Today’s post on a road trip for couples is sponsored by Boulder Canyon Foods.
Today we are sharing our ultimate guide to a road trip for couples! Traveling is one of our absolute favorite things to do together. We love going new places together and exploring new things. It helps keep our relationship fun and exciting.
Whenever possible, our favorite type of travel is a couples road trip. Whether that means just getting in the car and heading out without a pre determined destination or renting a car in a foreign country and traveling around, following our own path when we travel means road trips!
We love that we can stop whenever and wherever we want to explore. It gives us full control over our itinerary and we can stop in little towns that we never would’ve discovered otherwise.
Besides just being a great way to travel, we think a road trip for couples are such a great relationship booster! It’s an amazing time to bond together. When else do you have so much uninterrupted time together?
We find that a couples road trip always gets really interesting topics of conversation going for us. We bond in such a meaningful way. That being said, road trips for couples aren’t always easy!
They are also a good test to your relationship since you’re spending so much time together and things can go wrong.
Here’s our ultimate guide to a road trip for couples, including a checklist of things to take with you, road trip games for couples, fun things for couples to do on a road trip, road trip questions for couples, and how to maximize the trip for the ultimate relationship boost.
The Ultimate Guide to a Road Trip for Couples – Without Fighting!
Fun Things for Couples to Do on a Road Trip
The best part of a road trip for couples is the journey and not just the destination! Here are some of our favorite fun things for couples to do on a road trip.
1. Snack
Isn’t the best part of any road trip the snacks? A road trip for couples is no different! We probably give more thought to packing our food for a couples road trip than we even do our travel bag #priorities. We love bringing along a mix of sweet, salty, and crunchy options and try to keep the options as healthy as possible. Feeling gross after eating a ton of junk food is NOT a fun thing for couples to do on a road trip.
One of our latest favorite couples road trip snack finds are chips from Boulder Canyon. They provide that hearty crunch we crave with chips, but it’s a smarter choice in snacking. Boulder Canyon chips are made from simple ingredients, no trans fats, and are cooked in oils like avocado oil, olive oil, and coconut oil. My favorite flavor is the sea salt and cracked pepper made with avocado oil and Bassam’s favorite is the malt vinegar and sea salt. They recently re-branded and their new message is, “follow your path and take Boulder Canyon with you”. We absolutely love that because we feel like when we go on a couples road trip, it’s all about us following our path and we love taking Boulder Canyon along! Check out their new redesigned packaging that celebrates their 25th anniversary and is inspired by their heritage in the Flatirons of Colorado.
2. Listen to a podcast on shorter couples road trips
I love listening to podcasts on my own and I’ve recently gotten Bassam into listening to them with me when we go on a a romantic road trip. Our absolute favorite is How I Built This, a podcast that follows the story of various entrepreneurs and brands. It’s super inspiring and we love learning how our favorite brands got there start. We have a full list of podcasts for couples here.
Podcasts are especially great for shorter couples road trips, because you can binge listen to a few of them by the time you get to your destination.
For extra bonding on your road trip for couples, spend some time in between episodes discussing your favorite takeaways. We usually find that we each pick up on different things and it leads to great conversation. It’s also interesting to see how you may each interpret what you listened to differently. It’s a great way of learning more about how your partner thinks and processes information.
3. Listen to an audio book on a longer road trip for couples
One of our favorite fun things for couples to do on a road trip is listen to an audio book. Picking one together before we leave on our couples road trip helps us get excited for the trip and we usually pick something that we know we will both enjoy.
We tend to stick with mysteries and thrillers. We also like choosing books that are set wherever we are traveling.
Tip: download a few before you leave, that way if the first one you try doesn’t interest you both you can switch to another. Give it at least an hour or two before switching, as sometimes audio books can take some time to get into. You might also want to try increasing the speed.
Here are a few audio books we’ve recently loved on our road trip for couples:
- Project Hail Mary by, Andy Weil
- The Last Thing He Told Me by, Laura Dave
- Robert Gailbraith series
- Fair Play by, Eve Rodsky
- Everything is Figureoutable by, Marie Forleo
- The Scribe of Siena by, Melodie Winawer
4. Play road trip games for couples
Couples road trip games are so much fun for us! We will often take a listening break from podcasts of audio books on our couples road trip to play some games together. We have a full list of road trip games for couples in the next section of this post.
