Interstate movers say, rather than subject yourself to the monotony of a long car drive with nothing to do during your upcoming move, why not inject a little creativity into your ride? There are so many moving parts when you’re uprooting your life and trekking to a new city, and often, a few important activities slip through the cracks. Your long distance journey is the perfect opportunity to address some of those items, begin planning for the future, and ensuring you’ve tied up all the loose ends associated with making a move.

To make your ride a more productive one, here are several activities that’ll keep you busy and help pass the time during your long distance drive.

Tackle Your Financials

Along with moving comes new financial responsibilities and the opportunity to revisit how you budget your expenses (and, of course, play time). If you haven’t been budgeting, now is the perfect time to create one. By concentrating on this task in the car, you’ll be able to work without the distractions of your everyday routine cropping up.

Here are some things to consider: Is the cost of living higher or lower in the city you’re relocating to? What will your commute to work be like? Do you need to increase or decrease the budget you typically allocate for utilities? Regardless of whether or not you’ll be collecting a larger paycheck, keeping track of where your money is going is an important part of being fiscally responsible, as well as being able to budget for activities and vacations you’d like to do.

Turn Your Journey into a Story

Whether you decide to create a dedicated photo album on Facebook detailing your moving adventure, or you’d like to capture your new journey by starting a blog, documenting your new move is the perfect way to preserve valuable memories. From the highs to the lows, recording your journey is a great way to stay connected with family and friends and maybe even introduce some humor into an otherwise stressful situation. Get creative with the photos you take along the way to really turn your travel experience into an unforgettable one.

Reconnect with Friends & Family

Maybe you haven’t spoken with your mom in a few weeks or you’ve been trying to reconnect with a girlfriend from college for the past couple of months. Whatever the case may be, you now have a long stretch of time to pick up the phone and start chatting. With none of life’s daily interruptions getting in the way, you no longer have any excuses for not reaching out to loved ones.

Listen to a Podcast or Audiobook

From business advice and TedTalks to romance or mystery books, you can use your car time wisely by throwing on a podcast or audiobook. It’s a great way to pass the time when you have snoozing passengers and you need to reignite your energy while driving. There are a number of apps available on your smartphone that’ll allow you to listen to a new book from a favorite author or brush up on your management skills.

Rather than dread your upcoming long-distance move, you can turn your drive time into one that’s productive, and dare I say, fun!