Before a road trip checklist

Road trips have a particular kind of forgetting. You load the car, buckle everyone in, back out of the driveway, and somewhere around the highway on-ramp someone asks whether the garage door went down.

There's the car to get ready, the stuff that goes in it, and the house you leave behind. Get the car checked a few days ahead so you have time to fix anything, and save the house checks for the very end, after the car is packed.

Tips

• Pack the car the night before, except for anything that can't sit in a cold or hot car. The morning then only has the house checks and the coffee.

• Wait until the garage door has fully closed before you drive off. It takes fifteen seconds and settles the most common road trip doubt.

• Give one person the job of doing the house walk while everyone else loads up. Two people half-checking is worse than one person checking properly.

• At rest stops, lock the car with the fob and look back at the lights flash. Busy stops are where cars get left open.