For the entirety of my 20 years of life, I have been on at least one road trip every year. And for more than 15 of those years it's been with my sister Emma and the twins Hudson and Moselle. Throughout that time we've learned a thing or two, but mostly how to survive the road trip.

Packing

Truthfully this is not my first thought when it comes to road tripping. I much prefer the entertainment or snacks departments. But I do know how to do it. Though my sister Emma does it better, and my sister Momo does it two weeks in advance (it's really quite amazing).

1. Choose the right luggage

Yes. There are options.

A regular suitcase is fine, especially if you're only traveling with a few people and you probably have a better chance of keeping your clothes folded if you care about such things. However, you're on a road trip! So get rid of that extra room in the back and go for something else.

The duffle bag is my personal favorite. It keeps all your clothes together and tends to force you to pack a little less. Well, not me. I've gotten very good at packing that thing to extreme measures. But it's the best option all around because it won't easily tear like the next option and is squishy enough that it will fit into the small spaces.

The last option is the trash bag, which is what my dad insisted we pack in this year. Pros: very squishy and is easier to fit into the back end. Cons: doesn't really make you pack less and always tears. I will say it's not a bad way to pack depending on where you're going, but make sure you pack in a heavy duty black one, or just pack in a duffel bag in the first place.

2. Always bring an extra backpack

Of course you're going to bring your clothes, but you're also going to want to bring other fun things that will make the ride go easier. In my case, I brought my duffel bag instead of my backpack. I filled it with books, my toiletries, chargers, notebook, GoPro… basically anything that would be better going next to you in the car than in the back end. You probably won't use half of it if you have a phone, but it's still good to have.

By the way: Don't forget a car charger. That could be the difference between texting your friends that you're in the middle of nowhere, though that text probably won't go through, and being bored throughout the middle of nowhere. Just kidding. Bring the car charger, but don't forget the many car games that you can play too.

3. Be like my sister Emma: pack an overnight bag

Once again, packing isn't really my thing, even though I know how to do it. But my sister Emma does, and she plans, because she's a planner, accordingly. Most road trips include making stops. Usually in hotels. At said hotels you probably won't want to bring in your entire suitcase. So have an extra bag, this is a good place to use the trash bag, or just a single duffel bag for the whole car. Have a change of clothes for the next day, pajamas, toiletries and a swimsuit. Those things will get you to the next day and make everything a lot easier for you and your parents who will have to pack up the whole car again of you don't. And by parents, I mean dad. Don't mess with dad's packing.

4. Packing the car right

So you've packed all of your stuff into your designated luggage, now what? You pack it in the car of course. If you have the option of packing your car the night before do it, but be aware that there are crazy people in this world and they can break into your car and steal all your stuff. But if you have the option do it. Otherwise, put it all by the front door the night before so that it's easy to start taking stuff out when you can the next morning.

By your seat you'll put your backpack, phone and headphones, but even more important than those things is your pillow! Do not forget your pillow. It will make or break your road trip. Trust me. You can also bring a blanket (optional.)

Then in the back you'll put everything else. Heavy luggage on the bottom, lighter stuff on the top. If you've never played Tetris before your road trip, you'll be thrown into the 3D version real quick. Just make sure that you leave a window for your driver with all that stuff that you're packing. Wouldn't want to end your road trip by backing up into something before it even starts.

And that's pretty much it for packing. Every family does it different, but just make sure you learn quick from your mistakes as you could have some angry customers.

Snacks

Before the days of apples and kale, my family did things right with many different chips, beef jerky, those pink and white animal cookies. Yes, those were the good old days. Now I think, what are we doing with our lives? But I digress. Anyways, snacks are important. A lot of people get "hangry" when their blood sugar drops and nobody wants to see that.

So top snacks to bring are:

Fruit: just throw the peel out the window. You're feeding the animals. And if not, it's biodegradable (watch as the nature freaks come after me.)

Beef jerky

My personal favorite that you get while at the gas station: bean dip and Fritos

Lunchables

Chips of choice

(Even now looking at these choices I can see how the healthy has completely taken over my mind)

However, even beyond these, the best thing to do is bring a small cooler. Pack it with meat, cheese, and any other snacks that you like to eat cold. It'll stay cold throughout the day and if you stop at a hotel either throw your freezer packs back in a freezer or get ice from the ice machines.

