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To the sea by car

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Independent travel by car is becoming the main way to get around Russia: it is convenient and safe during the coronavirus. And while it is easier to fly to Turkey and Europe, it is possible to go to Russian resorts, Lake Baikal or Belorussia by private car.

suto.ru gives useful tips: how to prepare your car for a long journey, how to plan your route, and what to take by car. It will be useful for different occasions: during visits to another city, trips to the sea or the mountains, short tours with family or friends on weekends.

Contents

How to plan a route

How many stops to make on the road

How to prepare a car for a trip to the sea

Documents, money, sim cards: how much and what to take

How to save money during the trip

How to pack a first aid kit in a car

How to organize meals during a trip

How to create comfort in a car

What to take for fun

How to organize a car trip with a child

How to manage fatigue as a driver

What to do as a driver on the eve of a trip

Popular Questions and Answers

How to plan a route

Go to Yandex or Google maps, enter points A and B, and get a ready-made route on existing roads. Usually applications show several options with time and distance. To choose the best one, think about what is important for you: gas stations, cafes, intermediate settlements, toll or free roads. Decide what to see along the way to make an interesting route. For example, you don’t have to go directly to the southern resorts: if you take R-22 or R-228, you can go to Volgograd, or take the E-50 or E-115 to Rostov-on-Don or Krasnodar.

When you choose the appropriate route, set it in your navigator. For reliability, you can keep it in your phone or print it out – so you’re sure to choose the right road, even if the Internet will be gone. By the way, we know the best routes for traveling in by car.

How to calculate the cost of the trip? It all depends on the distance and paid sections. To estimate how much gasoline you will spend, you can in mobile applications. There are quite a few – you can search for them using the words “fuel consumption” or “fuel calculator”. With an app, it’s easier to calculate where you need to fill up and how much it will cost.

For example, such areas are on the Krasnodar highway A-147 and the Crimean 35K-005. To overcome the serpentine save more time: there are steep turns, slow traffic, poor visibility from one turn to the other, there are few places to overtake.

How many stops to make on the road

If you will spend a long time on the road, think through all the stops in advance – you can even do it a week before you leave. If several people can drive the car, determine who will be behind the wheel and when.

It is desirable to make short 5-minute stops every hour, and long stops every 4 hours. It may be a cafe, a gas station or a “pocket” on the highway. Get up, rest, stretch, have a snack. We do not advise to stand on the side of the road, especially at night: so your car may not notice the passing drivers.

A place to rest for the night journey should be thought even more carefully. You can rent a room in a roadside mini-hotel or book an apartment in the city, which will be your stopping point. In order not to go over your budget, find out how to rest on the sea inexpensively.

How to prepare a car for a trip to the sea

  1. We advise you to start preparing for a long trip in advance, about a month in advance. Get diagnosed in the car service – if there are any malfunctions, you will have time to fix them before the trip.

  1. If you check the condition of your car yourself, pay attention to these points:

– oil level in the engine;

– fluid level in the cooling system;

– the brake fluid level;

– lights;

– Tire pressure and treads.

Failure of any of these elements can provoke an accident, so it is better to stop by for a technical inspection.

  1. Even if you have checked everything and everything is working, the breakdowns may occur on the road. This means that you must have with you on the road: a warning triangle, reflective vests, spare tire, puncture repair kit, tire inflation compressor, tow rope, spare wipers and lights, brake fluid and antifreeze, fire extinguisher, water for windshield washer, gloves for dirty work.

If you’re going on a long-distance trip by car, don’t forget these things, too: a spare gasoline canister, a flashlight, sunglasses for the driver. And, of course, a navigator with fresh maps, as well as a video recorder.

  1. At the beginning of the trip fill up to the eyeballs, and plan stops at the following gas stations in advance.

IDs, money, SIM cards: what to take and how many of them

  1. A passport (or a birth certificate for children).

  1. Driving license (for foreign trips check the required format of this document).

  1. Health insurance policy.

  1. Passport or visa if traveling to other countries.

  1. Technical passport for your car.

  1. Certificate of vehicle registration.

  1. Car insurance policy (MTPL in all cases).

It is better to take cash and cards for a long journey by car, preferably several in case one card gets lost or the payment terminal doesn’t work. Also take SIM cards of different service providers: just in case your native SIM card “faints” in the Russian expanse.

What to save money on while traveling

Fuel. Fill up at well-known network gas stations: gasoline there is better, and you can also buy discount cards and accumulate bonus points.

Penalties. It all depends on you: if you don’t break the rules – you won’t lose money. So fasten your seatbelt (including the back seats), turn on your headlights, use the dashboard camera, and be a good boy for the cameras on the roads.

Is it worth to economize on toll roads – it’s a question of discussion. They have their pluses: good coverage and lighting, the shortest routes, high speeds, the freedom on the track. But there are also disadvantages: you have to spend the time to pay, there are long stretches without gas stations and cafes, and the cost of travel for many may seem overpriced.

