Welcome to your imperfect, unfiltered summer road trip guide – part travel journal and part road trip reflection! Think: food poisoning, hiking injuries, camping fails, existential crises at 2 a.m., and yes, maybe a mild bed bug situation or two. Road trips can be amazing (and healing), but they also can come with their fair share of bumps in the road, stoplights, and unexpected paths. 

If you’re looking for a glossy summer travel guide complete with sun-drenched selfies and hotel breakfasts, this probably isn’t it. This is for the ones chasing the open road with a trunk full of snacks, a favorite playlist, and a dose of self-reflection. Perhaps, the ones who’ve also maybe cried in gas station bathrooms and laughed until they couldn’t breathe in the middle of nowhere. The ones who know the best road trip stories usually end up being those that end with “we didn’t plan for this.”

The Nomad Road Trip Life

In 2020, my husband and I were living a nomadic lifestyle, traveling all over the United States. This came after a decade in corporate America, where my work made me feel anything but great. It was a journey beyond burnout, routines, and the “hustle agenda”, and was a call back within ourselves as well as one to Mother Nature. What started as a carefree summer road trip, a temporary escape from the noise, slowly unfolded into a two-and-a-half-year search for a sense of belonging. A slow, winding reclamation.

It was during this time, somewhere between national parks and gas station meals, sunrises in parking lots and late-night tent set-ups, that I began to truly unravel the messages of burnout and expectation that had been living in my body for years. For the first time, I had space to listen, to notice, and to stop pushing. There is a quiet magic of traveling, even if it’s just a simple road trip close to home. It forces you out of your routine and into presence. There’s no calendar to chase. No inbox demanding your worth or emails to “circle back on.” Just miles and moments and a steady invitation to slow down enough to witness the beauty around you.

In the quiet, in-between moments on the road, The Adventure Tarot was born. Along this journey, I also met a version of myself I hadn’t known before: someone who could sit in stillness, who could embrace the parts of herself she once hid away.

This deck became the embodiment of the entire adventure, not just the majestic landscapes, breathtaking sunsets, and unforgettable destinations, but also the raw, unglamorous stretches in between. It was both a creative and spiritual journey in itself, a reflection of the open road, and everything it revealed along the way. It was a reminder that self-discovery doesn’t always happen in big, cinematic gestures; sometimes, it’s just found in the slow unraveling. 

Summer Road Trip Tips (Imperfect Edition)

• Don’t overplan. The best memories aren’t on the itinerary.
  
• Fill up before you need it, especially in remote areas.
  
• If a place feels weird, leave. Trust your gut more than Google Maps.
  
• Drive with the windows down, music way too loud.
  
• Watch a sunrise from a parking lot.
  
• Make time for random detours like to overlooks and novelty museums?
  
• Pull a tarot card in the middle of nowhere and see what it wants to teach you.
  
• Sleep in your car just to say you did.
  
• Write a postcard to your past self and mail it (even if it never arrives).
  
• Cry over something small, then laugh about it five minutes later.
  
• Go to DQ and get a Blizzard for old time’s sake.
  
• Let a coin flip decide your next stop.
  
• Take a photo that doesn’t make sense to anyone else but you.
  
• Make a Road Trip playlist and update it often.
  
• Camp somewhere wild — even if you have no idea what you’re doing.
  
• Do nothing for an entire afternoon and don’t feel guilty about it.
  
• Let your silence say more than your words for once.
• Have a deep conversation under a sky full of stars.
• Start a travel journal — even if it’s just voice memos and candy wrappers.
• Say yes to something that scares you just a little.

Road Trip Journal Essentials

You don’t need a suitcase full of supplies to keep a great road trip journal, just a few basics to help capture the little moments that make your trip unforgettable. Keep your journal somewhere easy to grab: glove box, side pocket, wherever. If it’s buried under snacks, you’ll forget about it.

What to Pack:

• A notebook you actually like writing in (or your phone’s Notes app—zero judgment).
  
• A little pouch or envelope for random stuff you collect—receipts, postcards, leaflets from places you loved to visit.
  
• Optional: tape, markers, and a glue stick if you’re feeling crafty.

Things You’ll Need for the Journey

• A notebook
  For the weird thoughts, profound realizations, doodles, and late-night cabin poetry that only seem to appear when you’re 500 miles from routine.
  
• A tiny first-aid kit
  Yes, for the bug bites and blisters, but also the emotional bruises. Band-Aids help. So does a love note to yourself tucked in the bottom.
  
• A backup water jug
  Because dehydration brings out your most dramatic self, and that self does not need to be in charge of directions.
  
