Artie & Olive: The Ultimate Road Trip Adventure

If your ultimate retirement adventure involves hitting the open road with a caravan in tow or exploring with your very own motorhome, then we hope you find our 'golden oldie' travellers, Artie and Olive's travel tips and suggestions to be of inspiration to you. If you haven't planned such an adventure, then we hope our articles on their travels will ignite your senses and whet your appetite to get out and about and explore Australia and all it has to offer.

So the Artie and Olive ultimate travel adventure begins...

The time has arrived! Artie and Olive decide to finally embark on their much talked about endless holiday. The one where they simply go wherever the road shall lead and joyously be spontaneous. Should they fall hopelessly in love with a destination, they can decide to stay for a few days, a week, or even a few months.

Before leaving, Artie and Olive have decided to ensure they are equipped with the latest resources to assist them with their travels and to help them stay connected with up-to-date information.



Artie enjoys packing the big paper travel maps and books. The good old fashioned travel resources that have acquired creases, rips, and folds, illustrating their unique character for how they have been the great companion for previous travel adventures. Yet, Olive has been captivated and intrigued by the latest technology and wants to explore her options for making this adventure more 'modern'. With her new smart phone being a great piece of technology to keep her in touch with their loved ones, she hopes to be able to use it to help them along their way.

It is, therefore, of great delight to Olive to hear Artie quote, "This fandangle new smart phone confuses me!". For this holiday adventure, Olive is excited to be able to out-smart Artie at something! He can provide the expertise with how to tow and operate a caravan, while Olive can be the perfect go-to person for the best travel resources.

After some research, Olive has determined the apps she thinks are best suited to meet their needs whilst journeying around Australia. Here's Olive to share her top picks!



Dear Fellow Travellers,

It is a joy to be heading out on the open road. Our short trips are a true delight and something we both treasure. As this trip is going to be a great new adventure, and different to our usual trips, I thought it was time to update our ways.

After some help from the grand kiddies, I have found some great travel apps to help us with finding things that are most important to our needs - good accommodation spots, where the nearest fuel stations are, and also information on local supermarkets such as, Woolies and Coles.

We love the freedom that comes from travelling with our caravan - everything we have and need is with us constantly. At times, finding accommodation to suit our needs can be a little hard - especially when we are travelling within a town or community that we are new to. I wanted to find a resource that allowed us to know what was on offer at the various accommodation spots that we are visiting or heading towards. I have installed the MDH Australia Roadie and Campee apps. They have details on caravan parks and will hopefully help us when we plan to make a stop over for a few days. We love staying at caravan and accommodation parks as we find it is a good way to meet fellow travellers (or grey nomads!) and to be inspired by their travel stories. We can also learn about some of Australia's true hidden gems!

When travelling in an unfamiliar destination, I always like to know where the nearest fuel station is. The Coles Express, Caltex, and BP apps seem like good ones to have. I like to plan ahead so this will help me to know how far away the next fuel station will be. They can even detail whether they accept your discount fuel vouchers <--- A great cost saving feature, especially when you are towing a caravan. I have found that all the little savings do add up!

Artie and I love to cook! So knowing supermarket locations and trading hours helps us to plan our meals. Purchasing fresh vegetables, fruit, and meats allows you to still cook like you were home in the kitchen. Woolworths and Coles have good apps that give you some handy information to help you with your shopping.

I love to explore when we go travelling. Stopping in at a place for a few days allows me to take the time to look around and to enjoy the location. Sometimes it can be hard to do that with a big car. So, Artie and I will at times hire a small car for a few days and head out on several road trips. It means Artie can set up camp with the 4wd and caravan and the small car allows us to only take what we need for our day's outing.

It can be hard to know who you can hire from so I like to use a car hire comparison website. If I enter in my car hire needs it will provide what deals are available and I can book online. Many sites will also provide some helpful travel information for your location. So if you are stuck for ideas, you may find something interesting to do! I like to use Car Rental Buddy. They have a simple to use mobile website that is perfect for me!

I shall keep you updated on how my apps help us and hopefully it will stop Artie from saying that "women can't read maps or give directions"!

Cheerio,

Olive.


If you are captivated to hear more about Artie and Olive's travel adventures, then stay tuned as more great travel tips and information will be published as their journey continues.

Stay safe!