It turns out that planning an American road trip is a lot of fun. Here’s how I’m planning and prepping for mine!
In just a few weeks time, I’ll be heading off to America. I’m quite lucky in that I’m going with a friend and this does make the planning process a little easier. As she is already off travelling, she’s taken it upon herself to book all travel and accommodation.
But having waited for this moment for nearly all my life, I am really enjoying all the research and planning. I have scoured Pinterest high and low. I’ve also spent so much time looking through travel posts on Bloglovin. But these are the main ways I have been prepping for America.
Saving Money
Given that I left my job, saving money for this holiday has been essential. But I also wanted to save at the very least £1,000 for my time there, simply because I know it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I in no way want to be offered the chance to do something really fun and out there but have to decline due to low funds. That would be the worst thing in the world. So I’ve been hitting the survey and cashback websites hard – and even created a saving budget to ensure I was saving enough each month. If anyone would like to see this or a more comprehensive guide (with discount codes, current offers etc) do let me know!
Planning the Route
Roadtrippers has been a lifesaver. I am using this mostly for the last few days/road trip end of our visit, and I love how I can pin a route from A to B (or places in between) and it’ll map out various cool things to do along the way, from entertainment and nightlife to quirky roadside attractions (my favourite!). You can see what I’ve mapped out so far below, but this will continue to change as I add more things to my ‘must-visit’ list. The app also allows us to navigate offline, and get a realistic idea of driving times (this has already come in useful as we did plan to drive to a particular national park but when we realized how long it would take, we decided it wasn’t worth it and vetoed it for a closer by one!) and it even gives us an idea of how much gas (sorry, fuel/petrol) we’ll use! I have of course used different websites for other inspiration but for the specific road trip part, Roadtrippers has been a lifesaver.
United States Trip on Roadtrippers
Downloading Useful Travel Apps
I have a special folder on my phone simply named ‘America’ filled with all the useful apps I’ll need. So far, I’ve got:
- TripIt (which is a great way to see all travel bookings and accommodation lined up in one easy-to-follow plan)
- Roadtrippers (reasons above)
- FLIO (a great little airport app for discovering where I can eat at the airport and such)
- Norwegian (as that’s who I’m flying with)
- Starling Bank/travel card for my travel money
Quitting My Job
And, finally, just to get this out in the open…I have quit my job. I’ll be taking on some freelancing upon my return and have rough plans to travel this summer. It’s just an idea I have in the meantime. Whether I get another full-time job or not, I will continue to freelance. I just hope freelancing will be my main source of income very soon! I mean, I am essentially freelancing but I haven’t yet decided whether I’m going to announce it and make a song and dance out of it with a website and such or whether I’m just going to carry on freelancing as I already am on top of a role more suited to me. Nonetheless, watch this space! So yeah. I quit my nine-to-five office job to go travel. Go me!
Other ways I have been prepping for this trip are: booking another appointment at my faves Benedict Hair & Beauty to sort out my roots, scouring the Facebook group Girls LOVE Travel® and using Groupon to bag some awesome deals like a discounted Go LA Card and a place on a VIP helicopter/limo/pub crawl in Vegas (like the rockstars we are!).
Of course, these are just the fun parts of the planning process. If anyone is looking for advice on how I have genuinely planned for this trip like an adult, I also had to renew my passport, apply for an ESTA, get travel insurance and save a lot.
Would you ever go on an American road trip? Do you agree that planning an American road trip it all is half the fun?
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