5. Ask each other road trip questions for couples
We love asking each other road trip questions for couples while we are on a couples road trip. It’s such a great way to have new and fresh conversations while learning more about each other. We can get really into some of the questions and have really long conversations that we wouldn’t ordinarily have. Such a great way to spice it up! We have a list of road trip questions for couples further down in the post.
7 Road Trip Games for Couples
We absolutely love playing couples road trip games! It’s such a great way to make the time pass faster, have fun together, and get a little silly with each other. Here are some fun road trip games for couples!
1. Guess that flavor
As we mentioned above, we love taking tons of snacks along on our road trip for couples. A fun road trip game for couples is to have the passenger feed the driver snacks, without the driver looking at what they are being fed. The driver then has to guess what the snack is or what the flavor is. We especially love doing this with Boulder Canyon chips since they come in so many great flavors like sea salt, malt vinegar and sea salt, Hickory BBQ, sea salt and cracked pepper, buffalo ranch, etc. If I REALLY want to test Bassam’s foodie skills, I’ll have him guess what type of oil is used in that chip! Olive oil, coconut oil, or avocado oil.
You can do this with anything though! Jellybeans are another fun one! We just really love taking Boulder Canyon chips on our couples road trips!
2. The License Plates Game
A classic, but it’s a classic for a reason. We actually play this road trip game for couples all the time and not just when we are on a couples road trip.
The way we play it, we start over each day but technically rules state that you carry on the plates you’ve seen from the whole road trip. The first person to see an out of state license plate calls out the name of the state and lightly punches the other person. S
ince this is a road trip game for couples, we suggest replacing the punch with something like a kiss or a caress, but whatever floats your boat!
3. Relationship 21 Questions
Update a classic game of 21 questions by having all questions revolve around your relationship. You can choose things like a favorite date spot, where you got engaged, who introduced you, first movie you saw together, etc. It’s a fun way to take a little trip down memory lane.
Another way we’ve updated this class road trip game is by doing “future” 21 questions. We pick things like a place we want to travel together, a bucket list activity we want to do together, etc. To make it easier, we tell the other person the theme at the start. It’s a great way to get to know more about each other while playing fun road trip games for couples.
4. Pick up a “hitchhiker”
This is one of the best road trip games for couples who have been together a long time! Spice things up a bit by pretending to be strangers. The driver will pretend they’ve picked up the passenger as a “hitchhiker”. The passenger will need to make up a story about who they are and where they are going. Over time, the conversation gets flirty and you take it from there!
Alternatively, if you don’t want to pretend to be someone else, just pretend you’ve just met and this is a first date. Break out your most charming first date conversations and flirtations. Sometimes a little novelty like this can add a lot of spark to a long term relationship!
5. Make up stories on your road trip for couples
One of our favorite road trip games for couples is to make up stories about other cars passing us by. We’ll dream up lives for them, create personalities for them, and more.
You can get really creative with this! Like maybe they are a group of international spies and they just mistook your car for villains they are on the hunt for! Creative activities like this are a great way to boost your bond together and get a little silly together!
6. Would You Rather questions for couples
Would You Rather is a classic road trip game, but road trip games for couples like this one help you learn more about each other. We’ve been together for over 17 years, but we still learn more about each other when we play games like this! For Would You Rather questions for couples, try picking outrageous questions, gross questions, serious questions, steamy questions, or questions of things you’d like to know each other or do in your relationship. There are so many ways to take this game! This is one of the few road trip games for couples that we’ll play for hours before getting tired.
Would You Rather Questions for couples:
- Would you rather eat Boulder Canyon BBQ chips or Sea Salt and Cracked Pepper?
- Would you rather lose the ability to lie or believe everything you’re told?
- Would you rather only vacation by the beach or in the city?
- Would you rather have three kids and no money or no kids but unlimited money?
- Would you rather have a morally questionable job and make tons of money or help people in your job and make very little money?
- Would you rather die in 5 years with no regrets or die in 20 years with lots of regrets?
- Would you rather travel 5o0 years into the future or 500 years into the past?
- Would you rather give up Google or social media?
- Would you rather give up your phone or your car?
- Would you rather lose all your memories from birth or not be able to make any new memories?
- Would you rather be happy with your achievements and not accomplish a lot or accomplish a lot but never be happy with your achievements?
- Would you rather be hated for doing a good thing or be loved for doing a bad thing?
