Trip planning is crucial for any successful road trip. Whether it’s a day trip to your favorite amusment park, a week’s vacation at the beach, or a cross country road trip like Beth and I are taking, the odds of a successful escapade increase dramatically with the proper planning. We find that researching and planning our trip is a fun and rewarding part of the process. There are many important aspects of planning a trip we’ll cover in this blog.
Location/Destination
Perhaps one of the funnest parts of the planning process is deciding where to go. I am a creature of habit. For many years I was stuck in the same vacation rut, namely going to the beach for a week. Oh, sure, every 5 years or so we would deviate from our standard trip to Ocean City, New Jersey and venture out to a different beach (Nags Head, NC, for instance), but it was still the beach. Beth, on the otherhand, believes in mixing things up and likes to try new places. She doesn’t like to repeat vacations. There is a lot to be said for that. As the tag line in our blog says, “It’s a big, big world” with plenty to see.
While there is a certain comfort in returning year after year to your favoirte vacation haunt, there is a lot of value in trying something different. If you always go to the beach, consider a camping trip to the mountains. Never ventured out of the country? Why not plan an international destination. Obviously, time and money will ultimately decide where you decide to go, but be daring. There are an unlimited number of travel destinations for every budget and schedule. Make sure you spend time choosing the right one for you and your family.
Trip planning today is much easier than it was before the advent of the internet. Without ever leaving the comforts of your living room you can search destinations across the country and globe. There are tons of websites with information on every minute detail of where you are going. Beth and I relied heavily on the National Parks website nps.gov while planning our national parks tour. We also found the following website very helpful http://morethanjustparks.com. And don’t forget the value of hard copy guidebooks and atlases. We used extensively a guidebook entitled Your Guide to the National Parks, by Michael Joseph Oswald. This book and the websites we used saved us a lot of time in our planning process.
Budget
Ok, you’ve made your decision and have selected the type of vacation you want to pursue, congratulations. It’s time to determine your available budget. It would be nice if we all had unlimited funds available to go anywhere we wanted with money not being an object, but that is not our world and probably not the norm. If you are like us, you have to plan ahead and save on a regular basis to fund your next excursion. I remember 25 years ago when we were planning a family vacation to Disney World. We started saving a year out and made it a fun and educational experience for our four children with a poster of Mickey Mouse’s head at the top and a graph with $100 increments we colored in to reach Mickey’s head. Each month we would update the graph showing our progress to reaching our goal to fund the trip. It was a very exciting moment when the graph and Mickey’s head intersected.
Regardless of how you choose to save, we strongly encourage funding your trip with cash so you don’t have a load of debt when you return, creating unnecessary financial pressure. Stay within your means. Establish a realistic budget that you can afford and stick to it. You’ll be glad you did when the vacation is over. As you work with your budget, make sure to account for all anticipated expenses, including the cost of transportation (gas, flights, rental cars, trains, ubers); food (restaurant meals, food to prepare your own meals, meals you will need getting to and from your destination); admission fees to any attractions you plan on visiting; souvenirs; and lodging. Consider different options such as hotels, airbnbs, campgrounds, staying with friends or relatives, or perhaps even a staycation. As we said, there are unlimited possiblities for a vacation that will meet every budget. Brainstorm, research and get creative.
Reservations
You now know where you are going and how much you have to spend, great. Be sure to book in advance any reservations needed for your trip. Staying in a hotel, book ahead. Renting an airbnb, reserve early to assure you have the most options available. Same goes for campgrounds, especially during the busy summer vacation months. Most National Park campgrounds will let you book up to six months ahead through the recreation.gov website at https://www.recreation.gov. Arranging for your lodging is one of the top priorities for a successful trip. Spend the necessary time to research all of your options.
Recently, the National Parks system began requiring vehicle reservations at some of the more popular parks like Acadia, Yosemite, Rocky Mountain and others. Tourists have to not only purchase a park entrance pass, but also a vehicle reservation to get into the park. If you are planning a National Park visit, be sure to check with the National Park Service website (http://nps.gov) to confirm if a vehicle reservation is required for the park you’re going to visit.
Also, if your trip is taking you to more than one national park, consider buying an annual pass. It will get you and everyone in your vehicle into any national park that year for one cost. This could save you a lot of money if your trip involves multiple parks. Since I am 62, I was able to buy a lifetime Senior Pass for only $80 which covers the entrance fees for Beth and me to any park for life, a really great deal. In addition, the Senior Pass provides a 50% discount on the cost of campsites and activity fees within the parks.
Other Considerations
While we could spend a great deal of time discussing trip planning, I think you are getting the idea. You need to know where you are going, how you are going to get there, how much it’s going to cost, and plan in advance for lodging, food and reservations. Other things we recommend you do prior to embarking on your trip include the following:
Check and prepare for the weather conditions you will experience on your travels. Heading to a rain forest, bring rain gear. Going to Death Valley in the summer, bring sunscreen, lighter clothes and plenty of water. Be weather prepared.
Know your route before you head out. Sure, Google Maps, Waze, and other on-line travel aids are great, but we recommend you take along an Atlas (we use the RandMcNally Road Atlas in additon to Google Maps in planning our travels). You never know when you might lose cell service and if you do, without an Atlas, you could be in big trouble.
Research details on any excursions you are planning. Visiting an amusement park, confirm operating hours, discount admission tickets, whether the park takes cash or is strictly a debit or credit card location. Traveling to National Parks, spend some time on each park’s website to determine the best hikes or other activities for you and your traveling companions. As we said above, use the internet to your advantage and nail down as much information as possible ahead of your trip.
Develop an Itinerary. In order to maximize your time and get the most out of your vacation, we strongly urge you to develop an itinerary before you leave for your trip. Make sure it is reasonable and allows for the unexpected. If you fail to have even a basic itinerary, you could waste valuable time determining what to do next. I tend to go overboard when creating our schedule, but I would rather know what’s up next so we can get to see everything we want to without wasting time figuring out our next stop. Yes, things will pop up and you will have to adjust, but that is no excuse for not having a plan. Be flexible, but have a plan.
Planning your next escapade can be a fun and exciting time. We hope that the tips we have shared from our own planning efforts will help make your planning experience a positive one.
It’s a big, big world. Get out and enjoy it.