suffering from post-trip depression!

The types of clothes you pack will depend on the season you are traveling, but in California, especially Northern California, layers are always a good bet. In San Francisco, even in Summer, from one block to the next you may need a sweater or light jacket one minute, and you will be peeling it off on the next street. Check temperatures and pack accordingly.

6.     Get road trip essentials

If you’ve traveled with your family at all, you probably already know your must-haves. These are individual to different people/families, but a few things I recommend are:

o   Waters- Pack re-usable water bottles you can re-fill.

o   Snacks-We hit up Trader Joe’s at the beginning of our trip for snacks instead of packing them. I bought a re-usable bag there that had SF graphics on it. It became our snack bag for the rest of the trip. It was easy to pack it at the end of the trip when all the snacks were gone and made a great souvenir that I use all the time for grocery shopping.

o   Wipes My kids are older, but I always have these on hand-even when I’m solo-so many uses!

o   Motion-sickness bands/meds/essential oils- If you are prone to motion sickness, make sure to pack something to help you with this. Especially for driving Highway 1-it twists and turns the whole way!

o   Meds-I pack pain reliever, stomach meds, antibiotic ointment, & band aids at a minimum.

o   GPS App-We usually use Google Maps & sometimes Waze.

o   Portable charger-Batteries die quickly if you are using GPS to navigate.

o   Tissues-You just need them.

o   Games/books/toys/electronics- I used to make activity bags for my kids with things I bought at the dollar store. Every so often during the trip, I’d bring out something new. Sometimes I even wrapped them so it would be even more exciting. This was a cheap way to beat boredom, made the trip feel exciting, and was a cheap form of entertainment that kept them happy. My youngest daughter usually packs her own travel bag now (the oldest can definitely occupy herself-it’s usually music). We try to limit the electronics. Too much of a good thing is usually too much in the case of devices and for kids who are prone to motion-sickness, staring at a screen can sometimes cause issues.

7.       Pack your patience.

Everything takes longer than you think it will. Especially driving through Big Sur. You won’t get to “see it all” in one trip. I think even if we stayed a month, we would still have things we missed or places we wished we could’ve lingered longer. Give each other grace. Get out of the car to take breaks. Be flexible. Have fun! 

 Stay tuned for future posts with more detail on some of these California destinations!