• A tarot deck (like The Adventure Tarot)
  Because sometimes the road presents you with questions that only your intuition can answer. Pull a card at rest stops, campsites, or moments of quiet. Let the archetypes guide you when Google Maps can’t.
  
• A travel-sized comfort item
  A soft hoodie, a worn book, whatever makes you feel grounded when the road gets long and your soul gets stretched.
  
• A lighter or matches
  For bonfires, candlelit journal sessions, or metaphorically burning it all down (just…safely).
  
• Snacks with no nutritional value
  Not every bite has to be healthy. Some just need to taste like freedom and nostalgia.
  
• A disposable camera
  Because some memories are better captured in grainy, imperfect frames, you can’t edit later.
  
• An “in case I lose my mind” playlist.
  Heavy on scream-alongs, cry-alongs, and the songs you forgot you loved.
  
• Zero expectations
  The less you cling to how things should go, the more magic you make room for.
  

When the Road Trip Takes a Turn (And So Does Life)

Not every mile is smooth. Not every plan survives the road. Sometimes the tent leaks, the engine light comes on, or your favorite person gets on your last nerve. Sometimes the GPS glitches, the vibe shifts, or you find yourself crying in the middle of a trail, unsure whether it’s the altitude, the exhaustion, or something more profound.

When the road trip takes a turn, pause. Breathe. Remember: this is the trip. Not the version you imagined, but the one you’re in. And there’s something sacred about learning to hold space for the mess, the reroute, the unraveling. Because road trips are a metaphor for life, just in a smaller, more condensed form. You move forward. You get lost. You figure it out. You break down. You laugh later. You find your way back to yourself, again and again.

So when things go sideways:

• Give yourself grace, not guilt.
  
• Call it a detour, not a disaster.
  
• Let your emotions ride shotgun without taking the wheel.
  
• Ask for directions — literally or metaphorically.
  
• Pull a tarot card. Journal. Cry it out. Then keep going.
  

These moments — the uncomfortable ones — are where real growth occurs. They remind you that control is an illusion, but adaptability is a superpower. Whether you’re 300 miles from home or deep in a season of personal upheaval, the lesson is the same: You are allowed to be lost. You are allowed not to know. You are still moving forward. And sometimes, the turn you didn’t plan for leads you exactly where you’re meant to be.

Summer Bucket List: Road Trip Edition

Inspired by the spirit of The Adventure Tarot, here are a few of my soul-nourishing road trip ideas to add to your summer bucket list, each one perfect for reconnecting with yourself, nature, and the present moment:

Chase the Sunrise (or Sunset): Pick a scenic route and make it your mission to catch golden hour. Reflect on what you’re ready to release and what you’re prepared to welcome in.

Visit a Desert or Canyon: Let the vast, open landscapes mirror your inner expansiveness. There’s something deeply healing about the stillness of desert air.

Campfire Conversations: Gather with friends (or yourself) around a fire. Pull a few cards, ask deep questions, and let the crackle of the flames guide your reflections.

Drive With No Destination: Sometimes the best discoveries come from the roads you didn’t plan to take. Turn off your GPS for a bit and let your intuition serve as your compass.

Embrace the Road

This summer, say yes to the kind of travel that doesn’t look good on paper, but feels good in your bones. The kind that’s messy and unscripted, full of detours and quiet revelations. The kind that teaches you something about yourself while you’re trying to figure out where the hell you’re going.

Travel has a way of stripping things down. It asks us to be present. To pay attention. To surrender control and meet whatever shows up with curiosity. It invites us into a version of ourselves we don’t always get to meet when we’re stuck in routine: the freer, softer, more awake version. And if you’re on your journey of culture, identity, joy, and magic, know that you’re not alone. Whether you’re rediscovering the pieces of yourself you once rejected or just learning to be still with the ones you carry now, there’s space for all of it here.

The Adventure Tarot was born on this kind of road, a road with no map, only intention. A winding path that held space for healing, for remembering, and for the slow, beautiful process of unbecoming everything I thought I had to be.

Each card in this deck is its own road trip and its own little adventure. With rich, hand-drawn illustrations of starry skies, golden suns, campfires, winding trails, and calm, quiet waters, these cards invite you to pause, reflect, and reconnect with the rhythm of your journey.

This isn’t just a tarot deck, it’s a companion for the soul’s many seasons. A reminder that even when the path feels uncertain, every step is part of a greater unfolding. Some of the most profound transformations occur when we allow ourselves to wander.

Whether you’re at the beginning of your path or somewhere in the messy middle, The Adventure Tarot is here to walk beside you. Welcome to the journey. 🌙✨

SHOP THE ADVENTURE TAROT NOW