My Fall Road Trip Essentials

My fall road trip essentials list is short, because what you actually reach for in a car is never the stuff that looks good packed in a suitcase. The Stanley 40 ounce Quencher is first, and I know everyone has one, but there is a reason. It fits a cup holder, it keeps ice for the whole drive, and the handle means you can carry it into a rest stop without juggling.

I have it in a few colors and I reach for whichever one is clean. The Business and Pleasure Co. cooler bag in the natural stripe is the piece I would spend money on. Most coolers look like sports equipment, and this one looks like a beach bag, so I do not mind it sitting on the back seat or coming into a hotel room with us.

The Target Threshold plaid faux mohair throw lives in my car from September through March. Someone is always cold, and a car blanket is one of those things you never think to buy until you are three hours in and freezing. For food I use the Figmint bento container in sage. Snacks in a real container instead of a bag means fewer crumbs and no stopping every ninety minutes.

The iOttie Easy One Touch mount is the phone holder I settled on after two bad ones. It actually holds through a bumpy road, which sounds like a low bar and is not. The UGREEN Magflow Air magnetic charger sticks right to the back of my phone and it is thin enough to keep in a jacket pocket, so nobody is fighting over the car charger.

The Prada PR 07YS sunglasses are the splurge, and driving into afternoon sun in October is exactly when good sunglasses earn it. Last is the Samsonite drop bottom weekender, which fits behind a seat and has the separate bottom section for shoes. Pack it once and you stop unpacking the whole bag at every stop.