EXPERT ROAD TRIP TIPS (for long distance trips)

We are on a 45 day road trip from California to Connecticut and we are now in Arizona. In this video we're going to be sharing with you our tips for a long road trip including some of our favorite hacks. We also live in this van so we know a thing or two about doing long distance driving. We're currently in Tucson, Arizona and we're going to be covering a lot of ground in the next few days so we're excited to take you guys along the ride with us for extra company because sometimes Megan doesn't like to talk to me and she just wants to sleep. While Matt's getting the van ready in the back I'm going to share with you our number one hack. If you guys watched our last video you'll know that we fill these bladders up with water and then we hang them up right next to our chair so that as we're driving we can have hands-free hydration. All right we are off on our next adventure. Where are the keys? First step to any successful road trip is keys. Check. Next step gas. There are a lot of different ways that we save money on gas. The first one is by using Upside. It's a free app that you can use to get extra cash back at select locations. We're going to link our link down below and you can check that out. It's absolutely free. Next thing we use is cash back credit cards so we have one that gives us five percent cash back on all of our purchases at any gas station. We use apps like GasBuddy to show the lowest price gas stations in the area and right now we're getting gas for $3.29 and we're getting additional cents off per gallon using the Upside app and five percent cash back on my credit card for massive massive savings on gas. Before we really hit the road there's something that's a little bit overdue on our van. I really need to get a new air filter for it. It's been quite a while since we replaced it and I figured because we're going such a long distance might as well pop at the AutoZone which is just next to the gas station and just get that done. It should take less than five minutes. Come on B, find your place. Oh no, there's a B in the van? Uh-huh. You want me to get him out for you? He'll find his way. They always do. No, he regressed. Today's project is swapping out the air filter. It's a couple of screws, a couple of bolts. Should be very quick and easy. I probably just jinxed myself and we might be here all day now. So I'm just gonna knock on the old wood and let's get started. I have to say having a multi-tool is one of the most handy things to have in the van. Rather than having to crank out all the tools and find the toolbox and open up the stuff in the garage, most of the quick fixes can be done with just something like this. Oh ew. Yuck. Yeah, I'd say we are long long overdue. This is our new air filter and it's gonna make our engine much happier. Hopefully we'll get some improved fuel efficiency. And I definitely should have done this a while ago. Now it's time to check the oil. You guys seen the price of paper towels lately? It's more expensive than gas. Coolant's good, wiper fluid's good. We're ready to hit the road. I honestly can't believe how long we went without changing that air filter. The ex-mechanic in me is quite disappointed in myself. All right, now that that is all sorted, we are officially road ready. We've had our coffee for the day, we had a nice little breakfast, and now we got about four and a half hours to drive to our first destination of this road trip east. I swear, you turn 30 and getting into the front seat of your car, it's a little bit harder. I'm gonna be 31 this year, guys. 31, treinta y uno. All right, first stop and we have two hours left of today's drive. Our next tip is actually to switch every two hours. I read in a study a few years ago that if you stop on your road trip every two hours or so, it's a lot better for your legs, for your heart, pretty much for your entire body. We realized that if one person drives for more than two hours, they usually get burnt out for the rest of the day. We're gonna try to keep under five today for some longer drives the next couple of days. Okay, not sure if this is a hack, but it's a big tip. Make sure you go grocery shopping right before the road trip and get everyone's favorite snacks, not just some snacks, everyone's favorite snacks because people get cranky on the road and you want to make sure they're happy. Honestly, I could probably eat peanut butter with a spoonful for a whole jar and, you know, possibly suffocate because it's a lot of peanut butter. But that's pretty much my snack I go to. Peanut butter, peanut butter honey, peanut butter maple syrup, peanut butter on sandwiches, peanut butter bananas. He loves peanut butter, guys. He loves peanut butter. I personally am not a fan. Okay, the biggest, biggest tip we have is to make sure you have actual music rules. Who's in charge of music and who gets to