Although we are having a snow event today, Spring is in the air! That gets our minds dreaming of Spring Break and planning a new road trip. A lot of folks ask us, “How do you get to take so many trips?” Well, we try to travel as frugally as possible which gives us the ability to travel more often. So I thought today that we’d share some cheap road trip tips.
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1. FIND THE TIME
* Don works for the local school district and his schedule follows the school calendar. He has some teacher work days when school is closed, Federal holidays, breaks, snow days and a couple of personal days he can use to lengthen a stretch. My only schedule requirement is that I work every 3rd weekend but I try to work at least 2 shifts per week. If necessary, I can trade my weekend with another coworker since we always try to help each other out when possible. Not everyone has this kind of flexibility but if travel is as important to you as it is to us you are always looking for an opportunity to get away. Do you have a 3 day weekend coming up? Do you have to travel someplace for work that you can extend a day or two? I plot our schedules out on an app called Cozi which you can set to automatically send an email or text to family members. Once I get a month set I start looking for blocks of time that may be able to accomodate a trip.
* We try to plan at least one big family trip per year. Sometimes it’s a summer trip and sometimes it’s a winter trip. If we’re lucky it’s both. Winter trips are usually planned in January near MLK weekend. This time frame usually includes a long weekend, end of semester testing or marking period and a chance of snow days. The past two years we have had our winter vacations extended by snow days. 😀 Summer trips are helped by the fact that several family members are school system employees and have summers off.
Winter family trip
2. FIND THE PLACE
One of our past hotel rooms
* Will it be a weekend stay, midweek stay, week long stay? How much total time will you have? The less time we have the closer the destination. The more time we have the further away we look.
* Check the long range forecast. Is it summer and camping is a possibility? Is there a possibility of a major snow storm where you’re thinking about going? Two years ago we went to Asheville, NC for a Spring Break retreat. We did not factor in the closing of the Blue Ridge Parkway due to ice and had to re-route our drive home.
* Can you mooch off a friend or relative? Last year we went to Orlando, FL for Spring Break and stayed with my in-laws. This left us with more discretionary funds. We have several friends who own time shares and allow us to purchase their bonus weeks from them. Sometimes it’s cheaper to rent a condo for a week even if you don’t plan on staying the full week. Spread the word that you like to travel and are open to last minute trips. We had a lovely free vacation at a resort in Gaitlinburg, TN because a friend had to have an unexpected surgery and didn’t want the week to go to waste. Other friends who knew they weren’t going to be able to spend the full week at a condo offered us the remaining days after they left. Does a friend or relative need a house-sitter or pet-sitter while they travel? We make every effort to take advantage of a free opportunity. Say,”Yes!”
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* Could you camp or stay in a cabin at a state or national park? I know, this isn’t for everyone. I myself have a long list of criteria for camping (and still wind up with it either raining or 110 degrees).
An absolutely lovely camping trip we took.
* If we are planning to stay at hotels we take advantage of rewards. Don is a member of every major hotel chain’s rewards system. He also gets Orbitz bucks and often tries to book through them when he has substantial bucks built up. He also has a rewards credit card. This year knowing we will be travelling for Spring Break, Don has been using his credit card to pay for gas, groceries, etc to build up points. He comes home and pays off the charge immediately on line. We currently have over 70,000 reward points which we plan to use to pay for our hotels. The credit card that is attached to our bank account also accrues rewards and allows us to cash them in for restaurant or Starbucks gift cards. We will get some of these to use on our trip.
* Our hotel selection criteria usually includes: free hot breakfast, free high speed internet, free parking, an indoor pool/hot tub (especially if Damian is with us), no pets (allergies), microwave & fridge. If Damian will be accompanying us we prefer a suite. Don always calls the hotel directly and asks if they offer military discounts, VFW, AARP, NRA or any of the other crazy organizations of which he is a card carrying member. Sometimes they can offer a better rate than an online booking site. One Christmas we scored an unbelievable rate for two rooms at the Gaylord’s National Harbor location when Don made phone friends with the reservations clerk. I always make him do the booking because he has a way of relating to people on the phone that usually scores us a better deal or some free perks. If the hotel is not at our final destination, for instance an overnight stop en route, we often forgo the amenities and just look for a clean, cheap room.
* Hotels that are located a little bit off the beaten path or near airports can have better deals. Airport locations sometimes have shuttles that may take you to a public transportation site or a downtown location or local place of interest. Many times a visitor’s center will have free parking so we’ll drive into town, stash the car there and take off on foot. The cheapest tickets we found to The Biltmore Estate were through the Asheville Visitors Center. Who knew they even sold them? When we inquired the clerk told us that an agreement with The Biltmore did not allow them to advertise that they sold tickets. Ask.
* It is unusual for us to preconceive a destination. I do look for places I’ve never been to before. I subscribe to numerous travel sites: Travelzoo & Lonely Planet among them to see where the best deals are to be found. For instance, this year Lonely Planet ranks Nashville, TN as a best destination. After doing some research we decided that we will spend Spring Break 2015 in Music City. When you are not committed to destination and instead ‘follow the deals’ you can usually travel at the lowest cost.
