Inspired by the recent Concierge.com list of America’s best places to soak in the sun and Rambling Traveler’s consistent postings of beautiful backcountry throughout the United State’s Midwest, I got to thinking:

Whatever happened to the great American Road Trip?

Now, I’m not talking about weekend trips to grandma’s, or a family trip to the Grand Canyon, or Disney World. I mean a real, Kerouac “On the Road” style road trip, where you hop in the car with a couple of friends and let the road be your guide. It seems that today, the word “travel” almost implies something that is international. However, with so much to see in your own backyard, I think that we Americans are foolish for not taking advantage of it. Just the romance and adventure that is The Road, should be enough to get at least a few of us off the couch and into the car exploring. Cruising through the Rockies, small towns, roadside diners, big cities, meeting people who supposedly speak English but they might as well be speaking Russian their accents are so thick, and really learning what it is to be American. It’s right there on the other side of the door!

So, you may be thinking now:

Your right, it would be a lot of fun to hit the road for a couple of weeks, and travel around the Continental US, but with hotel costs, gas, food, etc. I just can’t afford it!

Well, seeing how the name of this site is Go Budget Travel I actually did think about the costs behind an extended American roadtrip, and I think the idea is actually alot more affordable than it appears at first glance. Let me now go through 3 of the major expenses of any roadtrip, accommodations, transport, and food,and explain how a couple of tricks and a budget travel mindframe can drastically reduce or even eliminate each of these costs.

Accommodations:
I actually tried to plan a roadtrip accross the Continental US about 5 years ago (before I grew into the creative “outside-of-the-box” style thinker I am today), and the expense that killed the entire trip before it ever started was hotel accommodations. For $50 a room in small towns, up to $150 a room in cities, for budget style accommodations, I found that just finding somewhere to sleep every night would get VERY expensive. So, how can you travel across the US without spending a small fortune on hotel rooms?

• Hospitality Exchanges: See my article series on Hospitality Exchanges for more information on what they are, but a taking advantage of hospitality exchanges could ensure free accommodation throughout your entire trip. It would take some planning and coordination ahead of time, but with users all over the United States, you could very easily set up someone to stay with, for every region of the country you visit. It is harder to find hosts outside of cities and in sparsely populated regions of the country, but finding accommodations in cities should be quite easy.
• Camping: If the hospitality exchange option has you covered in urban areas, the camping option should work in more rural areas. Though we often forget about it, the United States has an extensive network of National, State, and Local parks. They sometimes charge fees for camping, but the fees are minimal ($3-$10). Even if you can’t find an official “campsite” it is usually relatively easy to find a secluded area to set up your tent, nobody will ever know (nor will they care usually), it’s an adventure afterall, right?! There are dozens of campsite listing available in bookstores, or online at sites like Forest Camping and Reserve America, to give you an idea of what’s available and help you do a little planning.

Transport:
We can drastically reduce accommodation costs through Hospitality Exchanges in urban areas, and Camping in rural areas, so how do we cut down on the costs of getting from point A to point B? I’ve done a lot of thinking about this one, and please give me some feedback if you have any ideas. In my opinion, you pretty much have to embark on this kind of trip in your own private vehicle. Trying to use public transport would really limit the number and variety of places to visit, and just isn’t all that convenient. Therefore my tips for this one are a little simpler and more obvious, but still effective.

• Reliable and Fuel Efficient Vehicle: Do not take your Expedition or Ram on this kind of a trip. You want a small car that gets at least 20mpg, and is very reliable (won’t break down in the middle of the Nevada desert). Also, be sure you take care of your car throughout the trip. Get your oil changed if you travel over 3000 miles, keep an eye on your tires, brakes, etc.
• Travel with Friends: Unless your a real loner, I think traveling with friends would make this kind of trip a lot more fun, while also allowing you to share “community costs” such as gas, saving everyone money (not to mention the environment)!

Food:
I think a lot of the allure and charm behind a trip like this is truly embracing the culture of “The Road”. A big part of that culture is spending time in roadside diners, bars, strip clubs, whatever! To cut down on food costs, I could recommend just buying food in grocery stores, and living off of cereal and PB&J’s for the entire trip. However, that would not only get extremely boring, it would also exclude you from all that happens on “The Road” in all those roadside establishments. Therefore, to get the full experience, as well save some money, I think the best idea is to mix the Diners with the PB&J’s, and experience the best of both worlds. Breakfast and lunch from the grocery store should set you back about $2 each, plus dinner and a beer at a roadside bar for $8, still only amounts to $12/day for food. Not to bad if you are sleeping for free, and splitting gas costs among 3 of your closest friends!

Overall Budget:
So, if you actually use these tips, and organize a roadtrip through the US with 3 friends (4 people in total), how much could you expect to spend?

Let’s say you end up averaging 2 nights/week in a budget hotel ($100 for the room, $25/person), and the other 5 nights are spend utilizing a hospitality exchange or camping. That’s $50/week for accommodations.

You average 1500 miles of travel per week, as you want to move slow and really experience every place you visit. 1500 miles at 20 miles per gallon equals 75 gallons of gas, which at $3.00/gallon will cost the group $225/week, from which each person will contribute $56.25/week for gas.

For food, you decide to make two cheap meals a day from basic ingredients picked up at the grocery store. The third meal you decide to eat in a roadside cafe, NY pizza parlor, San Francisco Deli, etc. for which you budget $8. Your daily food budget then comes out to $12/day, or $84/week for food.

At $50/week for accommodations, $56.25/week for gas, and $84/week for food, your total weekly expenses for sleep, transport, and food come to $190.25 per week of budget travel on the American Road. Obviously you will have other expenses, mainly entertainment costs, which you surely won’t want to skimp on, but all in all, I think an American Roadtrip can be a much more budget travel endeavor than a lot of us realize.

Further Reading:
Roadtrip America
Roadtrip USA

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