I love a good road trip. They were very prevalent in my life a few years ago and suddenly died off when I moved to Durban. There is so much that goes into a good road trip, one wrong element can ruin the whole trip. In the spirit of the new year and haven’t had a road trip in forever, my friends and I decided to road trip from Durban to Cape Town via the Eastern Cape and the Garden Route. It is a loooong journey – 1683 km to be exact. In this post, I list some of my road trip tips and tricks and a sneak peek into my Durban to Cape Town road trip.
Here are some of the pictures and my ideas about what makes a road trip the one.
Take regular stops for pictures. Plan your trip such that you are not pressed for time, this way you can stop at interesting places and take pictures. Or like we did, stop the car on the side of the road for a mini dance session. Part of the fun of a road trip is the actual trip and the discoveries you can make along the way.
Load up your own music. This is a must, especially if you’re going to be driving in place with no radio reception.
Choose the right driving stint. I was one of the day drivers because I don’t do night driving so well. However, I drove from Durban to just outside King Williams Town – it was such a horrible drive filled with shady single lane roads and road construction which meant stop and gos all over the place. So choose wisely.
Have sufficient snacks. I was trying to keep it healthy while on my road trip and I bought some healthy snacks before leaving home. This is so important because it can be hard to find healthy food on the road, especially if you’re only stopping at petrol stations. I packed some nuts, blueberries and tomatoes – these came in very handy.
Learn a new skill. When you’re spending so much time on the road, you might as well improve on some of your life skills. On the second day of our trip when I wasn’t driving anymore and I had a chance to relax in the back seat I decided to learn to open a bottle cap using another bottle – something that has eluded me for the longest time. My hands were painful from tryna get it right, I didn’t manage to in the end.
Below are some of my other road trip highlights. I will have a Cape Town highlights blog post in the coming days. Check the blog for that.
Our first pit stop was in Margate for breakfast.
Driving through small towns that I had never heard of before. Hello Riviersonderend!
Chasing the sun
We stopped for a late lunch in a town called Swellendam
The car we were using, it had to be big enough to take all our luggage.
Foward ever, backward never
Playing around with my camera
Cooling off by a fountain just outside the town of George.
Random bicycle outside our restaurant in Swellendam
Windmills in the Eastern Cape, there were so many of them and they are soooo huge!
Approaching Jeffrey’s Bay
Wow! You certainly had a blast-full road trip.
Love the snaps! I think the tips on preparing for a good road trip are so essential. Often we just pack up and go, without really paying mind to what we will be listening to, eating, where we will be sight seeing, making pit stops. It is really important to prepare! You look like you had a blast!
xoxo!
Thanks Katli! It was a great trip
Wooow looks like it was a fun trip #greenWithEnvy
thank you so much…this is going to help me a lot on my road trip to the cape
You’re welcome Nesa 🙂
Choose your driving stink wisely – great advice right there.
Girrrrrrl! It is key.
wow thanks for sharing, we plan to go in december how bad are the roads.im planning to stop at pe overnight and go the next day. we are 7 of us .
Hi Farouk, the roads are great from East London to Cape Town. Between Umtata and East London the road is good but windy and busy, so you have to go slow. You’ll enjoy the trip!
I loved your tips and photos. Planning a toad trip with my two adult children and my dad…..three generations to please?????
It’s going to be tricky having 3 generations to cater for! oi! my tip would be to take a lot of breaks from being in the car 🙂
Thank you for the comment Leanne