What to bring on a road trip: the list I've refined over 40,000km of driving

I once did a road trip through the south of France with a bag that contained three formal dresses, zero jumpers, a full-size hair dryer, and no emergency torch.

The hair dryer was because I’d convinced myself I might spontaneously need to attend an elegant dinner. Reader, I ate baguettes in a lay-by in a fleece I borrowed from my travel companion because I hadn’t packed any warm layers and the evenings in Provence in October are actually quite cold.

The torch would have been useful on night two when we had a flat tyre on an unlit road outside Aix-en-Provence and used our phones as torches until both phones died simultaneously.

Seven years and many road trips later, I have a refined, battle-tested list of what to bring on a road trip. The formal dresses are not on it.

The non-negotiables

Documents

Driver’s licence (your actual licence, not a photo of it)
Passport or national ID if you’re crossing borders
International Driving Permit if your destination requires it (check for your specific nationality and destination)
Vehicle registration or rental agreement
Insurance documents
Breakdown cover documentation

For rental cars: keep the rental company’s emergency number saved in your phone AND written down somewhere physical. A dead phone when you need to call for breakdown assistance is a bad combination.

Navigation

Your maps need to work. Not “I’ll use my phone’s data.” Actually work. Which means offline maps downloaded before you leave, a data plan that covers your destination (including across borders if applicable), and ideally a physical map or paper printout as a backup for genuinely remote drives.

Phones die. Signals disappear. Rural Portugal, the Scottish Highlands, central Australia, most of the American Southwest away from highways: you will hit pockets with zero signal. If your entire navigation plan requires a working phone with data, you will at some point be navigating without navigation.

I use an eSIM for international road trips so I have working data across multiple countries without swapping SIM cards at every border. Full explanation of how that works here.

Safety and emergency kit

This is the boring section that becomes the ONLY section if something goes wrong.

Breakdown basics

Spare tyre, jack, and wheel brace (know where they are in the car before you need them at 11pm in the rain)
Jump leads or a portable jump starter battery (the compact ones are excellent)
Emergency triangle and reflective vest (legally required in much of Europe, good idea everywhere)
Torch with working batteries or a rechargeable one
Basic toolkit: flathead and Phillips screwdriver, pliers, duct tape

Medical

First aid kit: plasters, antiseptic wipes, painkillers, antihistamines, blister care, bandages
Any prescription medication you take, plus a printed copy of the prescription
Motion sickness tablets if anyone in the car is prone
Rehydration sachets (especially for hot climates)

Survival basics (for remote or long drives)

Minimum 2 litres of water per person in the car at all times, more in hot or remote areas
Non-perishable snacks: energy bars, nuts, dried fruit (these are emergency food, not driving snacks)
Warm blanket even in summer (motorway breakdown at 3am is cold)
Emergency cash in local currency, separate from your main wallet

The water and cash are the two I feel most strongly about. A card reader that doesn’t work at a rural petrol station with 30km on the tank is a SITUATION. Cash fixes it. And being stranded without water in heat above 35 degrees goes from inconvenient to dangerous faster than you’d expect.

Tech

Phone and charging cable (obvious, but the cable gets forgotten constantly)
Portable power bank (charged before you leave)
Car phone mount (looking down at your phone on your lap while driving is dangerous and also illegal in most places)
Car charger or multi-port USB adapter for the car’s power socket
Bluetooth speaker if your car doesn’t have one (long drives are better with music that doesn’t come from tiny phone speakers)
Downloaded podcasts, audiobooks, and playlists for no-signal zones

That last point matters more than people expect. The Nullarbor, the Scottish Highlands, large chunks of rural France and Spain, most of the American West outside cities: the signal disappears for long stretches. If your entertainment requires streaming, plan for the gaps.

The comfort list

This is the difference between a road trip you enjoyed and one you merely survived.

For all trips

Sunglasses (driving into low sun without them is genuinely dangerous, not just uncomfortable)
Neck pillow for passengers
Rubbish bag (car becomes a disaster zone with nowhere to put coffee cups and crisp wrappers)
Wet wipes (works for: sticky hands, spilled coffee, emergency face refresh, surprising number of other problems)
Spare plastic bags (wet clothes, car sick passengers, muddy boots, all of these will happen on a long enough trip)
Reusable water bottles per person (refill at cafes and service stations, stay hydrated)

For hot weather

Portable cooler for drinks and perishables
Sun shade for rear windows
SPF (you sunburn through car windows more than you think, especially on long drives)

For cold weather

Scraper and de-icer if there’s any chance of frost
Extra layer or blanket in the car even if you’re not wearing it
Spare gloves (passenger-seat item, not luggage)

Food and snacks

Real talk: the service station is not your friend. Overpriced, limited options, sad sandwiches wrapped in cellophane.

Pack a cooler with actual food for long drives. Cheese, bread, fruit, leftovers, real snacks. Stop somewhere good for lunch rather than at the nearest motorway services. The difference this makes to a full driving day is significant.

The snacks I actually travel with:

Nuts (sustained energy, don’t need to be refrigerated)
Dark chocolate (the good stuff, not a Dairy Milk)
Crackers and something to put on them
Fresh fruit that travels well (apples, grapes, nothing that bruises dramatically)
Good coffee in a thermos if you’re leaving early

Driver comfort is actually a safety issue. A tired, hungry, thirsty driver is a worse driver. Plan for food and caffeine the same way you plan for fuel.

Clothes and overnight packing

The general principle: less than you think you need, but with the right things covered.

The things people forget:

A warm layer regardless of destination (planes, cars, and air-conditioned restaurants are cold even in summer)
Rain jacket (waterproof, packable, worth its weight everywhere)
Comfortable driving shoes (ballet flats or flip flops for long drives if you’re not the driver, proper shoes if you are)
One pair of shoes that can handle a spontaneous walk

For multi-night trips:

Small overnight bag that you can grab from the boot without unpacking the whole car
Toiletry bag that lives in the car (refill products sized for travel, always stocked)
Quick-dry towel if you’re staying at places without reliable towels

The thing about packing a car

You have more space than a plane allows and it’s tempting to fill it. Don’t.

A packed car means every stop requires archaeology to find what you need. It means boot space for groceries or market finds disappears. It means when the route changes unexpectedly and you need to repack at the roadside, it takes forty minutes.

Pack what you’d pack for a plane trip, put it in the boot, and use the remaining space for the actual road trip kit: the safety gear, the food, the comfort items. Those should be accessible from the back seat, not buried under three bags.

The formal dresses stay home. You’ve been warned.