Tips for Planning the Perfect Cross Country Road Trip
Tip 1. Choose the best Vehicle
You want to be sure the car is spacious for your luggage, the crew, and any extra items you may be bringing. One thing that we have realized that is not fun on a car trip, is being completely squished like sardines with all the people and luggage.
Good gas mileage on your vehicle is a must. Especially if it is a drive across the country trip. Try to avoid a gas guzzler or a car that just isn’t sufficient in gas mileage.
You want plenty of room for all of your luggage and extra items (as mentioned above), but we want to be sure this part is clear. If you have to add overhead storage or a trailer or rack, do what you gotta, or just pack lighter ;)
Consider using roof racks and extra trailer to bring all your stuff as mentioned above.
Bonus tip: get your vehicle checked out before leaving for your trip (tires, oil change, engine etc…). The worst thing that can happen on a trip is that your car breaks down and you are stuck somewhere or end up having to rent another vehicle. Now we know things happen, even if you get everything checked beforehand, but its better to be on the safer side. Sometimes you travel so far too, that you need another oil change about half way or towards the end of the trip, and that is definitely something to consider when planning too.
Tip 2. Pick who comes wisely
In the nicest way possible, you don’t want too many people on your trip. Unless you can rent a bus or van, or something large to fit everyone, sometimes too many people can be too stressful.
Too many people makes it hard to pick things out and to assemble everyone. There are too many opinions on what to do and where to go that too many people may cause too much friction.
Try and be lean and mean. Meaning, less is more. So less people, the better. If you do have more people, just take multiple cars, but then that does mean more gas money.
Bring your best friends. Obviously you don’t want to bring a complete stranger, but bringing your best friends on a road trip is an obvious must. Who wouldn’t want to travel alongside some of the people you love most?
Tip 3. Know Your Role in the car
If you’re the driver focus on driving. Clear. Straightforward. Not much to this one.
If You’re the driver's sidekick be the navigator and music handler, and try not to fall asleep…
If you’re in the backseat be the entertainer or help book things if they still need to be booked. This will be a huge help in the long run. If you want to take a nap, this is the position you should be in, and if you need to swap with the driver’s sidekick, switch it up!
If you’re the videographer/photographer get all those good shots while others are driving.
Tip 4. Plan your Route
Have main destinations you want to hit and then plan backwards from there. Planning your route will be the biggest help to help others know when to join (if they come in late) and to
Leave some room to be flexible. Flexibility is a must. If you aren’t a flexible person, then you probably shouldn’t travel. Things happen, and sometimes plans don’t go accordingly. See point 4 for more details.
Don’t overbook or you’ll feel rushed. You don’t want to be going from one thing to the next, to the next, to the next, and speed through each stop or attraction. Sometimes, this is necessary, but if your entire trip is like this, you will get worn out really fast, and feel like the trip was not even worth all the time and effort put into it.
Plan for the unexpected and for some things to take a longer time. Sometimes you plan a 6 hour driving day and to arrive at 7pm, but as you are driving there is a forest fire that shuts down the road, so you end up having take a 4.5 hour detour.
The route we planned
The detour
Tip 5. Figure out a Budget
Meet before the road trip and outside of planning your route make sure everyone is on the same page for a budget. It obviously will not be a perfect number, but you can get a general budget in your head, and try to stick as close to it as possible.
Don’t make people on your trip uncomfortable by doing things they don’t have the money to afford. If they can’t do it, so be it. Sometimes people will have to opt out of activities because of their budget, and that is okay. This leaves the expectations good upfront and nobody gets hurt or mad at each other.
You can either have everyone give you gas money, or take turns in paying for gas along the way (this is what we typically do). If someone ends up paying more or less, you work it out in the end.
Bonus Tip: Calculate your average gas cost/mileage.
Tip 6. Pack your food
A cooler is your best friend. That’s it.
Pack tons of food before hand. Things like sandwiches, baked chicken, cheeses, meats, crackers, fruit, granola bars, drinks, candy, chips, go a longggg way on a road trip and keep you from buying food at gas stations.
Don’t stop to eat at every meal. It will kill your budget and you’ll spend money on dumb things like gas station candy, drinks, chips etc. Obviously it’s not a problem if you do this occasionally, but if it happens at every stop, it will add up.
You can easily stop at Costcos or Walmarts along the way to fill your cooler up and have food readily accessible. You can split the cost with everyone on the trip, or take turns like mentioned above for gas.
Switch on and off who pays for ice to fill the cooler too. As mentioned above, it becomes a taking turns system.
Tip 7. Prepare for Surprises
I know we mentioned this briefly in other tips, but it really is super important and needs its own tip. Something is going to happen that ruins the plans so don’t freak out. Roll with the punches. BE FLEXIBLE as mentioned above.
If surprises do happen, be calm and come up with a backup plan:
Story time: One time, we thought we booked a camping spot in Yosemite NP. When we arrived, someone was at our campsite, and we were pretty upset about it. Well come to find out Lucas had booked a campsite 8 hours north of where we were with the same exact name. We were about 5.5 hours from Las Vegas, it was 9pm, and we had no where nearby to stay. So….we decided to leave and find a Hotel along the way to Vegas. We stopped in several cities along the way, but there was some festival going on nearby and every hotel along the way had no vacancy. Needless to say, we decided to make the full trek to Vegas. What started out as a super crappy night (it was also my sister’s birthday that day too) ended up being totally epic. Along our drive at around 12am, we were on a twisty turny road in the middle of the desert, running over tons of suicidal jackrabbits, and we decided to stop in the middle of the road turn off our car lights and look up at the spectacular night sky God had given to us that night. It was completely mesmerizing. We were the only ones on the road, surrounded by rolling hills, and billions of stars in the sky without a single city light to ruin it. What a cool way to end a crappy day! Another happy note: We did end up stopping about 1-2 hours outside of Vegas to sleep for the night because Richie was in desperate need of gas (he almost ran out in the middle of nowhere) and there was a hotel that was vacant right next to the gas station.
You can never plan for the unexpected, so just know that it is probably coming and have fun with it.
Tip 8. Have Your Emergency Items
Spare Tire(s)
License and Registration
Spare Key in case you lock yours
First Aid Kit
Duct Tape
Extra Cash
Trash Bags
Toilet Paper/Paper Towel/Wipes
Fire Extinguisher
Portable charging devices for camera, phones, etc…
Walkie Talkies (this is helpful if you have multiple cars traveling too)
Satelite Radios
Tool Chest (you never know what you will need and Richie always has a tool chest of something we end up using on our trips)
Tip 9. Split Costs
Main expenses are fuel, food, and accommodations. If you have your budget already set for all of these things that will be really helpful to come into the trip already knowing how you can save in the food area.
Use Apps like Gas Buddy for finding and getting Gas. (Get Gas outside of cities because more gas options means more competition)
Have everyone bring spare change to help with toll roads. You never know when you will hit a toll road, and if you can avoid one completely to save money, do it.
Use Apps like Splitwise and Divvy to help keep track of expenses and split costs. Have every download cash app or Venmo before the trip to make it easy to transfer funds to one another.
Food we already talked about filling the cooler full of food. Split the cost and you can be eating for less than $20 bucks a day
There are two options for accommodations. Book in advanced to not get charged premium fees for last minute reservations. If you do happen to fall into that category, use the app Dyrt, freecampsites.net, and ioverlander for free spots to camp. Use instabook on airbnb or Priceline express deals for same day deals on hotels and homes.
Tip 10. Enjoy the Journey
Every trip has its ups and downs, it’s unexpected road blocks, u-turns, and so much more. No matter what happens, enjoy the experience with your friends and people you love!
