Today we have a post from our regular contributor Kyle James. Enjoy!
Having just returned from a 2-week road trip with my wife and 3 kids I can honestly say that it was “the best of times, and the worst of times.” We visited some amazing places like the Grand Canyon, Mesa Verde and Zion National Park but it wasn’t without incident. Here are 5 tips that I picked up along the way to make your next road trip the best it can be.
AAA Premier Membership
I have been a long time AAA member and love the peace-of-mind their service gives you when traveling. Before our recant road trip I went ahead and upgraded to their premier membership for $119/year and I am so glad that I did. It comes with 200 miles free towing and up to $1,500 in trip interruption coverage if you break down. Guess what? I ended up using both. We had mechanical issues in the middle of the Mojave desert in southern California and needed a 60 mile tow to the nearest town that could fix us up and get us back on the road. While we were stranded for 2 days we needed a hotel and meals and AAA is going to pick up the tab on both as part of the premiere membership. If you are taking a long road trip I can’t stress enough what a life saver this membership can be. Even if you don’t use it, the peace-of-mind in priceless.
GasBuddy App
I can honestly say that this smartphone app saved my $150 over the course of our 3,000 mile journey. Essentially, the GasBuddy app uses your current location to find the cheapest gas stations and gives you direction to the one you select. Very simple app to use and completely free to download. If I knew I needed gas in the next 100 miles I would let the app do the work for me and find the best town to stop in.
Trip Advisor.com
Trip Advisor also saved us some substantial money during the course of our road trip. When you are traveling great distances you don’t always know where you are going to spend the next night. So by using Trip Advisor you can quickly find the best deals on hotels and RV parks and get reviews from fellow travelers to help you make an informed decision. Some days my family was just pooped and tired of driving so we would call it an early day and bring up Trip Advisor on our phone and scout-out where we were going to spend the night. This allowed us to find a place within our budget which over the course of a 2-week trip added up to significant savings.
Drive Early in the Day
If you can start your driving early in the morning, at least by 5 or 6 a.m., it makes the drive so much easier. Not only are you fresher and rested in the morning but you can also roll your windows down and enjoy the cool morning air. With sweltering summer temperatures, you stand a much higher chance of overheating your vehicle if you drive right in the middle of the afternoon. Instead, get up early and do your driving to your next destination before the sun melts you. Another side-benefit of driving when it’s cooler outside is you’ll get better gas mileage when your A/C is turned off.
Road Trip Music Must-Haves
A road trip just wouldn’t be the same if you didn’t have the tunes blaring. My family never had the iPod off and were constantly requesting songs and singing our hearts out. Before we left on our road-trip I stumbled upon a list of the top 100 road trip songs which helped me put together an epic playlist that saw a ton of playtime during our trip.
Now for the related coupons. Here are a few that can help you save money on your summer travel and apparel needs.
American Eagle.com
Save an additional 50% Off your Clearance purchase
Coupon Code: None Needed
Expiration: 7/17/13
Check all American Eagle coupons: www.rather-be-shopping.com/coupons/american-eagle
Expedia.com
Save $100 Off your Vacation package booking
Coupon Code: EXP100
Expiration: 7/20/13
Check all Expedia coupons: www.rather-be-shopping.com/coupons/expedia
Southwest Airlines Vacations
$200 Off any Flight + Hotel to any Southwest Vacations destination
Coupon Code: DEAL200
Expiration: 7/22/13
Check all Old Navy coupons: www.rather-be-shopping.com/coupons/southwest-airlines
____________
About Kyle James: He owns and operates a site called Rather-Be-Shopping.com, which specializes in online coupons and practical advice on finding the best deals so you can save more of your hard earned cash each month.
____________
Photo by usadifranci
Check out some of our favorite personal finance resources:
Are you getting the best credit card rewards? Check out the top cash back credit card offers (updated daily)
Make extra money: 15 ways to make money from your computer
Get the First Chapter Free!
Join our online community and get the first chapter of the book Student Loan Solution absolutely FREE!
We go on lots of road trips! My husband’s parents live about 800 miles away and we drive to see them every few months. We also drive to Florida for vacation at least twice a year. The reasons our trips are somewhat frugal is because we drive our Prius and bring our own snacks for the car =)
We go on our fair share of road trips, but will be going on a killer of one next summer as we’ll be driving from Omaha to San Diego to see the in-laws. I still think I need to get my head checked for planning it with the little ones. ;) Great tip on upgrading the AAA membership, we’ll have to do the same ourselves.
FrugalRules Absolute no-brainer John. For the $119/yr it is great peace of mind. Plus, you can always downgrade your membership on the years you don’t have a big road-trip planned.
Wow that AAA coverage really saved you! With my car being in as bad a shape as it has been, I need to get the upgraded service. Thanks for the tips!
I always enjoy leaving early in the morning whenever I have a long drive. I just feel like those first few hours are “free”, and you can miss a ton of traffic too. Trip Advisor has also been great for us when we’ve traveled. There’s often a lot of really helpful information in the comments.
Matt @ Mom and Dad Money The free analogy is spot-on Matt. We were 2 hours down the road before the kids even woke up.
I love road trips! Did one across the US a couple of years ago, we paid a lot in motels because we didn’t plan in advance, if you can book early you save a lot more.
RFIndependence Or camp your way across the country.
Great tips, Kyle! We’ve had AAA for years and wouldn’t be without them. We are also looking into planning a road trip style vacation soon, so thanks for sharing your wisdom. Glad you had a great trip, in spite of the “roadblocks” that popped up. :-)
Laurie TheFrugalFarmer Sometimes the road-blocks make for the best stories years from now! At least that is what I keep telling myself…
Great post! I’m going on a road trip to New Orleans in August and I’m sooooo excited :)
SenseofCents Make sure you got AAA!!!
Awesome tips Kyle! Glad the towing didn’t get you too down!
I’ll have to try out that Gas Buddy app!
Too bad you had car troubles but very fortunate that you had access to their service to help you out and to cover your 2 days of expenses. Could have been a rough trip without it.
Those are some good tips. I wonder if any of the apps might work offline if you download the information ahead of time? We use a pay as you go plan with Ptel and generally try not to use data…
Good tips. My wife and I go on road trips pretty often. Being that she’s from Ohio (12 hours away), we end up driving there a few times a year. I haven’t ever tried the Gas Buddy app, but I’ll have to check it out. I’m always mad when we stop for gas and then the next exit has it for a bit cheaper.
I think my wifey has that GasBuddy App along with the 900 others on her phone. I never used it though. I personally like driving at night. When you have kids I find it easier to drive with them sleeping and no traffic to worry about. Nice tip and the coupon will come in handy for more than just trips. School is coming up as well so school shopping with these.
For short trips, like up to Whistler during the ski season, I sometimes post on Craigslist to see if anyone needs a ride. It’s an easy way to make $5 or $10.
I love the AAA tip. I have the basic membership, and had no idea the premium was that great! I will definitely be looking through the benefits for our next road trip (in about a month). I’m glad you didn’t get stuck with a towing bill!
These are some great tips! I’ve debated getting CAA for awhile now (Canadian version of AAA) and I think I’ll definitely go for it before my next long road trip. Would hate to be stranded without coverage!
Love your tips!
I want to say about these tips is that they works very well and very useful during your trip with family, it helps in making your trip affordable and more fun making, Gas Buddy app which you have shared is very nice application….Thanks Great Share.