7. Adult Mad Libs
This is a fun blast from the past turned road trip game for couples. Download an Adult Mad Libs app and have the passenger ask the driver for the parts of speech needed. At the end, you’ll have a funny Mad Libs story to read!
10 Road Trip Questions for Couples
We love road trip questions for couples because it helps us learn so much more about each other. The best part of a road trip for couples is that you get to bond more, have great conversations, and learn new things about each other.
Asking each other road trip questions for couples is a great way to get the conversation flowing and open up topics of conversation that you may never have talked about. Take turns asking each other your own questions or try our suggestions for enlightening road trip questions for couples.
Road trip questions for couples
1. If you could know the date you’d die, would you want to know?
2. If you were going to die in 5 years, what would you do with the rest of your life? Why aren’t you doing those things right now?
3. If you could be any character in a TV show or in a movie, who would you choose?
4. If you could only eat two foods again for the rest of your life, what would they be?
5. What are your favorite things about yourself?
6. What are your favorite things about me?
7. What is your favorite date we’ve been on?
8. If you could go anywhere in the world with me, where would you want to go?
9. What are your core values? (Check out this post for a step-by-step guide to figuring out your values)
10. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you choose?
How to minimize fights on a road trip for couples
While road trips for couples are a great way to bond, they can also lead to some fighting and arguments. Here are a few ways to minimize arguing on your couples road trip and just have a great time together!
1. Bring snacks for your couples road trip
Sounds silly, but we tend to notice that we bicker the most on couples road trips when we are hangry. Make sure you’re well equipped with snacks for when hunger strikes. We love Boulder Canyon chips because they are hearty enough to quell hunger, made of simple ingredients that we can feel good about, and deliver a satisfying crunch for any salty cravings!
2. Minimize FOMO on your couples road trip
One thing that always leads to fighting for us is a feeling of FOMO while on a road trip. I always want to see EVERYTHING and feel stressed when I feel like we are going to be missing out on things. When I get into a FOMO state of mind, I can get easily irritated and a bit grumpy. It has been important for me to work on not having FOMO to minimize fights during our couples road trips.
Here’s what works for me:
- I figure out my TOP things that I absolutely must do on the trip to make it feel like a success for me
- I accept that no matter what, we aren’t going to be able to see and do everything
- I remind myself that if we really love it, we can always plan a return trip
- I try to remember that if I’m having FOMO, I’m just wasting time from being able to enjoy the moment
- I try to enjoy the moment. The more I’m enjoying the moment and am focused on the moment, the more I’m able to let go of the things we don’t have time to see and do
3. Have an idea of where you want to go, but don’t plan too much
One of our favorite parts of a couples road trip is being able to be a little spontaneous. It adds excitement and adventure to the trip, which in turn adds excitement to our relationship. The best way to be able to be spontaneous during a couples road trip is by not over planning it. We try to know overall what our itinerary will look like, approximately what the route will look like, and a few proposed rest stops.
If we aren’t traveling during a busy season, then we won’t pre-book any hotels. This gives us the freedom to be able stop wherever we like or change our route if we find something interesting. If we are traveling during high season then we aren’t able to do this, but we love the flexibility it gives us when we can do it!
You’ll also want to do what works best for your individual personalities here. If too much spontaneity tends to stress you out and lead to fights, then you might want to plan a little more. Know yourselves and do what works best for you two.
4. Set a budget
Finances are often a huge source of tension for couples. Figure out a budget for your couples road trip and stick to it. You may want to know exactly how much you can spend in a day and factor in padding in case things go wrong or you end up having to spend a little more in some situations.
To make your budget as realistic as possible, do a little research before you leave on what prices are like for fuel, food, admissions, hotels, etc where you’ll be road tripping through.
5. Have a go with the flow attitude
Consider having a “go with the flow” attitude. Whatever happens, consider it part of the adventure and just go with it! This will help many tense moments go by smoothly and help you potentially enjoy parts of the trip that you wouldn’t have otherwise.
6. Consider switching off driving responsibilities
While Bassam usually always wants to drive, I convince him to switch off with me for a longer road trip for couples. We find that when we switch up who is driving every few hours, we both get tired less quickly and it keeps things less boring. This allows us to drive for longer stretches of time without feeling tired.
7. Choose priorities
If you’re anything like us, then you may have different travel styles and preferences than each other. Bassam and I usually want to see and do completely different things when we travel. To make sure we are both getting to do what we want to do, we each choose our top 3 things that we want to do on the trip. We prioritize doing each of our top 3 things before adding anything else. This helps minimize any disagreements about what to do because we both know that we are going to be able to do our top things.
