One small note about the car “checking out” and five separate bullet points about technology and entertainment… Bring food, drinks, something to keep everything cold, comfortable clothes. And please leave the VR headset out of the family bonding experience 😭 to think I used to get chastised for wearing an earbud during road trips.

I would agree with others here that you are going overboard on the electronics. Bring a handheld device for the kid. Adults will get the most out of the trip watching the landscape go by and talking. Instead, I recommend thinking of some good audiobooks or podcasts to listen to. Then you have something shared to do when the conversation lulls, and can talk about it as another conversation.

Lots of people pack junk food snacks for road trips, like chips and soda. My experience is that even when I consumed these foods regularly, their availability on road trips would typically cause me to carb crash and feel nauseous for hours. Instead, drink water, and get a cooler. Pack the cooler with food to make a real lunch, like sandwiches or something. Put the cooler in the trunk so you arent tempted by it. When it is lunch time, pull over at a rest stop/ gas station/ park/ whatever and sit down outside for lunch together. Don’t snack in between meals.

When stopping for gas/ bathroom/ meals, take the opportinity to move around and exercise a little. Walk around, stretch, maybe do a quick jog or a few push ups. Really helps with fatigue and stiffness.

If you will be driving along some of the really long, straight roads in the American Southwest, watch out for highway hypnosis. This is where driving is just so repetitive and boring that you will rapidly fall asleep at the wheel.

As others have mentioned, have some basic tools for doing minor repairs. Tire pump, patch kit, and check to make sure you have a spare and it is inflated!!. Needlenose pliers for pulling nails out of tires and swapping fuses. An adjustable wrench in case you need to tighten your battery terminal. And, imo, gorrilla tape and bailing wire to fix body panels or plastic skid plates that start flapping in the breeze. If it is possible you will drive on dirt roads (especially in the southwest), I recommend packing an entrenching tool so you can dig yourself out of sand if you make a mistake and get in over your head. Tow straps are also good to have - if you get stuck in some sand or mud, flag down one of those big, lifted 4x4s and watch the owner light up with glee as they actually get to use their truck for its intended purpose for the first time in years.

Get a paper atlas, and pick up paper maps for any parks you’ll be checking out. If you will be getting off the major highways for a while, download the area on your maps app ahead of time.

As others have noted, you have a single “the car is good” note, and the rest is all about entertainment & comfort. That’s cool, but it tells me you’re not very handy. I see lots of folks recommending tools, but I think you’d be better served by a AAA membership or similar. If your car does break down, what’s your plan? Also, don’t 100% count on having cell coverage.

Second note - I drive home to check on my elderly parents every month. It’s a 6 hours drive that I used to do in a straight shot. Now I take a break every 2 hours & get out & walk around a bit. Yes, the drive now takes an extra hour, but it is so fucking worth it. I strongly encourage planned breaks.

You have a smartphone, right?

1. Go get the TILE app, the one for finding tile-branded locator chits. Don’t buy anything just get the app.
2. Don’t register anything. Just load it. If you have an apple phone, cry and re-auth it to use your gps and get ready to re-allow it weekly because apple hates competition
3. On the tile app will be an icon for your phone, like “Dave’s Samsung”. Go into its properties and share that with someone you trust who also gets the app.
4. Now they can see where your phone last pinged, which may help if you don’t turn up at a prearranged checkpoint.

It doesn’t care about phone types, map app types, social networks or shoe size. It just works.

Do you have…snacks?

Apply sunscreen during the day; the sun gets to you as if you were outside.

Find what kind of oil your car requires and get a quart of it to keep just in case. Also replace your windshield wipers and top up the windshield washer fluid. Check your tire pressure and make sure that the spare tire is in good condition. Basic car care goes a long way.

I’m gonna categorize things, as that’s how I would want to see my info while planning. These are just in order of how they came to me and not of importance.

Comfort

1. Pillows: Sure, hotels and motels have pillows for you, but you have to be there to use them. I recommend everyone bring at least one pillow. If you have room or a demand, bring more than one. Being able to nap or just get a bit more comfortable in the car goes a long way.

