11 Ultimate Road Trip Essentials For Couples

Last Updated on 11th May 2023

This post about my ultimate road trip essentials for couples contains affiliate links.

Since quitting our jobs to travel full-time, we’ve spent a whole lot of time embarking on many road trips around the world. From New Zealand to Australia to the USA to Scotland to Wales to Cyprus to the south coast of England in our self-converted campervan, we’re quite the experts on road trip travels, particularly when it comes to finding the best road trip essentials for couples!

If you’re planning a long road trip anytime soon, I’d highly recommend making notes as you read this post as it includes all the road trip essentials for couples that we couldn’t live without!

1. Comfortable shoes – road trip essentials for couples

One imperative road trip essential that I couldn’t live without is a pair (or two) of comfortable shoes.

My go-to shoes throughout our entire time in New Zealand (seriously, these were the only shoes I wore for our 5 week road trip around the South Island) were my beloved Vango Women’s Velan Waterproof walking boots.

Not only are they easily the most comfortable shoes I’ve ever had, but they’ve also served me so incredibly well during our time in both New Zealand and Australia. They’re remarkably easy to drive in and I genuinely couldn’t have survived our road trip around New Zealand without them.

When it came to driving in Australia, my hiking boots were a little too warm on my feet while driving, especially when we were in the car for more than 7 hours some days. I’ve opted to wear my grey Nike trainers instead and while they’re definitely not as comfortable as the Vango boots, they’re much more lightweight and breathable to be able to drive in Australia’s hot climates.

A good pair of shoes for driving is essential for any long-term road trip as you need to be as comfortable as possible and when your feet are doing all the ~leg work~, you need to be equipped with the right shoes!

Travel tip: see my entire packing list for our trip around the world here!

2. Hand sanitiser

Always ensuring that you’ve got plenty of hand sanitiser might not be imperative for every type of road trip but when you’re travelling across New Zealand and Australia and staying at many free campsites, chances are that the “toilets” aren’t going to be very well equipped with hand washing facilities.

Not only that, but you’ll probably want to make sure your hands are clean before you eat and after you’ve filled up with petrol; God only knows whose grimy hands have touched that petrol pump!

3. Portable charger/car charger

Another one of my absolute must-have road trip essentials is a long-lasting portable charger or a decent in-car charger adapter.

We use the Iceworks 10000mah portable charger (the 10000 is currently unavailable but you can grab the 7000 one here!) which is by far the best portable charger I’ve ever used and owned.

It has one USB slot, one USB C slot and a Micro USB slot as well and it will charge my iPhone X from 0% to 100% twice; it really is one of the best technological investments we’ve made for travelling as it means that even when we stay at free campsites without power for up to three nights, we can still charge our phones! I really couldn’t recommend this portable charger enough if you’re planning a road trip!

4. Snacks – road trip essentials for couples

For me, snacks are an integral part of any road trip, no matter how short or long.

When you’re driving for hours on end but are still trying to travel on a budget, then stopping off at every McDonald’s or KFC you see might seem incredibly tempting, but it’s going to do nothing for your bank account (or waistline!).

While we did make more than a few scheduled Maccies stops throughout our trips across NZ and Australia, more often than not we just stuck to car snacks.

My go-to road trip snacks are crisps (usually Pringles if we could find some on offer), a large “sharing” bar of chocolate and some sweets such as Haribo Gold Bears (my fave) or Woolworths’ own ‘Snakes’ sweets which are so yummy!

P.S. The cider was obviously not drunk while either of us were driving; I know that’s very obvious but I just wanted to make it explicitly clear!

5. Podcast/music playlist

Another incredibly important road trip essential is having a good podcast or extensive music playlist while you’re driving.

Having something playing in the background while you’re driving can help to keep your attention alert and stop you from falling asleep.

7-hour journeys can get pretty tiring so it’s imperative to keep your attention as engaged as possible and a hearty music playlist or a thought-provoking podcast is a sure-fire way to do that!