Seating arrangements

This one is pretty straightforward. Choose the seat with the most room. It also depends what kind of car you have and how many people are in your family. If you like the right side or the left side and you can plan ahead and figure out if the cool sights will be on the left or the right. If headed south you'll want to sit on the right, if north choose the right. Haha. We drive on the right side of the road so you'll see more on that side than you would on the left. And sometimes your seating arrangements won't be up to you so just be willing to go with the flow and make the best of it.

When to leave

Make sure that you leave pretty early in the morning. If you will be arriving at your destination on the first day (though I'm not sure that constitutes you calling this a road trip) then you'll want to be there earlier in the day rather than later, and the same goes for arriving at whatever hotel you've chosen (though if you haven't chosen a hotel I completely understand.) Aim for a time that gives the driver enough sleep the night before so that they can be wide awake in the morning. Everyone else will probably be sleeping on their pillows that I insisted they bring.

Entertainment

This one is pretty clear, but it's one that should be planned ahead. If your car has a TV in it, bring movies. But along with those movies invest in headphone splitters if you have more than two kids. That way you can plug in all of the headphones and your parents won't have to listen to another round of (insert most popular Disney movie.) Phones and personal gaming devices are also good, but just make sure you have enough charge.

Another good thing to think about before hand is car games.

A few I know are:

License plate game (they now have an app for this one)

Slugbug (hit your neighbor when you see a VW bug or just keep a tally of who has the most, first one to call it gets the point)

I Spy (but it can be hard if things are zooming by really fast)

There are a lot of others too, just look on Pinterest.

Bathroom breaks

Next up is the inevitable bathroom break. These ones are probably the most important. Some families I know have steel bladders and just go forever without stopping. We are not that family. We all make sure everyone goes before we leave and then we stop between meals. About every 2-3 hours probably. Gas stations, rest stops and wherever we eat lunch or breakfast are our go-to's. If you do it right you usually can multitask with getting gas or getting food and it makes the trip very efficient.

Lunch

You can not have a road trip without lunch. The two options are: pack a picnic or stop at a fast food place.

The first option tastes good and works well when you bring that cooler I talked about. The second tastes good when you pick the right spot. Depending on where you're road tripping to you'll have different options. My favorites are: Chick-fil-A, Chipotle, and In-N-Out. Choose one of those and you're set.

Hotel

Finally, after a long day, you've reached the hotel. You've successfully done day one. However, if you haven't chosen the right hotel you could be in for a rough night. So I have a few personal must haves.

1. Must have pool

After sitting all day in a car you're going to have some crazy pent up energy. The best way to counteract this is to go and swim for an hour or two in the hotel pool. Some pools draw more people than others, but sometimes you get the whole place to yourself and it's fantastic.

2. Must have enough room

Nothing is more uncomfortable or makes for a worse next day of road tripping than not getting any sleep. Make sure whichever room you stay in that there is enough room for your family. And don't forget the importance of roll away beds and pull out couch beds. Do whatever it takes to get some sleep because you'll need it for the next day.

3. Must have breakfast

If you're going to spend the money to sleep in a hotel, you better be getting breakfast the next day. It's so much more convenient being able to go down and eat breakfast before you head out, than going out and finding a McD's for a delicious sausage McMuffin (don't forget the strawberry jelly.) But the best place to stay is the Embassy Suites where they have breakfast buffets. Now that's a breakfast. The important thing is to just eat that morning, and eat something that has protein so you don't have a sugar crash later on. Those are the worst.

(I should mention here that I realize some people like to and frequently do camp. We are not those people. My dad was in the German army and when he came out of the army said essentially, "I'm nevercamping again." So we don't do that. But we will go RV camping and wander in National Parks, as long as we end up in a bed that night.)

Destination

After going through the whole process of what makes up a road trip you hopefully will have arrived at your destination. But along the way I hope you didn't ignore the journey. I find I enjoy the journey so much more than the destination. The journey is full of laughs, car troubles, crazy sites and so much bonding. It is the place where you really get to know your family and how they all react under extremely stressful situations. Truthfully I think I would suggest it for engaged or newly married couples, it's that powerful.

However, no matter where we've ended up or how we've gotten there, before every trip we always pray for safety and that dad would stay awake, and that we'd have a blast as a family getting there.

"It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end." ~ Ursula K. Le Guin