choose it? Our rule is whoever drives gets to choose music and Matt's music's so boring. I like to choose musical theater and start from the top and then go through the whole show during my drive. Right now, I'm gonna go for Rent, but usually I go for Hamilton. I'm gonna save that a little bit for tomorrow. And I'm gonna go get my noise-canceling headphones and completely tone out Rent because it's a good show. You like it. I like my music. You like yours. It's just not, you know, talking about each other's music. You talk about my music all the time. Because yours is objectively boring. Okay. And nerd-like. You're nerd-like. Whatever. After a quick shower at Planet Fitness, we are back on the road. And this is a short drive. We're gonna go camp with some friends that you guys might know. They were our first friends on the road ever. And the first people we met while we were living in a van full-time. So let's hit it. We have a four-hour drive ahead of us. Let's ride. We just got an email saying we got $1.30 back from Upside yesterday on our fill-up. And we're gonna fill up again. $1.30 doesn't sound like a lot. But when you're spending hundreds of dollars on gas, it's pretty significant. $0.25 cash back. Yesterday was only $0.08. Today's $0.25. Per gallon? Yeah, per gallon. That's sweet. Yeah. So we're gonna be paying about $3.04 according to the app. Wow! Yeah, pretty solid. Sorry, you were supposed to speak and I'm just reacting to the sick savings. Let's ride. So right now the gas says $3.29 and we're gonna be getting $0.25 back. So that's $3.04 we're gonna be paying for gas on top of whatever 5% discount we get from my credit card. So massive gas savings. I hate myself. All right, we are settled in. We are at our campsite for the night. We're waiting for our friends Andy and Lauren to get here. It's gonna be an awesome time. Are we on? Yeah. Okay. If you guys have been following us from the beginning, you'll know Andy and Lauren. They have been our friends from day one. And this is their first time on BLM land, so we feel really special. After a whole year to get on the BLM land. Yeah, and so now they're spending the entire spring and summer out west, which is the place to be if you live in a van. So we're really excited for them and giving them all the tips, helping them with their route and all that. Yeah, we're just gonna basically copy you guys. Honestly, it's not a bad idea. Yeah, you guys have always influenced us from the very beginning. We bought our first vacuum because of you and AeroPress. And your second vacuum. We bought our second vacuum and a new coffee machine. And now we're just gonna copy your entire west coast itinerary. Yeah, do it. As Matt has said, influenced. We've been influenced. We're just gonna hang out for the rest of the night and we'll see you in the morning. Morning, baby. Thank you. How are you feeling today? Ready for a long drive day? Freak yeah, let's party. When's the last time we did a drive this long? Ooh, um, Alaska Highway. I think we have it down to a T. First up, leaving the bed as is. So that whenever the person who's sitting in the passenger seat really just needs to sprawl out, they can come out to the back and have a little nap by themselves and not have to share bedsheets with the hogger. To be completely honest with you guys, Megan and I are in love. And she loves sharing her sheets with me. I'm significantly larger than Megan, so therefore I need more bedding. Megan does not see the same way as me. We have this basket and it's called the grab basket, the easy grab basket. I don't know. It doesn't have a name yet. You guys can name it yourself. Comment below what you think we should name it. But it's basically like everything we're gonna grab while we're driving and we put it right here. So we've got a massager because on those long drives you get stiff. This is where we put our cameras now because usually I just hold it and that's just... I don't want to hold the camera the whole time. An extra shirt in case we get cold. An extra hat in case I get sun in my eye. Some tripods. Some napkins. Snacks. Very essential. And last but not least, we have the Atlas. I can't tell you how many times we've reached for this Atlas while we were driving and we had to figure out our way because the GPS didn't work. So always have an Atlas when you do a road trip especially if it's long distance because you never know when you're going to drop service. And that's our easy-go bag for expert road trips from an expert. Good to see you, man. Good to see you too. Take it easy. Yeah. Yeah, let's take one picture. Oh, it's so good seeing you guys. And I'm so excited. We'll see you guys again. Yeah. Glad to see you. Thank you. You too. Catch you later. All right, we are two hours in and ready for breakfast. So we're going to do a driver change and fuel up for this next two hours. I'll be honest, Texas, a little