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Published: October 27th 2014
Hey all!
Now that Cody and I have had some time to reflect on our trip...we wanted to share with future road trippers what we learned. Remember every trip is different: the length, the locations, the budget, the needs and wants..but hopefully some of our findings can be applied to help all types of travelers.
What would we do differently? -Only go to South Dakota/Mt. Rushmore if it’s on the way to somewhere else you want to go. We both weren’t overly impressed with Mt. Rushmore and felt that we could have spent that time better.
-Check the weather for EVERY place before you go and prepare for all types of weather. We had to make some lodging changes on the fly because the camping gear we brought wasn’t equipped for the snowy cold weather we hit in September.
-If we had more time, we would have used all of it. Our trip was just under 3 weeks and I’d say it’s the bare minimum to do the amount that we did. Some may enjoy spending more time in fewer places compared to the 1-2 days in each spot like we did.
-Bring a smaller
tent!! We borrowed a tent from a friend, which was very nice of them, but it could have fit a boy scout troop and also took up a lot of trunk space. Bring a tent that meets the basic space needs of the travelers. You just sleep in it. In our case, we were able to have a dance party.
-Don’t bring bikes if it kills your gas mileage. It cost us $273 more dollars to bring our bikes because it dropped our gas mileage significantly. We could have rented bikes in a few places and still spent less money. Or look into a stand up roof rack for bikes that may be more mileage efficient.
-I would bring fewer “things.” I barely read any books because we used our car rides for planning time/figuring out what was next. We had the opportunity to do laundry a few times, so I wouldn’t pack as many clothes as I did.
-We wished we had some hometown gifts or items on hand to give to people we came across. Even something simple like a postcard would be thoughtful when meeting people who’ve never been to NJ or Tennessee.
-Business cards/with blog information---We chatted with several random people who were interested in keeping up with our blog and instead of getting their contact info and having to email them...it would have been much easier to give them a card with our contact and blog info on it.
-Designate a “free” day with nothing planned and time apart from your trip mates. After a few weeks of non-stop travel and adventure with the same person, you need a day mid-trip to just do what YOU want...by yourself...to relax..and reflect...and re-energize. We only got a few hours of this and could have used a whole day.
Recommend/what we’d do again -Getting your car checked out before you leave. We had some minor work done on our car before we left, and we were super lucky to have NO car issues on our trip.
-Dramamine!!! Even if you think you don’t need it, bring it! Car sickness can and will develop.
-Bring a plastic storage bin with drawers to keep things organized---we kept food, medication and clothes in ours and it was easier than digging through a duffel bag to find what we needed.
-Power Converter----keep electronics charged in car.
-Large battery storage unit----helped charge stuff during camping and a good backup source
-Bluetooth in car for music
-Bring a road atlas!! Cody made fun of me for bringing one. Not only was it extremely educational….we used it several times when GPS or cell service was lost!
-Save important maps to Google maps to be able to see it without service...this way the map will still come up even if you lose service.
-Don’t make hotel/other reservations in advance if you can avoid it. It’s stressful to find a place on the fly but it’s even more stressful to have to rush or pass up an impromptu roadside photo opportunity because you have to make it to your next spot or reservation.
-Be open-minded, flexible, and considerate to what the other person on your trip wants to do. If you aren’t travelling alone, there will be a time when you and your trip mate(s) disagree. Realize there may be ways to do both, or you may have to take turns deciding. Figuring out a respectful and fair way is most important because the happier everyone is, the more
amazing the trip will be!
-Be awesome! Cody and I are awesome. I know that comes easier to some more than others, but get in touch with your most care-free, awestruck, pep-in-your-step, non-complaining, daring, go-with-the-flow self and make it count. You may never see some of these places again...make your one memory of them awesome...a handstand, a chat with a stranger, a kiss on the cheek, a step closer to the edge, a funny laugh. Be awesome.
SAVINGS!!
