How to Plan Your Road Trip

Hit the Highway and Explore

by Michael Reubelt

Vacations can be costly enough to keep people at home year-round, but they don’t have to be. Instead of faraway destinations that come with hefty flight fares and prohibitive resort fees, a road trip can be a fun and cost-effective alternative to get out and explore your corner of the planet.

The Basics

When planning a road trip, you need to make a few preliminary decisions: what you hope to achieve or experience on the trip, what your total budget is, what vehicle you will use, and either a destination or several destinations.

The Destination

When deciding where to go on your road trip, it’s important to know what your objectives are. Granted it’s great to make one or two spontaneous stops, but without planned stops, your road trip can quickly feel like one very long car ride. Decide if you would rather see cities, villages, canyons, beaches, deserts or forests. Then look up key points that fit those desires and plan the rest of your trip around them.

Once you have decided your destinations and have made a list of places you want to visit, find out what is happening in those places during the time of your trip. Are there special festivals, concerts or exhibits happening that you can incorporate into your trip? If your travel dates are flexible, you can plan your trip around these events. Don’t go overboard though: Decide how long you will stay in each place and your approximate arrival and departure date. It will make for a more task-oriented, rather than a time-oriented, road trip.

The Automobile

It is important to know what type of vehicle you will be using on your road trip, because gas is often the costliest part of this type of excursion. You can calculate the miles per gallon of your vehicle by plugging in its make, model and year into the government site FuelEconomy.gov. Also, keep in mind when budgeting that the price of gas where you are may differ from the price per gallon where you’re going. This will help you estimate the total fuel cost of the trip.

Make sure your vehicle is equipped with an emergency kit, a spare tire, and plenty of maps or an electronic navigation device. It is also wise to sign up for an emergency roadside assistance service through automobile clubs such as AAA.

Hotels, Motels, Hostels or Camp Sites?

In addition to gasoline, lodging is also a high road trip cost. A great way to save on lodging is to stay in hostels or hotels on the perimeter of cities or towns you want to visit, as they are usually much cheaper than costlier hotels in a city center.

Another great (and adventurous!) savings tip is to camp on your road trip. Camping fees can be as little as $10 per night and can really make you feel like an explorer. By investing a little upfront in new or used camping gear, you can use money saved on hotels to treat yourself to a souvenir or a nice dinner on the road.