Las Vegas is christened with many titles – “The Gambling Capital of the World”, “The Sin City”, “The Entertainment Capital of the World” and what not! Little did I know that my first official trip in the United States would be straight to its heart – Las Vegas.
This was yet another unplanned trip when we decided to head to the Sin City over a weekend from San Francisco. All the last minute bookings were made mostly on GroupOn and AirBnB on a Friday night. We took a 2-day off from work and were on the roads by Saturday morning. I’m penning down a short and crisp check-list for your reference, in case you plan a road trip out of the blues.
Check-List for Impromptu Road Trips
- Fuel tank check – Ensure that your fuel tank is filled, before you leave your city and head out on your journey.
- Use a map – You can use an online mapping tool like Google Maps to help you plan your route, but keep a paper map handy as well.
- Wear comfortable clothes and footwear – Please don’t bother about glamorous pictures for your Insta feed and focus on what helps you breathe best. A pair of shorts/denims and a casual tee, a comfortable pair of flip-flops and your sunglasses should just suffice.
- Keep a pair of clothes and towel handy, in a separate bag – This helps you freshen up and take a quick change on the way, without really unpacking.
- Keep your pack of sanitary napkins ready – You never know, when your monthly friend might come knocking at your door. So, it’s always better to be prepared than taking detours and looking for pharmacy shops in the journey.
- Wet wipes and hand sanitiser should always be kept within a hand’s reach on a drive – It helps you freshen up and indulge in drive-binging.
- Power backup, phone charging cables – Pack these first. They are most handy and important for any road trip.
- Pack some comfort food bites for the way. Water bottles are a MUST.
- Keep few oranges or lemons handy – Well! This might sound a little weird, but a dab of fresh Vitamin C will actually refresh you. They especially work, when you tend to get bloated, nauseated or dehydrated on a road trip.
- Keep some cash in hand – This is helpful for small pit-stops on the way, where card transactions might not work.
- Always have a travel pack ready with bath and body essentials – shampoo, conditioner, face wash, hair serum, moisturising cream, toothbrush, toothpaste, shaving essentials etc. I always keep one such pack ready, for my impromptu travel plans.
The Road Trip from San Francisco to Las Vegas
The road trip to Vegas was a dream, to say the least!
After a nice and delicious brunch, we were all set to hit the roads. The drive from San Francisco to Las Vegas is quite a long one. So, regular short breaks are a MUST in the journey. I was pretty clear that I wanted to reach by the evening, so that Vegas welcomes me with its nightlife.
Here are some handy travel facts/tips for a road-trip to and from Las Vegas :
- Always remember that, if you take interstate highways from San Francisco to Vegas, you will spend around 9.5 hours on the road. This route will take you past Mojave National Preserve and Sequoia National Forest, but not through it. You need to figure out your travel style first. A leisure drive through the countryside with pit-stops at points of interest along the way or a high-speed run from point to point – the choice is yours!
- A drive from San Francisco to Las Vegas that avoids interstate highways, will lead you to roads through Mojave, Death Valley or Yosemite National Park. These routes generally stretch the length of the trip to 14-16 hours. So you need to plan accordingly. Understand that this is a time frame that almost requires you to slow down, spend an hour at a local diner or stay overnight at a hotel.
- If you choose the northern route, you will skirt around the eastern boundary of Death Valley – the driest, hottest and lowest in elevation of the National Parks, before dipping into Yosemite and heading west through the Stanislaus National Forest and the Sierra Nevada Mountains. This comprises of a 633-mile drive.
- If you choose the southern route, you will drive through a desert landscape in Mojave. A drive past the crooked Yucca and dense Cactus in Joshua Tree through the Los Padres National Forest, will surely create memories of a lifetime. You can then take scenic State Route 1, a two-lane highway that hugs the Pacific coast. This route will comprise a drive of about 730 miles.
- All the national parks and forests in the region have camping options – mostly open year-round. Most of them are with developed campgrounds, backcountry camping or primitive campgrounds. For many of them, you won’t need reservations, but plan ahead if you intend to stay in more popular campgrounds in Yosemite and Joshua Tree that fill quickly.
- If you are taking an offbeat path, rather than interstate highways, expect regular motels rather than chain motels along the way. You will even get resort hotels in places like Big Sur on State Route 1. Hotels and motels near tourist attractions like Yosemite have higher occupancy rates and are generally better kept and more responsive to visitors’ concerns.
- You can use few travel-related apps, which might come handy on a road trip. FieldTrip – This looks for interesting options near your location. Its suggestions varies from venues spotlighting local music, hidden oddities to trendy stores close by. GasBuddy – This app tells you where gas stations are and what their individual charges are. If you have enough fuel, you can bypass the station with the highest price and choose the one with lower prices a few miles down the road. iExit – This looks ahead to the next exit and notifies what hotels, gas stations, restaurants or rest areas are coming up next.
Key Takeaways from My Road Trip to Las Vegas
My personal takeaways from this road trip, are many and I have tried to summarise my experience in all the points highlighted above. But I would like to share a very vivid experience, which is unforgettable and will remain with me for a lifetime.
While driving towards our destination, we decided to take a detour as suggested by Google Maps, to avoid a traffic congestion ahead. And what an experience it led to! We were redirected into a one-lane road, which seemed much calmer and nicer to drive on. After driving straight for about 20 miles, we suddenly realised that there was no network on our mobile phones!
So basically, we were driving right through the middle of Death Valley, with sand and dense cactus on both sides of the road, no means to communicate, no maps and no sign of a single vehicle or any living being until the horizons (both forward and backward). We wouldn’t even be able to dial 911, in a dire emergency! I still remember how it exactly felt then. I had already started imagining the extremes of getting stranded in a desert without fuel, food and water. But somehow, I kept surviving at the end of all my imaginations. Perhaps, that optimism kept us going.
We were lucky enough to reach the end of that road and finally merge onto the main highway without running out of fuel. The mobile network was back and Google Maps was roaring with directions yet again. That day I realised how important technology has become, in our lives. Without a phone connectivity, we suddenly feel so helpless and handicapped. But eventually, we survive! That’s what human beings are meant for – SURVIVAL.
It took me a good 1-hour drive in the middle of Death Valley, without any trace of mankind and connectivity, to understand this truth of life. By the way, it is not called ‘Death Valley’ without a reason!