I want to drive cross country (with a family of four) without breaking the bank. I am not the outdoorsy type, but cabin camping would not be out of the question. What is the best way to do this? What kind of vehicle would you pick? And, what are the pros and cons? For example, renting an RV would save on hotels, but burn a lot of gas. Is it a wash?
From the SD that have “been there, done that”, please tell me what you might suggest! - Jinx
In many locations, you will need to pay fees for RV parking (and electric/sewage hookups) that aren’t substantially lower than regular motel rooms. Add that to the extra gas you’ll be burning, and the costs really add up. Many heavily-improved campsites (e.g.; enclosed cabins) will not be much cheaper than a decent motel room, and may charge extra for hot showers or similar amenities that you might want.
It will cost you some flexibility, but if you book motel rooms online in advance, you can get some reasonable deals, and should be able to find places that allow kids to stay and/or eat for free. The cheapest rooms are usually some distance from major cities and attractions, so planning ahead will save you some grief.
I’d recommend the smallest vehicle that can comfortable fit your family their luggage. If you’re careful with other expenses, fuel will be your biggest money drain. A mid-sized sedan will probably be comfortable, although a mini-van will probably give you more legroom (which you’ll start to appreciate after a couple of days).
Probably the easiest way to save money is to avoid highway restaurants and convenience store snacks. It’s better to stock up on food at a proper grocery store and have picnics and barbeques. Most motel rooms have fridges and microwaves, and lots of rest stops and parks have charcoal grills available for public use (free or a very small fee), so you won’t have to skimp on hot, tasty meals. If you decide to go with an RV, cooking your own meals will be even easier.
This is probably obvious, but a little prior planning can save a few bucks. Several states have unusually high or low gasoline prices; checking out the average price for gas in areas along your route can help you plan cheaper fueling stops. Limited-access turnpikes are another example; the toll may be worth it if you want to pass through an area quickly, but the fuel and other services will be more expensive.
I hope this helps.
Agree with Knightrunner, but adding a bit more about the hotel vs. cabin vs. camper options: As previously stated, many hotels offer free guest breakfasts, even at lower-end hotel/motels, and you can fill your ice cooler for free before hitting the road again. For a family of four, that’s a pretty substantial “extra.” Another hint: unless you are traveling over a major holiday or through a major resort area, you may be able to save more money at hotels as a last-minute walk-in guest (i.e. no advance reservations.) If you’re driving along and spot a hotel’s half-empty parking lot at 10 or 11 pm, most places will offer you a pretty good discount on the spot. Just ask (nicely, because the desk clerk doesn’t HAVE to offer) “Are you offering any other discounts or specials?” The hotel management would much prefer to make some money from those empty rooms, vs. no money. Mind you, I wouldn’t chance this on July 4 in Orlando, but it’s a pretty safe bet on July 19th in Kalamazoo.
Also, don’t forget about joining hotels’ “frequent traveler” guest loyalty programs, like Hilton Hhonors, Choice Privileges, etc. They’re free to join, and you can earn points toward free stays or other stuff pretty quickly. (I don’t know about this summer, but last summer, at least one hotel chain was offering a stay two nights, get the third free promo; or up to $250 in free fuel. Pretty useful benefits in your situation.)
Since you’re not especially outdoorsy, the cabin camping can be a good compromise. If you check some websites for the areas you’ll be overnighting, a lot of the time, you will be staying for under $100 a night for four, IME, many times half that. Most of these places have communal showers for guests, pools, a rec room, picnic tables, laundry facilities, mini-fridges, grills, a coffee maker and microwave, so some of your other expenses will be decreased as well. We’ve also found that here in the South, many of the cabins are air conditioned. Just be sure to take your own bedding (flat sheets, blankets and pillows), picnic supplies and towels.
Some places to start looking are state and federal parks, Army Corps of Engineers Recreation Areas and a google of campground + cabin + area.
Happy traveling!
Do the math beforehand to get a good estimate.
My family has made this trip several times, and it’s not cheap.
That said, hotel and food is really where you can save. Gas isn’t going to make much difference. In other words, you can save thousands in the food/hotel area, but with gas you will save $1-200 max.
For example, on our last trip we drove ~7,500 miles over a 3 week period. We ate restaurant food usually once per day, and we stayed in reasonable hotels.
7,500 miles / 25mpg = 300gal; 300gal * $3 = $900.
Food for 4: $100/day * 21 days = $2100.
Decent hotel for 4: $100/day * 21 days = $2100
Car rental from Avis for a month: $900
Of course, there were nights when we spent $60 at the Days Inn in the middle of nowhere, and there were nights when we spent $130 in a downtown Holiday Inn.
My favorite was the Hilton in Vancouver, Wa — it was brand new and the demand they were hoping for never materialized, so they had excellent rooms for $120.
Food probably didn’t cost $2100, as we ate more junk food than restaurant food, but it was important to understand how that one builds up.
This is a realistic estimate for a fairly lazy family who didn’t want to live in the car, didn’t want to deal with bedbugs, and was too lazy to cook. Clearly if we had been poor college students doing the same thing, we would have bought some basic staples for food and lived out of the car and saved ~3-4K.
Do yourself a favor and splurge for the extra gas and rent a comfortable vehicle. Your family will thank you.
