Fact Sheet: Summer Road Trip

Why we road trip

• Nearly everyone looks forward to a road trip – 92 percent say they “love” road trips, and only eight percent “hate” them!
• 3 out of 4 would describe trips as “fun,” “exciting,” or “spontaneous” – we agree! Only five percent called them “boring” or “torturous.”
• The top three things people look forward to on road trips are taking in the scenery (64 percent), discovering local spots (45 percent), and enjoying the company of friends and loved ones (37 percent).

How we plan

• Road trippers are almost evenly split between planners (55 percent) who plot out every stop and those that prefer to be more spontaneous (45 percent).
• 81 percent of respondents rely on travel experts or search engines for road trip information.
• Almost 1 in 10 people are already asking their barista for local suggestions while on the road and Starbucks baristas love to help!

Road trip must have

When identifying the “most essential” thing for a road trip, Americans cited a variety of “must haves.”

• A good travel buddy tops the list at 37 percent
• 21 percent say good tunes are the biggest necessity
• Beautiful scenery comes in at 15 percent
• Followed closely by snacks (11 percent) and coffee (nine percent)

Complaints on the road

• Bathrooms are important! While 45 percent list a restroom break as their reason for their first stop on a road trip, 32 percent complained about trying to find clean restrooms on the road.
• Other road trip gripes include feeling cramped (29 percent) and wanting to being able to exercise or move about (24 percent) to feeling bored (15 percent) and not being able to find good food (15 percent).
• No complaints here. 21 percent of road trippers are so happy to be on the open road that they say they have nothing to complain about.