Getting ready for a long day trip

I love taking long day trips. In the last years we had long day trips in: Anglesey, Powis and other places in Wales, we went to Harrogate, Birmingham, Glasgow, Gretna Green, many times in Yorkshire, White Peak and Cumbria. Of course, one of our favourite places for a long day trip is London. We tried to get there with the train and it doesn’t work for us, while the journey with the train might be faster, we’ve spent too much time to get to the train station and, of course, we didn’t have the same flexibility in London as we do with the car. So, after that, all our day trips to London were with the car. We did 2 day trips to London this year, we both love it.

One of the most important things when it comes to long day trips are the tyres. Having to change a blown up tyre on the hard shoulder while cars pass by you at 70mph can’t be a very pleasant experience. Tyres in Liverpool can be found on Point S*.
My husband checks the tyre pressure on the day before the trip, when he is topping up with petrol. We always try to have them in great shape. We might take the dog with us, so that adds a bit more pressure, as the spare tyre is in the boot, underneath his cage. I can’t even imagine how stressful that would be. Something like this can ruin a lovely day trip.

Beside having the car ready, my second tip is to have a list with at least a couple of car parks for each place you want to visit. Of course, a lot of coins are a must, unless you fancy spending 5 minutes to pay by phone and getting an additional fee for the privilege. I know it’s boring looking for car parks, but it’s so much better to have a look at home rather than driving around hoping there is one available at a great price.
The first time we parked in London we’ve spent almost £30 for half a day and not exactly in the city centre. Now we have a list with better options, depending on where we want to go. The car parks might be in the Congestion Charge or not, but close enough to be in walking distance of what we wanted to see. By chance we discovered a free car park in the centre, but only on Sunday and quite small.

The third ingredient for a perfect day trip is a list with what to visit and, more important, second (or 3rd/4th) options. An attraction might be too crowded and you might decide it’s not worth waiting so much time for it. Another thing that can happen is that it takes less to see it for whatever reason, like a part being closed for a special exhibition/event. I always try to have at least one more option. If everything goes to plan, I can always keep the option in mind for a future trip.

These are my 3 tips on how to prepare for a long day trip. Do you have any? Writing this post made me think of our next very long day trip and that might be as early as the next couple of weeks if nothing else happens, as for the destination… as you might have guessed: London. But, before that, tomorrow we are heading to north Wales.

* Sponsored post. All opinions are, obviously, my own.