And I did say Rent. I never drive my own vehicle on one of these expeditions. Who wants to have to deal with a breakdown somewhere on the Oklahoma Turnpike in the middle of August?
ETA: Take your laptop. All cheaper hotels have free wifi, and the better hotels give it you for a few bucks a night. It’s awesome to be able to sit in the comfort of your hotel room and plan the next day and then shop around online for hotels in the next destination. Very nice. It allows you to change your plans on a whim.
For the non-wilderness parts of your trip, all large and many small cities have hotels that sell rooms over Priceline. With a little research, you can save 50% or (much) more on perfectly nice hotels that you would have gladly paid the regular rate for. You can book on the same day up until 6PM I think, if you don’t have a set route. The service fee is about $6 per room per night and you’ll make up a substantial part of that on the room tax saved by paying a lower rate.
There’s a ton of information on actual rates, bidding strategies, and participating hotels at
Call Walmart. Seriously. If your looking to really go on the cheap I believe our local Walmart allows RVs to camp in their parking lot overnight. Not sure if this is a national policy though. And, of course, no dumping or electricity hookups.
KOA used to have ‘kamping kabins’ - but you needed to take blankets, pillows and linens [and a coffee maker!]
exmrAru and I lived in one for a couple of months when we were working an outage at McGuire down in Ashville, it was a couple exits north in um… Barium Springs? and we stayed in a combination of kamping kabins, a tent in a camp ground and a hotel room in Colorado when it was too cold to sleep in a tent.
RVs are not worth the gas money right now …
KOA has a find a cabin function, try them?
I don’t think you need to “be outdoorsy” in order to learn basic car-camping techniques. You could save a fortune by getting a 4-person tent and basic camping supplies, then staying at cheap campgrounds or even for free in National Forests. And chances are, your kids will love it!
I’d also check out the free visitor/hotel/travel guides that you’ll see in rest areas along the way. They often have quite a few coupons in them for discounted rooms. They usually won’t honor them if they’re close to full, but if the place is dead, you’ll get a decent deal.
Depending on where you’re traveling, try to avoid staying in places that are quite isolated. If they’re the only town in 100 miles, you’re not as likely to get a decent deal by just showing up.
My advice: stay far FAR away from KOA. :eek:
They are outrageously overpriced and usually charge more for a tent site than a room at the local cheapie motel. Plus, every single KOA I’ve dealt with has had surly service and is packed with rednecky families complete with screaming kids, barking dogs and drunken adults. “Quiet hours” were NEVER enforced. I’d sleep in my car at a rest stop before ever staying at a KOA.
Bringing a tent and camping now and then can be fun on a cross country trip. But, planning to do it the entire way really doesn’t work that well. First, you will get sick of it and that will take some of the fun out of it. Second, sometimes KOA is the only place you can go and you are better of in a hotel than at one of those places.
Cheap hotels really aren’t that bad. When I drove across the country I stayed at Super 8 after Super 8. They always have free breakfast. They always have free wifi. And they are often under 50 bucks. Once in a while you will hit a gross one. But, mostly they are well maintained and a reasonable place to stay.
Motel 6s are good, as well. But, no free wifi when I was traveling.
Camping in national parks is really well worth it. Get a tent or two and have fun! It’s inexpensive and extremely beautiful.
I’d pick a vehicle with the lowest gas mileage with enough room for all 4 of you. If there isn’t enough room your kids are going to get irritated and the trip will feel even longer. Plus, it’s nice to have plenty of room for all the stuff you bring along and whatever you pick up. It is really nice to have enough room for a cooler. Buying food from supermarkets along the way will save you plenty of money. And, keeping it cold in a cooler works out well.
So, I would suggest a minivan or a large sedan for the trip. If the mileage is even than go with the minivan. Lots of room to stretch out in the back and room for a cooler or two.
When my wife finished college I quit the job I had at the time and we took a 3 month cross country trip from the west coast to the east coast and back where we went through 8 provinces and 30+ states. We did it in a truck with camper on the back. The camper was bought used (1 year old) for around $6000. This wasn’t that bad on gas, maybe 30% more than my 1/2 ton’s normal mileage.
Some places we camped at for 3-6 days. Other times, like driving through Nebraska or other places we were not so interested in we drove long days and pulled into Walmarts late at night. Slept and left again early in the morning. Sometimes we’d stay in hotels like when we toured Washington DC. Other times with friends/family. We were living great for around $2500/month which included all the gas/food/camping fees/occasional hotels/attraction fees/etc. All our stuff was in storage back home so with no rent/mortgage our expenses were minimal.
Depending on how long your trip is taking a camper will save you big in the long run. If you’re just zooming across the country and back in a few weeks than stay in motels.
Sorry, I never had a bad experience at the KOA, and we lived in one for just over 2 months because it was cheaper than a hotel - even the dirt cheap scum residence hotels. We have traveled all over the country and stayed in them, and haven’t run into the loud redneck trailer trash population you seem to have …
Downside to this is I was driving across Illinois one June years ago, and I couldn’t get a hotel room anywhere. Everything was full. I ended up wheeling and dealing a couch in a conference room around midnight.
I’ve done several large road trips and have only booked a hotel on one occassion (Grand Canyon, Labour Day long weekend). I’ve only ever had troubles finding a hotel once in 4 years.