8. Be prepared
Make sure you have everything you need, like car insurance. Make sure the car’s maintenance is up to date, for example tires and oil change. We often like to rent a car for our couples road trips, but do whatever works best for you here. Make a packing list before leaving and make sure to take everything. You can also follow our road trip checklist for couples, further down in the post.
How to use a couples road trip to bond
1. Set an intention for your couples road trip
Before going on any trip, we share with each other what our intention for the trip is. We try to have at least one thing that’s geared towards our relationship and one thing that’s not. We find this to be really helpful so that we go about the trip with mindfulness and we can get out of the trip what we were looking to get. At the end of the trip, we discuss whether or not we felt we accomplished our intention. It’s also a great thing to think about during rocky moments of the trip.
2. Re frame mishaps as an adventure on your couples road trip
Mishaps are bound to happen on a road trip for couples. You can choose to let it ruin your trip and fight over it or you can choose to see it as part of the adventure. Keep in mind that years from now, it’s going to be a great story and not feel as terrible as it does in the moment. Try to think of it from that perspective so that you can enjoy it NOW.
3. Take rest stops during your road trip for couples
It can be easy to try to avoid rest stops to get to your destination quicker, but a big part of an enjoyable couples road trip with maximized bonding opportunities is enjoying the journey. You never know what you mind find at a rest stop! We’ve found some of the most interesting places while on a road trip for couples because we pulled over for a rest stop.
Road Trip Checklist for Couples
Here’s a road trip checklist for couples for the most important things you’ll need to take on your couples road trip!
1. Snacks
By now you probably know we love Boulder Chips for our couples road trips. Find snacks you love that taste great, satisfy cravings and hunger, and are also healthy so you don’t end up feeling terrible on your couples road trip. Besides Boulder Canyon Chips, we bring along cut up fruits and vegetables, popcorn, dried fruit and nuts, and bars. Bringing your own snacks is also a great way to stick to your budget!
2. Bedding
You never know what might happen on your couples road trip and it’s always best to be prepared. We suggest bringing along some blankets and pillows just in case you can’t get a hotel that night and need to sleep in your car. You’ll be able to make the backseat comfy and it’ll all just feel like part of the adventure.
3. Offline map
Yes, most of us have navigation on our phones or in the car, but what will you do if you don’t have phone connection during parts of your road trip? We always download an offline option of Google Maps before road trips. During a road trip through Alaska, we brought along a paper map.
4. Fun things for couples to do on a road trip
To keep your road trip for couples fun and exciting, bring along a few fun things to do. You may want to bring music, pre download podcasts or audio books, or bring road trip games for couples.
5. Spare key
Just in case! You never know and don’t want to be stuck!
6. Wet wipes, napkins, hand sanitizer, toilet paper
These come in handy when on the road! Plus, you never know how equipped or not rest stop bathrooms with be!
7. All the practical stuff
The practical stuff is all self explanatory and a no brainer, but they can still be easy to forget! Since forgetting something like this can be a big deal and often not easily replaceable, make sure you have all of these items on the road trip checklist for couples.
- Car registration
- Car insurance
- Driver license
- Car user manual
- Spare tire
- First aid kit
- Flashlight
- Car charger for your phone
We hope this guide to a road trip for couples was helpful for you! Wishing you an amazing journey wherever your path takes you! If you’d like to take Boulder Canyon along on your couples road trip, check it out here!
Katherine says
These pictures are awesome!! Did you use your tripod for these?? So impressed, if so! And yum to the snacks! They look delicious.
Katherine | http://www.oneswainkycouple.com
happilyeveradventures says
Hi Katherine, thank you so much! Yes we did! The in the car ones didn’t come out exactly as I envisioned, but it was challenging with a closed car and tripod. Yes, LOVE Boulder Canyon!
Kat Scott says
These are super fun tips. I need to figure out how to take car pictures because we road trip a LOT. We love podcasts, snacks and we have been reading The Chronicles of Narnia on our long car trips.
happilyeveradventures says
Love you two road trip a lot! Which podcasts do you like to listen to together?
Mel says
I wonder if this was sponsored by boulder chips
happilyeveradventures says
There’s a disclaimer stating it up top! I hope you still found the information useful!
Joydeep says
Much needed suggestions. Thank you.
happilyeveradventures says
So glad it was helpful!