If you’re planning on taking a road trip during spring and summer, you should know that it‘s one of the cheapest and interesting ways to explore the world around us. And, if you want to save even more money, you could choose to be creative and create your own little bedroom in your car.
However, if you never had to sleep in your car before, you might be wondering – are there some tips & tricks that I could use in order to make everything more comfortable for myself? Simply said, there are, and this is exactly what we’ll discuss in this article today. Let’s take a closer look at the list of things you could choose to do:
1. Ensure That You Pack All The Essentials
The very first thing that you should ensure that you do is to pack all the essential things you’ll need. Of course, you could choose to simply throw in a warm blanket, but if you want to make things more comfortable for yourself, you should pack more things in your trunk. It won’t take too much space and it’ll always be there whenever you need it.
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Some of the things that you might want to take with you are a warm blanket, a sleeping bag & pad, a tent, water, camp food, a lightweight camp stove, cooking pots & cutlery, towels, a tool kit, a backpack, globes & a hat, an eye mask, matches or a lighter, as well as rope, a pocket knife, and a bivvy.
Although you might think this is a lot of things, you should ensure that you have all of them if you’re planning on sleeping in your vehicle. Trust me, you don’t want to find yourself in a situation where you need one of these things and the nearest town is miles away, so, pack them neatly in your trunk.
2. Look For a Safe (And Free) Area to Park Your Car
If you simply choose to park wherever you want, you might get in trouble, or even worse, you might get towed. This is why you must ensure that you look for and find a free and safe area to park. You could choose to park at a department store, close to a residential building and/or neighborhood.
Some areas have free camping spots that people can use. There’s enough space to put up your SUV tent and connect it to your vehicle without taking up areas of a parking lot. Being out in nature would help to recharge tired bodies and minds and leave you feeling ready for the next leg of the trip. All you have to do is zip your built-in storm flaps. According to VacationCountdownApp, these flaps are good for privacy and protection.
Setting up camp in a secure area would ensure a peaceful night’s sleep instead of taking turns to stay awake and guard valuables. The trip is supposed to be fun, not stressful. Parking in a safe area will ensure this happens.
3. You’ll Want to Have Privacy
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It can be extremely scary if you woke up and realized that someone is looking at you through your window. Hence, if you want to ensure that this doesn’t happen to you, you must ensure that you make the entire area more private. You could use some towels or fabrics for blocking your windows.
Additionally, you should take all of the things from your trunk and push them close to the doors, rear window, and dashboard since this will make people think that the car is packed instead of you being the things that are filling up the car. This is, perhaps, one of the most important tricks if you’re planning on sleeping in your vehicle. Sleeping in a car can be tiring if one of the windows leaks cold or the glass is damaged. Before you decide on something like that, check the windows on your car and visit mesawindshields.com for more information.
4. Ventilation is a Must
As reported by sleepporter.com, if you lock your vehicle completely and close all of the windows at night, you’ll definitely wake up feeling hot and completely sweaty. Hence, they recommend that you try a few things that will make you sleep comfortably. For instance, if you have a sunroof, you could buy a window screen, open the sunroof a bit, and then place the screen around the opening.
This won’t only let air come into the area, but it’ll also prevent insects from entering your car. Additionally, you could choose to do the same thing with your windows if you don’t have a sunroof or if it’s raining outside and you cannot open it. Doing this will definitely help you feel refreshed when you wake up.
5. Making it Comfortable is Easy
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Of course, your car isn’t the comfiest place to sleep in, however, you could easily make it more comfortable. If you didn’t bring a pillow, use a backpack filled with some of your clothes, or you could stuff the sack of your sleeping bag as well. If you can fold the back seats, laying down will certainly feel better. Lastly, bring an eye mask in order to make it darker and more pleasant to sleep in. The unfamiliar surroundings and nearby light sources you have no control of might make it difficult for you to sleep. In the morning, you can also keep away the pesky sunrays that want to wake you at the crack of dawn.
6. Keep Everything Organized
A lot of individuals often overlook this important factor, but you must ensure that you keep the back of your car completely organized. Hence, you should determine what works for your best, and ensure that you keep everything clean and organized, especially since this will help you quite a lot during your road trip.
Online stores sell a relatively inexpensive way of keeping things organized – the hanging seat organizer. These gadgets have pockets with mesh and some can close with a zip or buttons and attach to the headrest of the front seats. The rest of it hangs at the back of the seats to provide access to all the items you need.
7. Don’t Forget Your Entertainment Equipment
It can be quite frustrating if you cannot sleep and you have nothing interesting and fun to do, which is exactly why you shouldn’t forget to pack some of the things that you can use for entertaining yourself. Besides filling your tablet or laptop with movies and TV series, you should also consider bringing some other things with you.
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For instance, if you like crossword, bring some with you, or if you like coloring mandalas, ensure that you bring them, however, then you’ll want to bring a headlight with you as well! Books, magazines, and CDs are also a must, especially since you’ll have a lot of free time in the evening and night. Additionally, you could choose to take whatever you want with you, just ensure that you have enough space for it in the back or front of your vehicle.
Conclusion
There is a wide range of things that you could choose to do, all of which will make sleeping in your car a real adventure. And, if you choose to follow some or all of the tips we mentioned in the list above, you’ll be able to make it even more interesting and creative, but more importantly, you’ll make it comfortable!
So, now that you’ve learned more about what you should do, you might not want to waste any more of your time. Instead, you should go back to the beginning of our list and begin with the first tip we mentioned – which is gathering and packing all of the essential things you’ll need for your road trip!
