by Helium01

Created on: July 26, 2009

Completing a road trip on a budget is not only possible; it can be a whole lot of fun! My husband and I have completed a number of road trips from our home base in Ontario, Canada, to places such as Las Vegas, Myrtle Beach, Tennessee, and even Costa Rica! In all of these trips I have learned that there are some basics to keep in mind when planning a budget road trip. Below are some tips to help you get on the road for less.

Plan Ahead

For each of our trips, I made sure that we did lots of advance planning. This enabled us to book less expensive accommodations and choose routes that would allow for low-cost sources of entertainment. In fact, on our road trip to Las Vegas, we were able to use points from our MasterCard to cover the cost of most hotel room stays. The remaining rooms were booked through a friend who was an employee of the hotel chain, enabling us to obtain rock-bottom prices.

Choose Your Vehicle Wisely

You may be thinking, how can I choose my vehicle for a road trip, I have to use the one that I have! This is not necessarily true. Although for our road trips we always used our own vehicles (a 1997 Toyota Tercel and a 1994 Nissan Pathfinder; true budget transportation!) the option was always there to rent a car or borrow one from a friend. If your daily set of wheels is a terrible gas guzzler, you may get more bang for your buck by renting a compact car. Just be sure that you can comfortably spend a lot of time in the size of vehicle that you choose.

What about an RV?

Is driving an RV (recreational vehicle) that you can also sleep in more economical than driving a car and staying in hotels? That is something that you will need to work out for yourself. Personally we have never traveled in an RV because we enjoy the variety of staying in different places along the way. However, if the cost of an RV is considerably less, it may be an option that you will want to consider.

Really Roughing It

We have not always stayed in hotels either. On our trip to Costa Rica we took advantage of campsites along the way. Yes, we camped in Guatemala and Nicaragua! As long as you are camping in a secured campground with a good reputation it is perfectly safe. Best of all, you can enjoy the amazing scenery and not be cooped up in a hotel room. In Guatemala we entered our campsite at night and woke up to the most spectacular lake framed by volcanoes.

Food

Of course, any discussion of a budget road trip without mentioning food would be remiss. For ourselves, we usually set a daily budget for food that included rest stop purchases, restaurant purchases and grocery items. In general, for two of us we usually ate for $50 per day. You could get by on much less or spend much more depending on the type of trip you want to take. If you truly want a budget trip, there isn't any reason why you couldn't prepare all of your own meals and spend no more than you would have at home. For us, since it was our vacation, we wanted to be able to enjoy ourselves a little more and make it special.

Overall, I think that you will find there are many resources to help you plan a budget road trip. These ideas are just the tip of the iceberg, and really just designed to get you thinking in the right direction. There are many other areas for savings, including the cost of gas, entertainment, souvenirs, etc. that haven't been mentioned here. Above all else, make a plan and try your best to stick to it. The result will be a wonderful road trip that you will remember for many years to come.

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