Learning how to plan for a road trip can really help you enjoy a stress-free journey while saving a good amount of money. Therefore, here we will help you achieve that with some tips for traveling on a budget.
”Because the greatest part of a road trip isn’t arriving at your destination. It’s all the wild stuff that happens along the way.” ― Emma Chase
How to Plan for an epic road trip? you may ask, well those travel tips got you covered. Just keep on reading. Let’s get started:
1. Choose Your Vehicle Wisely: (Whether You Want To Rent Or Buy, This Is For You).
Some cars are better than others in terms of mileage, space, and driving long distances. What you choose can make your road trip experience either better or worse. When you buy or rent a road trip car, think about your comfort and convenience. Here is what I mean:
What To Look For In A Car?
Safety Features: you should consider the efficiency of airbags and Antilock brakes (ABS). Find out more details about other safety features. Click here.
Fuel Efficiency (Hypermiling): a car with good fuel efficiency can consume less gas, and help you save both time and money. On the other hand, a car with bad efficiency can result in you stopping for gas more frequently and spend more money. Later at this point, we will cover some options of cars that you can buy or rent.
Space: you should consider both boot space and the seat segments. They both should be spacious to fit luggage and other road trip essentials while seating comfortably during the trip.
Note: Scientifically speaking, bigger cars are not only more spacious but also safer to drive than small cars. Look it up.
Your convenience and comfort are important, but you should also care about the environment by choosing an environmentally friendly car, such as an electric vehicle.
2 Types of electrical vehicles to consider for a road trip: Hybrid, and Plugged Hybrid.
Both Hybrid and Plugged Hybrid cars are a great choice for road trips. In fact, the battery of both will charge its self when driving the vehicle, which makes them a good fit for a long-distance road trip.
Simple Compersion:
Hybrid: it can use both electricity and gas for driving while the battery charge itself when driving.
Plugged in Hybrid: it has the same feature as the Hybrid car; using both electricity and gas functions. The battery does charge itself when driving. The only main difference is that you have the option to plug it in and charge it.
2. Check The Car Condition Before Taking The Road Trip Especially:
Tire pressure.
Oil condition: (change before you leave).
Brakes.
Make sure to prepare proper tires for the road, such as tire chains for heavy snow destinations and tires that provide a good braking distance for both wet and dry roads. Click here to learn more.
3. Plan Your Destination: ( Make A Research):
Although being spontaneous and going with the flow is awesome, but planning beforehand can save you both time and money. It is your choice to decide.
Here is what you should consider:
Determine whether it is going on a cross country or a small round trip because each one can be planned differently. For the cross-country road trip, you usually need more stuff as it is longer.
You can use websites such as RoadTrippers or OnTheWay to to plan your trip.
Check the open hours of the place you are visiting. You do not want to go there and find out that they are close.
Plan your route:
Research about weather conditions and topography: A shorter road is not always better. Sometimes, it could have traffic, could be a snowy road, or a windy road, which may take you a longer time than expected.
4. Have A Company When You Can:
The company you are with matters because you are going to be stuck with them for a while, so choose to go with people you like and enjoy their company, such as family members, best friends, friends…etc.
Tip: choose a fair amount of passengers because too many passengers can slow you down. Waiting for them to get ready, bathroom breaks, food….etc.
”Good Company in a journey makes the way seem shorter.” – Izaak Walton.
5. Plan Your Budget And Save Money: (Fuel, Accommodation, And Food).
The main things you need to spend money on are fuel, accommodation, and food. Therefore, we will address some tips that you can follow, which help you save money. Plan your budget better.
Use splitter to keep track of how much everyone onboard spends and pays the share.
Save money on fuel by following those fuel-efficient tricks:
The optimal driving speed is 90 MPH for fuel consumption. Driving higher than that such as 120 MPH can burn fuel 25% faster.
When driving fast on a highway, for instance, use fuel to open the windows and enjoy the air breeze. but when you are driving slow, turn on the air conditioning to help you save gas.
Get rid of unnecessary weight and travel light. This helps you consume less fuel.
Fill the gas at the same time you eat. This way you will not worry about running out of gas. You can fill it whenever you stop at a gas station to eat. A better choice would be to fill the gas tank in cities where competition is usually lower than on the road. (Get gas before you leave)
Set a budget aside for gas only.
Food budget:
Always prepare for the next meal because you never know you might end up end in nowhere. You might be going to need a backup plan and have drinking water stored.
Budget Accommodation: use those websites for free accommodations:
For Hotel booking on the same day:
Hotel Tonight
Instant book
Airbnb
You can also choose to sleep in the car or bring a tent with you. You look for a camping spot near me. There are some apps that can help you to find a camping spot near me, such as:
The Dyrt
Hipcamp
Tentrr
Note: Drive safe and do not push the car harder than it needs to. You might end up spending more than you should. fixing the damage or paying for a ticket.
6. Be Spontaneous And Fixable (Important Tips):
Sometimes, things will not go as planned, don’t stress about it and enjoy the moment. Having a positive attitude is important for a road trip.
Take things slow and enjoy the place you visit and do not ramp a lot of activities in one day. Being in a rush from one place to another can totally ruin the trip experience for you.
Have fun, you will only live once and make the best out of it. Have fun as much as you can and be responsible for it.
This video is made by Luke and Alyssa. They share their experience taking a road trip across Canada. They also, share 7 must-have apps for planning a road trip. This should answer your question on how to plan for a road trip.
During this epidemic of COVID-19, we are suggested to keep our distance between us and others to ensure our safety and theirs. However, we are allowed to go out on a fun road trip as long as we are being cautious and follow the safety guidelines.
I hope this article answers your question on how to plan for a road trip, and you find those tips helpful. Now, you can go out there and enjoy your road trip. Visit places that you have always dreamed about while staying safe.
Are there any other tips regarding how to plan for a road trip you would like to share?
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