Read more: The Ultimate Road Trip Playlist For Long Drives

6. Head torch

Similarly to my point about hand sanitiser, it really depends on where and what your road trip involves as to whether you’d consider a head torch a ‘road trip essential’ or not.

We definitely needed one as we spent a fair bit of time driving in the dark, especially in New Zealand, so whenever we pulled up for the night, we needed to navigate our way around.

It’s also good to have a head torch or just a light-emitting device in your vehicle anyway, just in case you break down in the middle of nowhere in the pitch-black…

The head torches we have are only £9.99 on Amazon and they’re USB rechargeable so we don’t have to worry about replacing batteries all the time!

7. Car insurance

This particular road trip essential is probably a given anyway, but I wanted to highlight just how important car insurance is when you’re undertaking a mammoth road trip.

Anything could happen while you’re on the road and on some remote stretches of road in places like New Zealand and Australia, you’ll be mightily grateful that you have cover if anything were to happen.

It’s actually pretty common to be involved in collisions with kangaroos (I know, I thought people were joking at first too!) and after seeing first-hand (many times, actually) the damage that hitting an animal can do while driving at 100kmph, it’s imperative to ensure you’re fully comped, especially if you’re hiring a campervan.

While we had no issues with our two campervans in New Zealand, our van in Australia actually gave us a bit of trouble and we had to take it to be fixed twice so I’m beyond relieved that we had excellent car insurance otherwise we’d have been drastically out of pocket!

As well as car insurance, I always make sure I have proper travel insurance too, as you never know what could happen while out on the road.

8. Sunglasses – road trip essentials for couples

Again, this point is probably very dependent on where your road trip is taking place (if you’re travelling around England for example, you probably don’t need sunglasses 😉 ).

However, we found wearing sunglasses while driving to be an absolute Godsend, especially in Australia when there’s almost-perpetual sunshine beating down on you while in the car.

It also helps to avoid the dazing reflections from the sun off other vehicles and it’s generally just easier to drive in sunglasses rather than being blinded by the sun!

9. Plenty of water/fizzy drinks

Alongside plenty of snacks, you also need to ensure that you’re equipped with a plethora of liquids before you embark on your road trip.

On some of our longer drives, we could go through at least 3 litres of water so it’s definitely a good idea to be well stocked up so that you can stay hydrated while on the road.

While water will always be my go-to road trip beverage of choice, sometimes I desperately craved a sugary drink, especially if we’d been stuck in the car for hours on end in the blistering heat. A refreshing can of ice-cold Coca-Cola was a delight every once in a while!

10. A good moisturiser

One of the more surprising ultimate road trip essentials that I couldn’t live without was a decent moisturiser.

Being in the car for hours, with dirty air conditioning blasting definitely didn’t do any good for my skin and by the time we pulled up at the end of a long day of driving, my face looked and felt disgusting.

Whenever we were driving, I’d always keep a tin of Vaseline to hand as I’ve used them ever since I can remember and they’re always my go-to lip balm brand.

As for face moisturiser, it’s harder now to be picky about what I use since we’re travelling on a budget, but I always try and find the most nourishing one that will sort my face right out if it’s feeling particularly dry and lacklustre.

11. An excellent road trip buddy – road trip essentials for couples

Last but no means least on my list of ultimate road trip essentials is an excellent travel buddy!

Road trips can be incredibly tense and strenuous, especially when it comes to navigating an enormous campervan through a busy city or trying to make your way up a mountain in the middle of the night (been there and done that!). But one thing that makes it infinitely more manageable and dare I say ~enjoyable~ is having a great road trip partner to experience those things with.

Luckily for me, I’m well equipped with a remarkable road trip/travel partner in Matt and while some days were pretty testing when it came to driving all day, we were both always so grateful to have each other’s company.

Finding someone you’re willing to spend every single moment with for a long period of time is a pretty arduous task, but once you’ve found them, you’ll never look back and you’ll have the most sensational road trip experience of your life!

Pin for later – road trip essentials for couples

What are your ultimate road trip essentials for couples? Let me know in the comments or on Instagram at @imjustagirl_16.