How to pack a first aid kit in the car

If you are traveling by yourself, don’t limit yourself to the kit you will need according to traffic regulations in 2022. So make sure you and everyone else in your car has their own first aid kit, even if you rent a car. Here is what we advise you to take:

  1. motion sickness pills.

  1. Remedies for fever and colds.

  1. Anti-allergy medications.

Painkillers.

  1. Antiseptics.

  1. Drugs for the digestive system.

  1. Thermometer (preferably electronic).

  1. Bandages to treat wounds and cuts.

  1. Cream for burns.

How to organize meals on the trip

Take some snacks with you: sandwiches, baked pies, boiled eggs. For a good trip you can buy a cooler bag, so you can take meat, cheese, and dairy with you. Take tea bags and instant coffee. If you are not a strong opponent of instant noodles, you can take them too. If you’re taking fruit, go for hard fruits – apples, oranges, hard pears. Don’t forget utensils, a cutting board, and a tablecloth – if anything, you can use the trunk as a table.

For traveling for long distances it is better to take plenty of water – in 5-liter bottles (if your purpose – rest on Kavminvoda, then you can fill them with healing mineral water). In thermoses you can immediately pour ready-made tea and coffee. If there is a thermos with a wide neck it can be used for a quick soup. Hot drink can help you quickly get a thermos flask that runs from the cigarette lighter.

Take something light to “chew”: cookies, nuts, bread, dried fruit. This will help cheat hunger until the next stop for a full meal.

How to create comfort in the car

  1. Buy pillows for headrests. They don’t strain your neck and you can take a nap.

  1. Get trash bags so you don’t clutter up the cabin or throw papers out the window.

  1. In a separate bag take a comfortable change of clothes for the trip: a hat to escape the sun, socks and underwear to keep you and your companions fresh, and light slippers or flip-flops – they are more comfortable to go out for breaks / snacks.

  1. Do not forget personal care products: soap, wet and dry wipes, sanitizers, toilet paper, deodorant, comb.

  1. Take a blanket and a comforter: they will come in handy in the evening and at night. “Insulated” is especially important when you are traveling with children.

  1. If you are planning to pass long distances, take a tent, sleeping bags, a flashlight, dry fuel for making fire, repellent against mosquitoes and ticks. But all this is more for tourists with rich experience of traveling by car.

What to take for fun

In the period of self-isolation we have all become masters of killing time. Music can help you pass the time on the road: in the city it can be a radio, and in the countryside – a flash drive with your songs. Audiobooks are better not to turn on the speakers, because the long monotonous speech drives the driver into a drowsy state: if you want to listen, then in headphones.

Phones, laptops, tablets – all this, too, is suitable for a trip to interesting cities and the sea by car, but charged to the limit, and preferably in a set with poverbank – a thing that will charge your device without power outlets.

How to organize a trip by car with a child

There are a lot of nuances, they depend on who you are traveling with: with an infant, toddler or schoolchild. Trip pregnant and a separate story. However, the main points about traveling with children are:

  1. It is not easy for a child to take two long trips in a row. So it is better to plan a long vacation – about a week.

  1. For small children, take non-carbonated water, juice with a tube, a sanitary bag and tablets in case motion sickness, spare underwear and clothing, antiseptic, dry and wet wipes. You can bring a few favorite toys.

  1. In a child it is important to prevent upset stomach: give him to drink boiled water, wash your hands with him, do not eat in roadside cafes, thoroughly wash fruits and vegetables, cut the skin off them, do not give perishable foods.

  1. Make stops every 2 hours – children need them more often than adults.

  1. Do not allow wasps, mosquitoes, and other biting insects to enter the cabin.

  1. Keep children entertained during the trip: tablets, phones, cartoons, verbal games, ball games during stops, etc.

How the driver can cope with fatigue

The best cure for fatigue is sleep. Coffee and energy drinks may make you more focused and alert, but they won’t make you rested. On a long trip, one driver can be on the road for a maximum of 10 hours in one 24-hour period.

If the driver is tired, wants to sleep, or just starts yawning, it’s better to stop the car at the first suitable place. And it doesn’t matter how long it’s been since the previous stop – life and safety are more important anyway.

Any driver can have a jammed state – a normal phenomenon when you are on the road for a long time. This is confirmed by many reviews and reports on travel by car. In such cases, you can stop the car and perform simple gymnastic exercises for 3-5 minutes: torso and head turns, squats, leg swings. It looks like a school gym class, but it can help, too.

Other ways to beat the road “jam” – to let a stream of fresh air in the window, constantly exchange phrases with the passengers or turn on the music on the road (but not on the difficult sections, where you have to watch the road closely).

Another factor that exacerbates fatigue is the heat. Therefore, during summer trips you need to rest more often and choose cooler hours for driving.