|
Inspiration Dreaming up where to go is half the fun! Pinterest is a vast resource for coming up with great ideas. Unlike other social media channels, Pinterest is really more of a search engine, just like Google, except users group their ideas into collections called boards. If you’re not a Pinterest user and this sounds daunting, don’t fret. It’s easy to sign up, and you don’t have to build collections if you don’t want to. You can simply search for unique places, or anything else for that matter, and benefit from the masters who are sharing their secrets. If you love weird roadside finds and attractions, Roadside America has several user-friendly ways to search for unique things to see in the state where you’re traveling, including a really fun map feature. ReidsGuides is a worldwide trip planning site, which is packed with information and resources on everything you could ever need or want. Among our favorites are their road trips guides and fun inspiration articles like Seven Alternatives to the Grand Canyon. Where to Stay The Dyrt and Freecampsites.net are both great for finding free and paid campsites. If you’ve always wondered what a road trip in an RV might be like, Outdoorsy claims to feature “the best RV and trailer rentals on the planet.” We’ve not tried them, mostly because we own the Element camper, but I’ve read good things. Allstays incorporates various types of rental options underneath one umbrella, hence the name. Travelers can search campsites, rooms, spa hotels, yoga retreats, truck stops, RV parks, and haunted hotels just to rattle through a small portion of their offerings. We love Airbnb, which is probably pretty obvious if you’ve been following our blog. First-time users can score a discount with this link. Budgeting It’s actually pretty easy to overspend on a road trip. There’s all the fun eating out options and the yummy road trip snacks. And if you’re traveling far enough that you’ll need a place to stay, this can greatly impact your spending. GasBuddy has a great trip cost calculator that allows you to predict what you’ll spend on fuel. And if you’re looking for an all-in-one budgeting solution, Mint by Intuit has some great budgeting tools that can help you plan for travel and other one-time expenses. This might be a good thing to consider if you’re not already using a budget, and especially if you’re looking for something that can be accessed easily through a smartphone app.
|
