How to Plan Your Dream Culinary Road Trip
A summer road trip is hard to beat. Something about hitting the open road with family and friends fills our hearts with happiness and freedom. It’s often the laughs shared in the car that are remembered more fondly than trip activities. Those memories must be cherished.
A great way to enhance a road trip is to merge it with another interest of yours. Nothing brings people together quite like food, so a culinary road trip ticks a lot of boxes for people. In fact, a culinary-themed event, in general, is hard to beat.
Unless you’ve got an endless amount of time and a bottomless bank account, you will have to curb the road trip somewhat. Logistically, it’s probably impossible to complete your restaurant bucket list on one trip. The journey needs structure, and it should make sense. Therefore you need to plan.
Here are seven steps to plan the perfect culinary road trip.
Photo by Skitterphoto from Pexels.
- Define your travel radius
Decide how far you are willing to travel on this trip. Some people enjoy spending hours on the road, taking in their surroundings as they go. Others begin to get restless after a couple of hours in a vehicle.
- Prioritize food tastes
Will your goal be to try out the best barbecue spots in an area, or are you hoping to taste a variety of food? Deciding what types of food you want gives the trip more of a purpose, and it makes planning a lot easier.
- Research restaurants within the radius
Once you’ve settled on a distance radius and prioritized your food tastes, you can begin cultivating your restaurant hit list. Research restaurants within the outlined radius and create a master list. Using reviews and recommendations, rank the restaurants in order of preference. Unfortunately, you won’t get to all of them, so you need to prioritize.
Make sure that these restaurants fall within your allocated vacation budget.
- Plot your route
With your prioritized list in mind, plot a route that allows you to hit as many restaurants as you can, in a way that makes directional sense.
- Schedule the journey
Scheduling a culinary trip can be tricky. Delays can happen, some restaurants might be fully booked, and other unforeseen circumstances can disrupt the plan. Therefore, you should plan as much as possible but remain open to spontaneity.
Book accommodation, reserve in advance (where possible), calculate travel time, and factor in other activities when scheduling.
- Prepare your vehicle
Ensure that your vehicle is roadworthy and prepare it for the journey. Here is a quick checklist:
- Check lights.
- Test brakes.
- Top up essential fluids.
- Clean the vehicle.
- Get a service (if necessary).
- Bring a spare tire.
- Pack a breakdown kit.
- Bring snacks!
Security is also important to consider. Seek legal advice for any insurance concerns. If you are unfortunate enough to get into an accident, be sure to contact highly qualified car accident lawyers.
- Document your trip
This could be the trip of a lifetime, so document it well. Take photos and videos, before, during and after your meals. Write personal reviews or make vlogs to document your fresh reactions to the amazing food. This will help your great memories last a lifetime.
Hi I'm glad your here! I love to cook, bake and try new recipes. I enjoy food photography and reviewing products. Hope you enjoy my recipes, thanks for visiting! Sheila