Many Americans begin their summers dreaming of that cross-country road trip they’ve been meaning to take for years now. Of course, shortly after they begin their daydreams, they start to think of the many reasons not to go. The time, the money, the condition of your rapidly aging car, and any number of other factors can prevent you from pulling a Steinbeck, Kerouac, or Muir. Here’s hoping that this summer is finally the one that you leave excuses behind and hit the open road.
If you do manage to pry yourself away from the minutiae of every day life and on to the interstate, you should prepare more than just your luggage. In the age of social media, there is no excuse for not packing digitally. Download the appropriate apps for locating the best restaurants. Bookmark websites that can help you find deals on hotels. And, of course, load up on hashtags. This might sound like a strange piece of advice, seeing as so many of us normally use hashtags to punctuate our tweets with a #YOLO or a #blessed rather than to convey useful information. Hashtags can actually provide practical guidance for your trip, providing vital details about the places you’re going while you’re going there. That pound sign can be useful, as long as you know how to break through the noise and find what you’re looking for. Here is Every Hashtag You’ll Need on Your Cross-Country Trip.