With Christmas plans well underway many of us will be taking road trips to visit friends and family. If you’re like me you plan ahead for the road trips your family takes. I do my best to plan the shortest route, pit stops and games to keep the children occupied before the boredom drives us all crazy.
Here in South Central Ontario taking road trips in December often means driving in poor weather conditions which is a whole other aspect of planning. We pack extra warm clothing, blankets, food, vehicle emergency kit, make sure the vehicle has had it’s maintenance and make sure our CAA memberships are up to date.
It may sound like we over plan but when you’re stuck on the side of the road during a winter storm things become frightening very quickly.
CAA has helped us plan our road trips in many ways over the years, they offer services which many people 
don’t even realize they have:
- TripTik – route planners to help you take the scenic route or get there quickly.
- CAA Tourbooks – online TourBooks, printed TourBooks, eBook TourBooks all help plan the route including any stops along the way. The TourBooks outline the best hotels, restaurants, destinations, attractions and events throughout Canada and the United States.
- Roadside Service – when we call, CAA will arrive on scene and make every effort to get our vehicle into drivable condition. If that cannot be done, they will tow our vehicle for us. Services include:
- Battery Service
- Vehicle Lock-out Service
- Emergency Gas Delivery Service
- Tire Service
- Extrication/Winching Service
- Roadside Mechanical Service
With some planning our road trips have been safe and filled with memories. It may seem that all of this planning is overkill but with CAA we know we’ll always be safe when our family is on the road and this is invaluable to us.
If you’re planning a Christmas road trip head over to the CAA website and see what they offer or connect with them on Facebook or Twitter.
I am participating in the CAA program by ShesConnected. I received compensation in exchange for my participation in this campaign. The opinions on this blog are my own
we love our road trips too, we should probably have a better kit in the car for emergencies though. especially blankets in the winter. Great post!
This is a great article! I will actually often not travel during the winter because I am worried about the vehicle breaking down. It’s nice to know with a little planning, winter driving can be a safe and enjoyable experience!
Oh CAA! I love thee. We got a TripTik map created before we went to Florida and let’s just say, it came in handy quite a few times. We also have some tourbooks with us so we can experience more then just the big things in Florida. Love doing road trips, and CAA makes me feel safe doing so.
We’ve had CAA for years, and I just learned something new about them by reading your post – they will bring gas if I run out! That is always a fear of mine, and I tend to panic once my tank reads less than an eighth.
I just wrote a post on Winter Car Safety too. Its scary driving in winter conditions! Better to be over prepared then not prepared at all! Great post! I didn’t realize that CAA offered so many amazing things!
I love road trips and wish we had a car! We’d be hooked up with CAA I am sure ;)
We do road trips now and then, too, and have a couple of upcoming ones planned. Roadside services is SUCH a peace of mind, especially when our travels take us to Maine in wintery conditions! That reminds me that I need to go through our emergency kit in the trunk and make sure we’re up-to-date.
What a great article!
This sounds like it might be a really good option for me. Thanks for sharing!
Always use protection! haha. But seriously, thanks for the heads up on this.
It’s so smart of you to be prepared. That reminds me that I need to update our “emergency kits” in the car with this season’s clothes and stuff.