TripHip - Travel Tips and Advice for Traveling on a Budget

When you pack up the family station wagon and head on out of town, you know it can go one of two ways; it can be wonderful, or it can be a nightmare. If you plan in advance, you can ensure the kids are occupied, that you don’t get lost, and that family fun will be had.

Plan your route ahead of time. Many people use www.mapquest.com, but I have found that Rand McNally’s website offers excellent directions; not only that, but the website will guide you past traffic issues such as construction. Take along a road atlas just in case. It never hurts to have a backup.

Don’t cram too many people and too much luggage in your vehicle. Everyone will be miserable. Long rides in cramped spaces can cause irritation, discomfort, and unpleasantness. If your vehicle is not big enough, try trading vehicles with a family member for the duration of your vacation. If someone you know and trust has a van or a station wagon, perhaps switching is the solution.

Renting a vehicle is another way to overcome cramped traveling. It has other advantages as well. Rental cars may be newer than the vehicle you own, which means less of a chance for a breakdown. In addition, most companies offer roadside assistance. In most cases, if the rental breaks down, the company will give you another. Make sure your insurance covers the rental; if not, pay a little extra for the protection through the car rental vendor. Rental vehicles also come with the option to have a GPS system, which will help those who can’t read a map.

Traveling by car with children means the unexpected will happen. I suggest you take a medicine bag whenever you leave home. Pack children and adult Tylenol, Tums or Rolaids, a first aid kit, cough medicine, an ace bandage, Pepto Bismol, a couple ice packs, and Dramamine (for motion sickness). This way, if anyone has mild illness or a minor injury, you are equipped to deal with it.

Always bring a couple of blankets and pillows when traveling by vehicle. It is not always easy to get comfortable in the car. If you plan on driving through until you arrive, your passengers (and hopefully, other drivers) will need a way to stay comfortable along the way.

Kids have accidents. It is part of being a kid. Since traffic and limited stops could hinder your ability to stop at a restroom, always bring a travel potty. Many varieties are available and they will help keep everyone from being embarrassed. Always bring along toilet paper and wet wipes.

Pack a camera. As you travel along the road, photos of state signs could be great mementos of your vacation . Whenever you enter a new state, a large, often decorative sign greets you. Commemorate your travels by taking a photo as you pass or stop and pose near the sign (if safely possible).

With proper planning, you can stop at attractions along the way to your final destination. For example, if traveling from Cleveland, Ohio to Yellowstone National Park, you can stop at the Mall of America, the Badlands, and many others, depending on your route. In many cases, roadside exhibits will not add too much time to your itinerary. Besides, getting there is half the fun.

So we’ve covered the basics of getting there-planning a route and not cramming the car, but there are so many more car travel tips to discuss. Keeping the kids occupied, what to pack, when to get gas, and so many other topics are also important when traveling by car.

When my family and I traveled cross-country from Cleveland, Ohio to Grand Canyon, Arizona, we discovered a wealth of helpful information. Luggage carriers that go on top of your vehicle help save space. We were able to fit a cooler, all of our clothing, a small grill, our blankets and pillows, a three-room tent, and more in ours. In hindsight, it makes sense to keep the cooler in the car. It was too difficult to undo everything to get the cooler during our trip.

Speaking of coolers, packing one is a great way to save time and money. Rather than stopping every time someone in the group is hungry, packing a cooler allows for eating as you go. Pack lunch meats, bread, hot dogs, hamburgers, soda, water, chips, and other snacks. You won’t have to stop as much and you won’t be spending a fortune on fast food. Do the math; if you spend $20 on fast food, three times a day, on a three day trip, you have spent $180. If you pack a cooler to last the same amount of time, you can spend as low as $60.

You can bring a charcoal grill, but you don’t have too. Many road stops along the way will have grills. If you plan on using this method of cooking, bring charcoal and lighter fluid. I recommend using a small camping grill that uses propane. Small propane canisters only cost a few dollars at Home Depot and the grill is compact. Easier still, just pack food items that don’t need cooked. In addition to lunch meat, you can pack rotisserie chicken, which is already cooked, Vienna sausages, spam, tuna, and numerous other options.

Traveling by Car 3

When traveling by car, there are a million things to consider. One of the most important is when to get gas. Naturally, you want to fill up before you leave home. A good tip in most places is to fill up when you reach a quarter of a tank. However, in some areas, where gas stations are fewer and farther in-between, such as New Mexico, you may want to fill up at half a tank. We discovered this rule on our trip to the Grand Canyon. Just outside of Albuquerque, we were lower than a quarter of a tank. There was not a station in sight. When we finally found a station, it was closed. Luckily, they had pay-at-the-pump pumps that worked even after hours. Always bring a credit card for such instances.

We had three children of varying ages on the trip with us. I found that certain things keep certain aged children happy. Our eleven year old nephew was entertained by his PSP, while our fifteen year-old niece enjoyed the ipod. My thirteen year old niece liked drawing, reading, and playing the license plate game, which is a great way to stay occupied during road travel.

If you want to play, all you have to do is keep track of who spots the most out-of-state plates. For example, if you are in Texas, only non-Texas plates count. Extra points if you spot a car from very far away (say you are in Maine and someone has California tags). How you do the scoring is up to you.

Books and portable DVD players are also great ways to stay busy. Some people get motion sickness when traveling or when reading while moving. A way to overcome this is to take Dramamine, which is an over-the-counter medication.