Road trips are an incredibly fun and fulfilling type of traveling adventure, and you should definitely seek to experience one at some point in your life.
Unfortunately, just as you would if you were to travel by air or by sea, you will be liable to encounter a number of different complications when you decide to embark on your first road-based excursion. Fear not, however, as help is at hand. We’ve gone ahead and unearthed two of the most common problems that you will be likely to face on your road trip, as well as comprehensive advice on how to deal with them.
If you want to enjoy a smooth road trip experience, be sure to heed the information and advice laid out below.
Road collisions
If you embark on a road trip in a foreign country, your chances of being involved in a road collision will be higher than they usually are back home. The fact that you aren’t well versed with the local rules of the road means that you won’t necessarily know how to avoid all the dangers that you encounter, which in turns means that you could find yourself colliding with other vehicles at any time. You could accidentally start driving on the wrong side of the road, or you could easily take the wrong turn when approaching roundabouts or junctions.
Should you find yourself involved in a collision on your road trip, it’s imperative that you deal with the situation in a swift, seamless, and proactive fashion. The best thing that you can do in this instance is take your vehicle to be checked over by an automotive professional. As soon as you pull up at the San Diego auto body and collision repair shop in Escondido, this hard working team of experts will start fixing your vehicle right away. Whether you car has only suffered bodywork damage or whether its wheel alignment has been altered, they will do their utmost best to get you back on the road.
Getting lost
Getting lost while road tripping can be incredibly fun and exhilarating… but only when you don’t actually have to be somewhere within a certain time frame. When you have some sort of a schedule to abide by, finding yourself adrift in the middle of nowhere can be a highly distressing and disorientating experience.
Of course, nowadays you can turn to the GPS map on your smartphone for assistance in this instance. But what happens if you have no connection? Or your phone has died and you don’t have a charger at hand? This might sound like your idea of a nightmare, but fear not as there are a number of ways to handle this type of situation in an efficient and effective fashion. Here’s everything you must do to get yourself back on course without having to turn to your smartphone for assistance:
- Attempt to navigate your way back on track by looking at rooftop satellite dishes (as a general rule of thumb, they tend to point in the direction of the equator)
- Embrace the STOP rule:
- Stop driving around aimlessly
- Think rationally and stay calm
- Observe your surroundings
- Pull over and make a plan
- Locate landmarks that you have already come across and use them as your central location
- If you’re feeling brave enough, pull over and ask someone to point you in the right direction
