Pack up your car and head out for an adventure with with these cool, casual on-the-road essentials.

Road trips have long been portrayed in popular culture as a hedonistic and romantic way to travel. Think of Mr Jack Kerouac trying to find himself in On The Road, or Mr Hunter S Thompson trying to find the American dream in Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas. Consider Mr Ernesto “Che” Guevara doing some pre-revolution traversing of Mexico on a Norton 500 in The Motorcyle Diaries. Our protagonists get into scrapes and discover things about themselves and our existence that cannot be happened upon during two weeks on the beach in the Bahamas. Even if your road trip involves a rented Volvo and an annotated Rough Guides manual, it is hard not to experience the unique excitement and possibilities that the open road can provide. Indeed, the unknown is what makes the best road trips. But we advise giving your clothes a bit of consideration so you can look the part for the inevitable social media photos. Not very counter culture, really, but we all need to brag sometimes.

If you’ve seen Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas, you’ll understand how the Hawaiian shirt was made to flap in the wind beneath a blue sky in an open-top car. The same goes in True Romance, where Clarence Worley, played by Mr Christian Slater, is rarely seen out of a red, printed camp-collar button-down – clearly inspired by the character’s obsession with Mr Elvis Presley. Some of the most iconic scenes in that film show him and his wife Alabama (Ms Patricia Arquette) driving across the US in a purple Cadillac. Given that we can’t all be as carefree as the people who have immortalised the exotic-print shirt, you might wish to pack a shell jacket just in case the heavens open up.

We take hundreds of pictures a month using our iPhones, but if you’re going on a road trip of some description, we suggest you come packing something a little more heavy-duty. Founded in Germany in 1914, Leica is one of the more respected camera brands among photography professionals. Its cameras have a retro, timeless feel, yet are extremely technologically advanced. The M240 packs 24 megapixels, full HD video capture and an incredibly fast “Maestro” processor – so you’ll never miss a photo opportunity, even if you’re speeding past one.

Perhaps the most important tool of all on a road trip is a good pair of sunglasses. How else are you going to channel the coolest highway travellers if you’re not peering through your windshield in a great pair of shades? This minimalist round-framed pair from idiosyncratic Belgian designer Dries Van Noten offer a truly modern way to shield your eyes from the sun. You’ll almost certainly lose them somewhere off the beaten track, so maybe invest in another pair just in case.