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3. YOUR VEHICLE OR A RENTAL?
* We both have older, high mileage vehicles (Shocker, I know). If we are planning a long road trip we often look into renting a car. Our cars are SUV-type vehicles and not too fuel efficient. While they are great for mountaintop living they are not the most cost effective choice for road trips. We also want to limit the wear and tear on our cars.
* Groupon & Living Social sometimes have great deals on rental cars. We also have cultivated some friendships with employees of rental car agencies who can assist us with finding the best deals. AARP also offers discounts on car rentals. We have found we get a better rate if we pick up our rentals near one of the major airports instead of the local rental offices. We also have discovered that renting for a longer time than we need is often the cheapest route. The last time we rented a car we took it for 2 weeks but only needed if for 10 days because it was significantly less expense to do it that way.
4. USE YOUR APPS
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* I sold my GPS device because they wanted to charge me to update & instead I use my trusty Google Maps. (Of course we always travel with an atlas in case we’re somewhere without service).
*I always search my Living Social and Groupon apps when I arrive at any destination to see what local deals I might be able to score.
*We use Meet Me Halfway to determine the halfway point between destinations in case we want to stop for a break or overnight.
*We use Open Table to find & book restaurant reservations. This app also gives you points when you complete your reservation which you can redeem for checks to pay your restaurant tabs.
*We use Restaurant.com to purchase discounts at local eateries. If you can combine Open Table and Restaurant.com – even better!
*I use ReailMeNot to search for deals & coupons for local retailers.
*We use MVDC to search for military/veteran’s discounts.
*I use CamScanner to scan copies of documents, tickets, passes or whatever in case I loose something.
* We use White Noise when sleeping in hotels to provide background noise. (Very handy when you inadvertantly stay in a motel with railroad tracks behind it.) A good night’s sleep allows you to pack in more activities the next day.
*We use Field Trip which alerts you when you are passing historical markers and sites, local points of interest, Zagat-rated restaurants and a load of other things you can set it for. (Really, this is my fun favorite for while we are driving along.)
*We use Kayak to find hotels along the way if we are making an unplanned stop but Don always calls directly before booking on Kayak.
The bottom line is we never buy anything on the road until I’ve checked to see if I can get it cheaper.
5. FOOD & DRINK FOR ROAD WARRIORS
We love food and it’s an important part of our travel experiences. While heading to a destination we always at least pack drinks and snacks.
* A small (or large) cooler or insulated bag always comes with us. My sister bought a cooler bag from Tupperware as a Christmas gift one year. It folds flat when not in use so it’s space saving and has a large capacity. Sometimes we’ll stop at a local grocery or convenience store or farmer’s market while driving and this keeps our purchases cool and fresh.
*I always travel with a corkscrew/bottle opener combo and a travel knife. Many’s the time when a bottle of wine and some locally purchased cheese, dry sausage and crackers made a fine lunch or dinner.
*We each have a thermal travel mug that we take with us and fill up with coffee or tea at the breakfast bar or hospitality area before we take off and I refill the water bottles that I bring with us.
*When the weather’s nice you can often find a park or even some hotels and condos that have outdoor grills. Fresh local fish and certain produce can be quickly grilled for a satisfying and economical meal. We have a refillable travel spice kit that I purchased at World Market. I always take it for just such occassions.
*In more expensive restaurants we sometimes eat a late lunch instead of dinner. The prices are cheaper and then we may be able to get by later with just some finger foods.
*Worst case scenario is you can always heat water in a microwave or coffee maker if you have one available. I’ve made instant oatmeal and ramen this way in a pinch.
*I am a big fan of Justin’s Almond Butter (Maple flavor, please) which comes in little foil packets that I can stash in my purse. Give me an apple, banana or bagel that I’ve picked up along the way and I have breakfast, dinner or a snack. I buy the pricey little things when they are on sale and save them.
*The American Legion is a favorite stop for Don. Members & their guests can score great deals on food and bar drinks. We found a fabulous one in St. Augustine, FL. It was housed in a beautiful historical building and they had a huge lunch spread. We were able to down a few cold ones for a pittance and the local members gave us tips on cheap good eats for dinner.
a few cold ones
6. EXTEND YOUR STAY
We’ve even found a few ways to extend our stays and drag a little more adventure out of each trip.
* When we make a stop while going to our ultimate end site I always try to make it a worthwhile detour. I look for some local point of interest, museum, scenic overlook, hike, craft shop, flea market or something to make the stop another part of the adventure. ( A side trip to the Vidalia Onion warehouse in Georgia comes to mind)
* On check out days we will often head to a beach, lake or park that we’ve found has public showers & rest rooms. On these occasions I pack a tote bag separate from our luggage that has our towels, change of clothes and beach & boat necessities. We will spend the day at the beach then shower, change and head home.
* We’ve booked accomodations for a week when it’s cheaper planning to leave early then get a surprise snow day that allows us to spend an extra day. (This just happened in January for our winter family trip)
We already have trips booked for early summer and fall. What are you waiting for? Get out those calendars because WINTER IS ALMOST OVER (we pray)! A great way to spend a snow day is planning your next cheap road trip. So hit the road – you may just be passing through miracles.
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