This winter, plenty of Brits are planning to get away and road trips are a popular choice for anyone who isn't keen on flying or who wants to save money.
While you still have to shell out for petrol, a relaxing drive around some of the UK's stunning natural scenery can be as much of a break as a week in the sun.
Britain’s favourite road trips include the stunning North Coast 500 – the picturesque route stretches for 516 miles starting in the northern city of Inverness.
READ MORE: Britain's favourite road trips – with mountains, lakes, beaches and castles
You’ll see white sandy beaches, rugged mountains, remote fishing villages and highland animals on the coastal drive.
Another popular choice is the Ring of Kerry in Ireland.
Rolling green hills, dramatic coastline, sparkling lakes, cliffs, golden strands and plenty of sights like Moll’s Gap, Torc Waterfall and the Gap of Dunloe will keep you entertained.
If you’re planning a road trip then there are some great hacks to be found too.
After analysing the #roadtriphacks hashtag on TikTok – which has 99.8 million views – the car experts at Carmoney have shared their own top five hacks – including how to create your own DIY toilet.
Check them out below…
Pack to prevent penalty points & £2,500 fine
Packing your car efficiently for any road trip is key.
The best way to pack luggage efficiently can include adding super handy bag holders that attach to the back of the front seat headrests, which is ideal for having items to hand quickly for backseat passengers.
If you're going for an overnight trip, the way you way pack can impact exactly how much you can fit into your vehicle.
Firstly, put your suitcases into the back of the boot first, with a cooler box on top, then a fabric storage product in front, which can hold smaller, easy-to-grab items, such as kitchen rolls, books, and snacks.
As always, when packing any luggage into a car, be sure to avoid blocking the rearview window with items as this is dangerous when driving and may be breaching the law.
Drivers found to be travelling with an obstructed window can be hit with a £50 fixed penalty notice, and more seriously, may be fined up to £2,500, receive three penalty points and given a total driving ban if the vehicle being driven is in a dangerous condition, according to gov.co.uk.
Use cat litter to reduce condensation
An invaluable tip for those heading off on staycations in camper vans; ban condensation by filling each foot of a pair of tights with cat litter and hanging it up in the cabin.
A build-up in condensation can appear overnight or during colder weather when the cab heater isn’t switched on and can turn into mould over time.
By using cat litter held in the thin tights material and placed in the front and back of the vehicle, the porous litter will absorb the excess moisture in the air and reduce the risk of mould growth.
Cheap, own-brand cat litter can be purchased for as little as £1.85 and an old pair of tights (minus holes!) can be used for this handy tip.
This is a unique hack that should be used alongside driving with the windows down where possible, and if sleeping in a camper van, leaving the window open slightly overnight to encourage airflow throughout the vehicle which reduces the risk of condensation appearing.
Use a sandwich bag and mobile phone to entertain kids
Many parents will know the struggle of having to entertain children on long car journeys, and this simple hack demonstrates how to keep little ones quiet on your next road trip. It involves taking a clear plastic zip lock sandwich bag and securing it to the back of the front seat by piercing the bag with the metal fixtures of the headrest, and putting a mobile phone or tablet in so the back seat passenger can have entertainment during the journey.
The TikTok hashtag #roadtripwithkids has a whopping 47.9 million views shows plenty of ways to make driving with little ones fun.
This is a great hands-free way to keep kids or anyone in the backseat entertained on a long journey, and every kitchen will have a clear sandwich bag available to use or can be bought for pennies on your next food shop.
It is worth bearing in mind, however, that having a video playing on a mobile phone or tablet for potentially over an hour will drain the battery quickly, so prepare for this by taking a portable charger along so as not to disrupt viewing time.
Create a DIY journey tracker
To remedy the frequently asked question of ‘Are we there yet?’, parents will love this idea of being able to update their little ones on where they are on their journey. In this creative hack, which has simply take a long strip of paper styled as a road and attach it along the interior of the car above the front seat visors so it can be seen by kids in the backseat.
Add a cut-out drawing of a car on a piece of paper with blu-tack on the back and move it along the ‘road’ throughout the trip towards the end ‘destination’.
Additionally, you could print off and cut out landmarks to stick onto the road that you may drive past on the journey as a fun way to get children engaged with the journey.
To stay safe, we would advise that the front passenger is in charge of moving the ‘car’ along the journey tracker when travelling to avoid the driver being distracted when the vehicle is moving, and the movable part is attached securely to the paper so it doesn’t fall off, causing a potentially dangerous distraction.
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Make your own portable toilet
Finally, and perhaps one of the most unusual road trip hacks is the DIY car toilet.
A potential ‘road trip game changer’, you can place an actual toilet seat onto foam legs over a bin bag directly onto the driver's seat, with the absorbent material from inside two nappies added to create a ‘portable and disposable toilet’.
They even go as far as to add a toilet roll attached to a wire coat hanger hanging from the inside door handle for extra convenience.
With a TikTok video showing this exact method with 33 million views and half a million likes, we imagine that the video has been viewed more for entertainment than as an actionable hack for road trippers.
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