2. At Least One Pair of Lightweight Footwear: Comfort is important while on a trip. You want to be able to have something to wear while you’re just moving in and out of the car, hotel/motel, or even walking around most indoor attractions. Breathability and lack of weight can help keep people from dropping down into “grumpy pants territory,” while on your trip.

Safety

1. Emergency Kit: It is crucial that you have one of these in your car. You want to be prepared for the worst of things and hope you don’t have to use it. Nearly all of them have these stample items in them:

• Emergency Water: The American Red Cross says that you should pack 1 gallon of water per person, per day.
• Emergency Food: Non-perishable and easy to prepare items. Since it’s just a road trip, you can keep the freeze dried food packs at home. But think about how much of the non-perishable foods you would need for each person to survive for three days if you got caught in a storm or disaster.
• Durable Flashlight: A good flashlight should last you over a decade of use. A lot of people (and myself included,) recommend a highly recommended headlamp. Think durable camping headlamp or flashlight when searching.
• Extra Batteries: Batteries are needed for a lot of things, such as your headlamp or flashlight. Just be mindful to cycle them out of your Emergency Kit every few years as they use their charge over time.
• First Aid Kit: An absolute have. The American Red Cross sells a variety of First Aid Kits on their website store. Of course, you could make your own or get it from elsewhere, but the list of content in the kit is something to go off of while choosing/making yours.
• SPF 30-50 Sunscreen: It’s never a bad idea to have a bottle of SPF 30-50 sunscreen in your car and/or in a travel bag. Even if it’s cold out or winter time, the sun’s UVs are still out. And that’s what you want to block long exposure to. Turns out, SPF 15 blocks 93% of UVB rays, SPF 30, 97% and SPF 50 blocks 98%.

2. Tools and Items:

• Multi-Purpose Tool: Better to have one and not use it, than it is to need it and not have one.
• Emergency Blanket(s) (aka Space Blanket): This is a great thing to have in your car or with you while camping as it’s low-weight, low-bulk, and heat-reflective. “Their design reduces the heat loss in a person’s body, which would otherwise occur quickly due to thermal radiation, water evaporation, or convection.”
• Water Purifier: It didn’t seem like it, but if you ever go backpacking more than a few hours away from civilization, I recommend getting a water purifier stick. Do your research. There are plenty of low quality ones out there.
• Tire Repair Kit: Most cars have one, but if you don’t, get one suitable for your car. It’s best if you have learned how to fix a tire on your car before you’re out there. I wise tip I learned from online, was to keep a large section of cardboard folded and put it in your car. You can use it as a mat to keep your tools and body heat from being lost and your clothing from getting dirty. An alternative to this would be to have AAA or something similar, where you could call them to come out and fix it for you.
• Plastic bag(s): It’s wise to have a few of them while on a trip as you can use them for loose trash, organizers, dirty clothing/shoes, etc.

Trip Planning

1. Map it Out:

• Trip Planner: There are plenty of websites that can greatly help you plan your trip by mapping it out, giving suggestions of places and things to do, and often general info about the area. I’d recommend checking out several and see if they help you out any.
• Gas Price Finder There are several websites or apps that offer updates to gas prices by location. Some even offer a trip planner to assist in this. And while it’s not gonna have you saving enough to go see your favorite band/artist in the fancy seats, it will at least help you not spend so much during your trip.

Amazed noone has mentioned a tire repair kit (that I saw across many comments at least). A spare tire is only so useful, especially if it’s a donut. A kit will let you fix multiple flats and keep on trucking like nothing happened as long as it’s not a sidewall blowout or something crazy.

Get a good repair kit, one with a rasp with a strong handle to clean out the hole, tar covered plugs, and the little hook device thing to stuff 'em in easy. Also possibly add some rubber cement to the kit, as if it’s cold or a real nasty hole, the tar plug things might not completely plug the leak.

Naturally, that kit should include a tire inflator. Even if it’s a hand bike pump, it’s better than nothing, but they sell all sorts of pumps. From simple ones you hook up to the battery for power, to ones built in to power packs.