As much of this trip was by the seat of our pants, there was some pre-planning Cody and I had to do to keep it as low budget as possible. We knew it would add a challenge and more to the adventure anyway. Keeping track of our spending and loose budget, we ended up spending a little over $50/person each day, totaling about $1,100 per person for a 3 week trip. We consider this an accomplishment especially after all of the fun we had and stories to bring back. We wanted to share some of our smart travel tips with you that can be applied to any trip.
Lodging-The majority of our savings came from lodging and
most of that due to the fact that we stayed with friends for 9 of our 19 nights. 3 nights were camping ($30-$40/night), 3 nights were driving through the night (Free), and 4 nights were other lodging (Hotel, AirBnB, Hostel). I calculated if we were to stay in the cheapest hotel we could find for every night of our trip and we would have spent about $1,100 on lodging. We ended up spending $360 on lodging, saving us $740. You also can’t put a price on getting to visit and catch up with old friends, have a local tour guide, and if you’re lucky…a home cooked meal!
Gas-We downloaded an app called Fuel My Route, which tells you the cheapest gas stations in your area or on your route to the next destination. This app came in handy as long as we had enough service for it to load. We probably saved close to $50 in gas due to the app…which can really help…since gas was the biggest expense of our trip…almost $1,200.
Entertainment: Cody and I both have credit cards where you can redeem miles you build up for travel purposes including hotels, airfare and even tourist
attractions. We were able to use these points for some of our lodging accommodations as well as our tours of Hearst Castle and to the Sky Deck of the Willis Tower. We were able to save $414.00 total on our trip redeeming travel miles. Our credit cards are through Barclay but lots of CCs have programs like this that we recommend using.
Food: While we can’t really quantify any food savings, we did make a general rule to try to spend an average of $20/person each day. We loaded up on fruit and snacks for the car so some days we were well under our $20 and other days we went over if we went out for a nice meal (which there were about maybe 4 of total.) We also budgeted a “Fun” category where drinks at a bar or other “more than just the food” experiences would fall into.
Our total quantifiable savings for the trip was about $1,204 or about $600/person!! People assume taking a trip like this would cost a lot more. We cut back on the costly types of tourism and tried to enjoy nature and our “free” country as much as possible. We
had to be flexible and make what some people would consider sacrifices such as sharing our sleeping quarters with random hosts, or foreigners, or animals in the wilderness. To us, that was cheap and fun, but it’s not for everyone. If you’re thinking of planning a trip, try to think about what’s most important to you and realistic based on your budget and what adjustments you are willing to make.
Thanks for reading, folks! Cody and Carrie.
P.S. For Entertainment, we threw together some fun facts about our trip! Enjoy!
Miles Traveled: 7317.5, which is equivalent to the distance in miles from New York City to Paris, France…and back to New York City.
Number of Americans we met travelling our country: 0
Number of Foreigners we saw/met travelling our country: At least 50
Total driving time: About 5 days of a 20 day trip
Total sleeping time: About 5.5 days of a 20 day trip
Total “Fun” time: About 9 days of a 20 day trip
Friends Visited: 13
New Friends made: 7
States traveled to: 19
National/State Parks and Forests visited: 9
We had different sleeping arrangements for 16 of our 19 nights.
Number of times Cody confused Yellowstone and Yosemite: 15
…Number of Times Carrie corrected him: 16
Highest Temperature we dealt with: 105 ‘F
Lowest Temperature we dealt with: 7 ‘F
Highest Elevation: ~12,000 ft
Lowest Elevation: Sea Level
Animals we saw without going to a zoo: Mountain Goat, Bison, Elk, Deer, Moose, Black Bear, Golden Eagle, Zebras, Wild Horses, Elephant Seals, Vultures, and Humans. :P
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Ezra Erb
Great road trip advice
Great blog, with really useful road trip advice. I wish I had had something like it while planning my trip two years ago (nine months and over 35,000 miles!)