Earlier this week, I was in Sonoma County on a work trip with Wells Fargo and Expedia to learn about their new OneKey credit card. Wells Fargo put me up in the swanky Montage Healdsburg and it was so nice, I had to share it with my family, especially after seeing my kids on FaceTime, who kept saying they wished I was home with them or that they could join me.
By day two of my trip, with the kids still begging to be with me, I asked my wife if she and the kids wanted to fly up to meet me for the last night. I cashed in some American miles so they could fly nonstop from LAX on Alaska Airlines (a Oneworld partner) to Santa Rosa (STS), which is just 13 miles from the hotel.
Believe it or not, this was a watershed day for our family because it was the first time our kids had ever flown without both parents. It was a big day for Natalie because it was the first time she’d flown solo with the kids and had to wrangle them on her own. Everyone did great and to my surprise, they traveled with carry-on for the first time and Jack and Olivia each had their own suitcase (which they were thrilled about!) However, the trip wasn’t without some drama, which Natalie says she was responsible for and was the topic of one of our travel tips this week.
Instead of buying plane tickets with miles or points for us to fly home, I decided to rent a car to drive home. We’re fortunate to live in California, which is home to one of, if not the, most beautiful highways in the world: Highway 1. Unfortunately, part of Highway 1 is closed because of landslides so you have to go inland for part of the drive. Here’s the State of California’s road closure guide so you can get up-to-date information in case you’re reading this down the road (pun intended).
The first leg of our trip was our shortest, just 67 miles south to one of our favorite places on earth, Cavallo Point (here’s the review we wrote last year).
Then we drove 127 miles to Portola Hotel and Spa in Monterey so we could explore Monterey and go to the world famous Monterey Bay Aquarium, which inspired the 2016 film Finding Dory.
On every trip I take, I always monitor the weather and local news. Fortunately, I looked at the news before leaving Sausalito because the San Francisco Marathon took place this past weekend and there were a ton of road closures. I was planning on driving through the city to check it out but passed on it so I didn’t have to deal with the traffic.
Another story that caught my eye and is the inspiration for this tip was a headline that read: Thousands ‘running out of gas and water’ on I-40 after semi-truck with lithium batteries burns down. It was in reference to a semi-truck carrying lithium batteries catching fire on I-15 and traffic was diverted outside of Barstow, CA to I-40. The fire had been burning for nearly 30 hours and traffic was so bad that “many travelers were spending a second night in their vehicles, as temperatures on the road hit 100 F.” And worst of all, people were running out of gas and water.
I’ve written about this before, 10 items you need in case of an emergency, which includes a 2-person, 3-day backpack comes with food, water, emergency blankets, a first-aid kit and two safety light sticks. As part of my car’s emergency safety kit, I also have Fix-A-Flat to quickly repair flat tires.
But after reading this news story, I realized I need to update my emergency must-haves to include a case of water because you never know if a freak accident like this could happen and you need to be prepared. Heck, I almost always have a bottle of water in my back pocket when I go out with my kids, even for a short walk into town because when my kids get thirsty, especially, my four-year old daughter, she needs water immediately. She goes from zero to 100 in mere seconds and acts like she’s been hiking in the Sahara for a week.
I always have water in the car when we travel but this story made me realize that I need to have more than just a few bottles. More like a case or two.
So if you’re going on a road trip, pack plenty of water, especially if it’s during the hot summer. You should also have warm emergency blankets if you’re doing a road trip in the winter, a point that was reinforced after the Atlanta snowstorm of 2014, which stranded motorists for hours on the interstate.
KEEP READING
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• How to use your wireless headphones to watch in-flight movies
• 10 airport security hacks every traveler should know
• How to get the best coach seat on the plane
• The sleep hack every traveler needs to know
• Never get your valuables stolen on the beach
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