Also some basic tools will go far. At least some needle nose pliers. Way nicer to yank out nails or what ever with than figuring out some way to wedge it out with the tire repair tools.

Project Farm on YouTube has reviewed both tire repair kits and tire inflators, among many other types of tools if you want to get good recommends/alternatives and see how they actually fare before you buy.

Also make sure you know how to use the jack in your car if there even is one. If not, get one. Even basic scissor jacks work fine as long as you’re not doing something foolish.

I second things like spare tire, pillows, less focus on electronics (boredom is a gift not many are given today), take time for spontaneous detours and breaks, drink water and limit intake of sugar and quick energy.

Try to involve the whole family in the planning.

Maybe there’s something the kid wants to take a look at, or that might be helpful for a school project/class or to talk about in show+tell (ancient burial site, gigant cheese, takeoff/landing strip for hobby airplanes, arcade, space museum).

Make sure to move around and stretch at breaks and in the car, perhaps everyone can take turn to lead a “movement minute” where one person does a series of movements or stretches and everyone else follows (make this fun and silly, stretching doesn’t have to be boring! do things with name like frog-jumps and helicopter arms and/or make the instructions silly like “keep your hands on the ground and make your butt touch the ground then make your butt touch the sky”). If everyone get to take their turn to lead they might have fun with it instead of complain. If your kid is prone to embarrassment, find a bit of shelter to do the stretches in, behind a bush or other structure not visible right off the road.

Have a 5-15 min dj session every hour where one person get to play a prepared playlist, and another person gets their turn the next hour (or take it in a row if your family also has trouble waiting for their turn). If you really want to structure it you can suggest different themes for the playlist, like “songs that represents the roadtrip”, “songs you wish grandpa/great-grandpa could have heard”, “songs that make you feel something”, “songs from when you were little”, “songs your friends like”.

A short RPG could be fun for the family as the driver can also be involved, there are systems that only require a set of six-sided dice, and DM-less games where everyone plays (I think “bunny we bought a house” could be suitable for a 13-year old, and they could get to control the pen and paper to draw the dungeon as you play it).

Go to bed early and give eachother some space once you leave the car for the night. Don’t demand a lot of socialising (unless everyone want to) at dinner or afterwards. Let everyone decompress on their own. …unless of course everyone has had their headphones in and been on their devices with their friends all drive - then its probably time for some family time.

One really fun road trip game I played was called “personal interview”. I don’t know if you two adults and teen are related, but just in case someone is interested, I’ll tell you how you play:

One person tells their life story. They can take as long as they’d like, and structure it however they want. When you’ve caught up with the present, everyone else in the car can ask them anything.

It’s sometimes a good idea to take a break in between people.

I don’t remember that much of the content of the interviews, but it was a lot of fun!

I also don’t recommend bringing all that technology. The best of road trips I’ve done were from interacting with the other people. You can play elden ring at home. It shouldn’t be a priority.

I had a game boy on several road trips I did with my parents, and I barely remember the trips. I had nothing but a flip phone with one I did with friends, and had a lot more fun with them. Maybe because I was older and they were my friends, though.

Bring some low tech entertainment. Cards. Small board games. Dice. There are light weight pen and paper rpgs and word games you could do on the go (eg: Fate).

Butt pillows; even if the seats are comfy, just to shake things up, keeps you from being stiff afterwards

Stop and get out of the car more often than you think you need to. It’ll make the trip so much more pleasant.

It’s hard while traveling, but eating even remotely healthy will make your experience a lot better. One of those fruit and veggie trays you can get from grocery stores plus like a loaf of bread and a thing of hummus can make a great dinner on the road for a family, I try to do something like that at least twice a week when im traveling. Panda express is a surprisingly decent place to get fairly plain rice chicken and broccoli, which is great for both nervous stomachs and people trying to maintain any kind of fitness on the road. Last I’d say careful not to give yourself kidney stones with energy drinks if youre doing a lot of long haul drives between stops