boring on this ride. The most you'll see is cows, oil fields, and flat, flat lands. But I'm extremely grateful that we have our house with us because we can just quickly pull over on the side of this highway and make some avocado toast and get right back on the road. Oh, that would have been so cool if I sliced right through it. For you, my lady. That's the good stuff? My legs get really numb because my feet don't touch the ground. So my butt gets really numb really easily. But my two hours is up, baby. Ready to go? All right, I've got the next two hours. And then Megan's going to take us the two hours into Dallas. Are you excited for that part? I'm ready for barbecue. Yeah, we're going to get some awesome, delicious barbecue. We made it to Dallas and we're ready to get some barbecue. I'm so excited because I'm so freaking hungry. And we did not stop for lunch. I am stuffed. That was so good. I will have to say, last time we were in Dallas, we had Terry Black's and the sausage here was amazing. But the brisket was better at Terry Black's. So if you guys like brisket like I do, I think Terry Black's is the one. So we're going to head out and try to catch a Cracker Barrel for the night. And we'll see you tomorrow morning. Good morning, everybody. I am up early. Megan's going to sleep in the bed. This is the system that we do every now and then. I'll get up really early and I'll just start driving. And then she'll take over when she wakes up. And then I kind of take a little nap. And then we just switch on and off. I think it's a better way to conserve energy for both of us. That way we're both a little bit more rested and we can both get more driving done. Let's get some gas and hit the road. All right, so this is about $50. And there's an additional 10 cents per gallon. So we had 17 gallons. So it's gonna be about another $1.70 on top of the 5% back. So we were racking up the fuel savings on this trip. Honestly, gas buddy. Gotta check it out. One advantage of getting up before sunrise and headed east is that I'm gonna see a pretty awesome sunrise this morning. I'm already seeing the clouds starting to form and the lights starting to change. I think it's gonna be a banger. Now that we're fueled up, we are ready to hit the road. I'm gonna drive the first leg. Megan's gonna start driving whenever she wakes up. I think it's an awesome system we have. I'll get up early and I'll just start driving. And then whenever Megan gets up, she takes over for a few hours. And then we just switch on and off that way. Honestly, that bed staying out, such a hack. If you are road tripping in a car, you cannot use this hack. This massager really brings my shower song to a whole new level. I need a shower so bad. Do I sound like a robot? It sounds kind of like an autotune sort of deal. Oh, you lost the rubber thingy. My body already feels like I've been driving for too long or sitting in a car for too long. These massagers are great. If you've ever had the airline lose your baggage, great chance it ended up here. It's actually the only place lost baggage goes after the 90 days that airlines have to find it. So wait for us because we're gonna get some stuff for Europe. So there's not really anything in particular that I'm looking for. But if I do find a nice kind of like a linen shirt or a nicer dress shirt, I'm gonna get that because most of my clothes are pretty much athleisure. And after a year and a half of van life, they're pretty trashed. So it's time for a new wardrobe update. And honestly, this could be the place for it. I found a linen shirt. On the way here, I was like, I need to find a long sleeve linen shirt. Found one. Wanna see what I found? Allbirds linen shirt. Wow. Yeah, looks sick. I'm gonna try it on and see how it looks. Yeah. I think this is the one that screams like we're at the Spanish beaches. Oh, yeah. What do you think? I think it looks really nice on you. Yeah. There's a good chance you can find something that you definitely would want or need for your next trip if you're coming here. They have literally everything. Watches, iPads, headphones, cheap headphones, expensive headphones. You name it, they got it. Yeah, all you have to do is drive to Scottsboro, Alabama. I will say it's not like everything here is super cheap. There are still a ton of things that are pretty close to retail prices, but probably still cheaper than if you were to buy a brand new. After a week on the road, we finally made it to Florida. And our last piece of advice is just to make sure you have fun. Road trips are so stressful. And if you don't have fun, it's really not worth it. So we hope that you liked this video and got some value out of it. If you have any more tips for anyone else who's doing a road trip, please comment below. And we hope you stick around. Subscribe to our channel because we're going to be exploring Florida before we head over to Europe.