How do you prepare for a long drive, Veeky Forums...

How do you prepare for a long drive, Veeky Forums? Especially when you're driving a bare-bones shitbox and the time/weather isn't ideal?

>keys
>wallet
>pictures of google maps if I don't know the route
>go

>water
>food
>a few jackets to put on if it gets too cold
>phone + powerbank for navigation
>(alternatively GPS if you have one)
>blankets if I need to sleep

Define "long drive" and "not ideal" time and weather

>fill up the tank
>grab a beverage and a light snack
>check my oil
>set up the aux
>RIDIN' DOWN THE HIGHWAYYYYY

Check tire PSI and depth of tread.

Change oil, check and change coolant, wiper fluid, check brake pad size, and first aid kit (more than band aids and water, you're trying to save a limb or digit and stave off infection, until you either get to a hospital or an ambulance arrives).

Then pack a trash bag, a water jug for sipping and an easily accessible jacket.

Then check weather patterns along the route, rain on one side of a mountain range can mean snow at the top. Check severe weather patterns.

Then you're good to go.

>get everything ready at the last possible minute
>stay up way too late doing it
>get up early
>throw clothes on
>get coffee
>hit road dead tired having forgotten something

>pictures of google maps

...why not use google maps directly?

data costs money cunt

As far are car preparation?
Nothing as I do not own an unreliable shitbox. Highway driving is the least punishing thing you can do a car. City driving is far worse.

>not having a decent data plan in AD 2017
>not knowing that google maps has a download feature
>not using MapsWithMe or similar

my longest drive was around 280 km

>pictures of google maps if I don't know the route

Do you not have a stand alone GPS? They cost, like, 40 bucks.

>a light snack
>eating in your car
>ever

What are you a fucking savage?

Standalone GPS units are stuck in 2007.
But why bother when there are offline map apps for phones?

+200km, night time and rain/snow. Just the comfiest setting imaginable.

Can be anything from simpy checking tire pressure to extensive rituals your autistic mind forces you to do.

I make 230km trips every now and then.

Maybe its just because I'm used to my full size GPS on the dash. Looks nicer, frees up the phone for other shit. Plus It's fucking rare that the phone takes me a better or substantially different way than the GPS and that thing is a couple years old now.

when i had to drive that road i was a little bit scared but when i found myself alone in the middle of nowhere with 130 km/h in the board and the perfect weather i felt so comfy and confident it was like a dream

you forgot the parts where you go out for beers the night before and end up leaving an hour later than you planned

good tunes
good company
anything else is for faggots who can't make do on the fly

200km is nothing. Try 2400 AMERICAN miles in 3 days across snow and ice in a used car you just bought last week.

I start by not driving a barebones shitbox.

>AC/DC
>not blasting eurobeat

What are you a fucking savage?

Full tank of gas, half pack of cigarettes, dark glasses.

> Fill fuel tank
> Top up washer fluid
> Check oil/other fluid levels, top up if needed
> Check/top up tires
> Wash car for MPGs
> Clear everyday trash out
> Reset trip settings on the dashboard
> Tweak music on USB drive
> Toss a 6-pack of 500ml water bottles in the back, make sure I have cash on hand for food
> Throw jacket onto passenger seat, pre-laced trainers in passenger footwell for emergency use
> Start engine
> Set sat-nav
> Drive

I bought a comfy new-ish car because I like taking long drives and don't like worrying if the car will make it.

I cba getting data and I just like screenshots for some reason. I'm good at reading maps anyway so being able to scroll or track movement doesn't do much for me.
Real question is why I don't get a real map.
Answer is I hate having to fold out 20sq miles of fucking paper to look at one intersection or to scroll the map and accidentally get lost on the map while scrolling. Just swipe to next image that describes the critical area and done. Don't even have route on it, just hover cursor over destination for ez find.

>check oil and coolant
>check that I've more oil and coolant in the trunk
>check tire pressure if it has been more than a month since I've done that
>fuel up if needed
>study map if the route/destination is new to me, especially note where I can fill up gas
>have water and power cord for phone in car
>charge phone battery
>(try to) sleep well the night before

I do a ~360km trip something like 5 times a year. Just week before I did a similar trip but to a town I haven't been to before. This shit may take up to 6 hours if bad winter conditions, because of rural roads that don't get taken care of or like my recent trip had snow flying everywhere from beginning to end.

You sound like a neurotic faggot
No offence

I did this over christmas, and routinely go down to queenstown for a weekend, I just do the usual, tire pressure, coolant, wiper fluid, suspension. Get a full tank, fill up when I get there cause I know I can make it with 1/4 left.

This fucker took an extra 2 hours cause of traffic though, so many tourists and campervans going 70, or drifting to the wrong side of the road, or just not pulling over for 20kms at a time. utter cancer

The Three Cs

>cash
>cool tunes
>constant fear of your shitbox exploding