Michael Palmer, his wife and their three children
With close to 900,000 kilometres of roadway, Canada offers an abundance of options for people who love nothing more than to get behind the steering wheel for some adventure.
As the self-appointed CEO of family travel and fun for his household, Michael Palmer (no relation) has the road trip routine down pat. Palmer, in fact, went on a 17,000-km, 63-day road trip two summers ago with his wife and their three young children, and tales of their adventures could, quite literally, fill a book. So it’s not at all surprising that Palmer, a Calgarian who works in the oil and gas industry, is the author of No Tranquilizers! 17,000 kms, 63 Days, 3 Kids, 1 Van, a book that is due out in early 2016.
“The whole point of this trip was to get away from the fast pace of the city,” said Palmer, who partnered with Canadian Tire to share the joys of road trips with fellow Canadians. “The biggest thing for us was to engage on this road trip as a family and also to engage with nature because there’s a lot of nature that goes by you as you’re driving along.”
Indeed, there’s plenty to experience from sea to sea, so what follows are some tips that people can use to make their road trips memorable for all of the right reasons.
Tip #1: Get vehicle checked out before trip
The first thing that people need to do before hitting the open road is to get their vehicles checked out by a trusted auto mechanic, said Palmer. He stressed that it’s important to ensure that tires, lights and other critical components are in good working order. Before heading off for the epic two-month road trip, Palmer got new all-season tires and a new battery for the family minivan.
Tip #2: Don’t cram too much driving into a single day
Looking back at the road trip that was, Palmer said that he and his wife learned what worked and what didn’t work while traveling with young children. Although there were some days that they drove for 10 hours, Palmer and his wife eventually made an adjustment to how long they spent on the road each day.
“In our case, sometimes we actually drove too long,” he acknowledged. “We ended up averaging, over all, five or six hours. You don’t want to pile in too many hours in one day. Kids tend to get antsy and bored, and that kind of leads to a bad evening.”
Tip #3: Stop and smell the roses
Palmer said that people should not try to pack too much into their trips. Sometimes, less is more, and it can be more meaningful to spend more time at fewer destinations along the way than to rush to too many landmarks and places of interest. While noting that he and his family may have packed too much into their trip, he added that it worked out in the end since one of the primary objectives was the educational component.
Tip #4: Bring the right stuff
Bringing the right products and technology is definitely important, said Palmer. He actually used quite a bit of Canadian Tire’s products during the road trip. Things like the retailer’s Glovebox organizer, a folding type of bag that he and his wife used to store their kids’ stuff; a GPS unit; and Armor All cleaning wipes proved particularly useful.
Best Buy Canada is another place where Canadians can get products for their road trips. Although many people planning for road trips might think that packing clothes and a digital camera is all there is to it, Kenn Hill, deputy of autotech operations at Best Buy Canada, said that there are lots of things available that can make trips more enjoyable and meaningful.
The Bose SoundLink Mini II Bluetooth wireless speaker, he said, is great for people who want to make the most of their stops along the way. It’s “is a great little item to have so that you always have some music around you to keep yourself entertained while you’re taking those short breaks on your trip,” said Hill.
Another product to consider is the Seagate Backup Plus Slim 2TB external portable hard drive, which has enough storage capacity to allow the whole family to load music, videos and pics. Hill explained that the stored content can be accessed without having to worry about things like an Internet connection or data usage fees.
For people who want a way to record things along the route that they might otherwise miss, the Thinkware dash cam is the answer, said Hill. He added that the GoPro HERO4 is a great piece of technology to carry since it comes with different mounts and is very versatile.
“I have done the GoPro,” said Hill. “It’s fantastic. The image quality and the versatility of it just means that no matter where you are, you can record that life moment and capture it a lot easier than walking around with your cellphone.”
There is definitely plenty to see and do in Canada, and the aforementioned tips can help Canadians to get behind the steering wheel and have some exciting adventures of their own.
“It was quite an adventure,” said Palmer, referring to his family’s epic road trip. “And we learned a lot.”
Best Deals today in www.freepromonow.com
