Plan to rent what’s not practical to pack Items like quality supportive hiking boots that are right for you can take time to find, so make sure to find and pack a pair before you hit the road to find the best deal. If you're going to a “tourist trap,” like Walt Disney World for example, try to plan your arrival during the off-peak season to take advantage of discounts or lower prices. These areas often have inflated prices on nearly everything, from hotels to hotdogs. Simply Googling “ways to save when going to…” or “visiting cheaply” can yield a TON of ways to save money while road tripping to specific and often higher priced locations.Īvoid Heavily Touristed Areas Whenever Possible Plan Ahead to Maximize Your Road Trip Budget This also allows you to relax and enjoy the local hikes and attractions before moving on. If possible, we typically try to find cheap accommodations (more on this below) early Friday and avoid moving until the following Monday. Weekends - While not as bad as holidays, weekends also average slightly higher fuel prices, lodging prices, and increased traffic congestion. Holidays - Generally holidays bring higher fuel costs, higher lodging costs, more traffic, and generally more hectic driving conditions, in metropolitan areas especially. We’ve typically just saved all our receipts and hand written our costs in a travel journal, but there are two great apps called Travel Wallet (Android) and TravelSpend (iOS) that can make the process of tracking your road trip budget a lot easier. Tracking your road trip expenses helps keep your mind on what you’re spending and also allows you to reflect on your travels afterwards to better plan and budget for your next road trip. Miscellaneous (fees, ferries, tolls, etc.)Įmergency Fund - We generally recommend setting aside a minimum of $1000 for an emergency fund to help with mechanical repairs, plane tickets home, or random medical needs that may arise on your road trip. A good road trip budget should include the following categories: This is step one to saving money on a road trip, as it will help you stay reflective on your spending while you travel. How to Save Money Before Your Cheap Road Trip Even Begins Make a Road Trip Budget You can save a TON of money and take a very cheap road trip if you’re okay with sacrificing a little comfort along the way (e.g., camping without access to traditional showers - here’s a complete guide on How to Bathe while Camping and Traveling) Pit Stops with family members and friends (this is a great way to keep a road trip cheap)ĭeveloped campgrounds vs free or cheap dispersed campsites However, if you’re traveling with adult friends or family you can share these costs, reducing your individual road trip expense. The more people, the more food, entertainment, and lodging expenses. driving 100-200 miles per day for 5 days (high fuel costs), eating out on the road (higher food costs), and going to multiple attractions each day (higher entertainment costs). Generally, if your time is limited you’ll be more inclined to “pack everything you can” into your road trip.Įxample: Compare camping for free in one spot for 5 days, cooking your own food, and relaxing vs. This is a bit counter intuitive - slowing down and taking your time can actually result in a lower per-day cost. Obviously the longer your road trip is, the more variable expenses like food, fuel, and accommodations you’ll need to budget for. However, road trip costs vary greatly depending on a few things:Įxample: A road trip across the southern US will be generally cheaper than around the western, northern, or east coast because the cost of fuel and general cost-of-living is lower. We have a post outlining How Much a Cross Country Road Trip Costs our family with the way we travel (big surprise - we’re cheap). This guide will help you do the same by teaching you how to determine the cost of your planned road trip, while offering a ton of ways to save money before and after hitting the road, so you can take a cheap road trip that will fit your own travel budget. And because we like to be on the road, we’ve found a lot of ways over the years to take cheap road trips, allowing us to adventure longer while staying within our budget. There’s nothing else quite like a family road trip! Long road trips hold a special place in our familys’ collective heart - so much so that when we’re home for a while our daughter often tells us she’s “roadsick” (as opposed to homesick□).
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