Remember all of those summer road trips you used to take with the family? Dad would load up the car with everything in the house, notwithstanding a full tool box and more than one Esky, "Just in case". Mum would leave a three page letter detailing how to feed the cats, because apparently spooning mush from a can is far too technical for the woman who lives next door to work out on her own. You would pile in the back seat between your brother (who would almost certainly pinch and prod you for the next three hours) and your sister (who would inevitably sleep through the whole trip - score).

Yep, nothing beats a summer road trip.

Now that you're old enough to go on your own road trips, it's your friends doing the poking and your partner doing a lot of the sleeping, the lazy thing. You may have picked up your mum's habit of leaving overly detailed instructions for your house sitter (Sorry Mrs. Williams!) but at least you can know the essential ingredients for your upcoming road trip this summer.

(clockwise from top left)

1. Avoid the dreaded squinty driving eye disease and keep those peepers fixed on the road with some fly shades from Tumbleweed Oddities.

2. Try to resist buying a whole rainbow of these coloured bottles. Or don't, we won't judge you for it. You need to keep yourself hydrated on those long stretches between rest stops, after all.

3. Some people get matching ink to remember shared experiences but we don't know if we're ready for that kind of commitment. Luckily the folks over at Tattly can provide some temporary street cred for the occasion.

4. You can't take the car radio with you when you stop for a quick dip at the beach, but with this Solar crank radio you can keep pumping your tunes all day.

5. Let a little art inspire you to get onto the open road.

6. The '90s called from their beat-up BMW: they wanted to remind you mix tapes are definitely a necessary ingredient for your road trip. Makerbot have made it even easier to put together the perfect mix without having to own a car that still contains a tape deck. Score.

7. You're going to be packed in like a tin of sardines, so keep with the theme and document your adventures with one of Lomography's sweet La Sardina cameras.

8. Sneaky naps in the backseat are one of the perks of being a passenger. Cosy up under this blanket and catch a few z's while your designated driver silently plots her revenge from behind the wheel. Just be sure not to leave any permanent markers lying around. We all know how that ends...