Taking a road trip is always a fun experience, whether you’re traveling with a partner, friends or your entire family. If you’re road-tripping with a large group, you might consider hiring a charter bus to make the experience of traveling the country even more enjoyable. If you need some fun ideas to pass the time out on the open road, here are a few games and other activities for bus and motorcoach rides to keep the good times rollin’.
1. License Plate Game
The license plate game is a simple idea, but it can last the entire length of your trip, making it fun for everyone. First, print off a map or list of all of the states in the continental United States. As you travel, check the license plates of other vehicles and mark off the corresponding state on your list. The first person to get all of the states wins the game.
2. Make a Scrapbook
As you travel, you will likely stop at many different restaurants, rest centers, hotels and activities. At each place you stop, be sure to collect at least one or two items of significance to help remember your trip. You can wait to start your scrapbook when you return home, but a motorcoach has plenty of room for crafts if you would like to get started right away. Best of all, you’ll have a homemade souvenir as soon as you get home.
3. Trivia Games
Before you travel, search online to compile a list of interesting trivia about the places you will be visiting. You can simply read the trivia aloud to the other charter bus passengers, or you can make it into a game, seeing who can guess the correct answer to your trivia questions. It’s a fun way to pass the time while also enhancing your overall trip experience. You may even learn something new.
4. Scavenger Hunt
A quick scavenger hunt is always fun, but a road trip can turn into a long scavenger hunt, which is even more exciting. Before you hit the road, gather a list of items you’d like to find on the trip. Each person can play alone, or you can form teams. The first person to collect all of the items on your list (or whoever collects the most by the end of the trip) wins the game.
5. Alphabet Game
With the alphabet game, you simply start at the beginning of the alphabet with ‘A,’ looking for the letter anywhere you can find it as you travel – on road signs, billboards, other vehicles and so on. Once you’ve found ‘A,’ move on to ‘B,’ and continue through the entire alphabet this way. You can turn it into a competition if you like by splitting into teams or playing individually.
6. I Spy
The large windows of a motorcoach provide plenty of opportunities for you and other passengers to be observant of your surroundings. Pass the time on a long bus ride by playing I Spy with a partner or the whole group. This classic game is appropriate for passengers of all ages.
Look out the window and find something you can describe to the other passengers. After saying, “I spy with my little eye…” and a word describing the object, such as “orange” or “large,” watch everyone try to figure out what you spied. Since the motorcoach is in motion, this game is even more fun because there’s pressure to find the object before it’s out of view. You may even want to keep score and have a prize for the winner.
7. Name That Tune
A road trip isn’t a road trip unless you’ve sung a couple of songs along the way. Playing “Name That Tune” allows you to show off your musical tastes and talents. Get the whole crew involved by playing music on your phone or humming a song out loud.
Let everyone guess the song you’re playing or humming. The first person to get it right can sing something of their own. You can also go in a row and give points to the one who guesses correctly. It may be helpful to choose a theme for your music, such as Christmas tunes or songs from a specific decade, so that guessing is easier.
8. Make Up a Funny Story
This bus ride activity gives everyone on board a chance to be creative as you all collectively come up with a funny story. Think of a theme and go around the motorcoach to every passenger. Each person should share one sentence or a few words to keep the story going until everyone has contributed.
You can either write it down or have someone record it on their phone. Then, when you’ve all finished, recite the story out loud or play the recording and laugh at the twists and turns it takes.
9. Bingo
Before your motorcoach trip, print or create travel bingo cards with items you may see along the way, such as an airplane, bridge or school. Each player gets a bingo card, and the caller can announce the items in random order. You can also have the players call out and check off the objects they notice as you pass them on the road.
Whoever gets a row or column filled first wins. You can make it more entertaining by offering prizes or other incentives. Since you’re driving on a bumpy road, you may want to use pens to check off the items or bring magnetic bingo boards, as regular bingo pieces are more likely to fall off the board.
10. The Name Game
With this game, you’ll need to pick a familiar topic, such as TV shows, celebrities or geographic locations. The first person says a name related to the theme, such as “Miami.” Since that word ends in an “I,” the next person has to say a geographic location that begins with an “I,” such as “Idaho.”
Start with the first person at the front of the bus and work your way to the back. Any player who can’t think of an answer in the set timeframe or repeats someone else’s is out. Keep going in line until one player remains.
Hire a Motorcoach for Your Next Road Trip
Your road trip will likely be a blast just because you are traveling with the people you care about, but games are a great way to make any vacation even better. You can play all of these games in a regular vehicle, but a charter bus can make the experience even more relaxing and fun. Charter buses give you more room to rest, stretch out and have fun with your companions, and they offer conveniences that other vehicles simply don’t have. If you would like to hire a motorcoach for your next road trip or other traveling event, please contact Arrow Stage Lines for more information or to get a quote.
