Planning the Perfect Cross Country American Road Trip Adventure
With so many travel disruptions this year, international trips have been scarce. This opened up a great opportunity for sightseeing around my own country. And what better way to experience the United States of America than a good ol’ fashioned road trip? There are a ton of things I wish I knew before driving thousands of miles across the country. Here’s everything I learned from the epic American road trip.
Road Trippin’
1. Choose Your American Road Trip route
America is a huge country. Each path has its own amazing landmarks to enjoy. Depending on your starting point and amount of time, every path will be unique. There is a lot of road in-between major destinations, so try to optimize your trip with smaller detours along the way. Roadtrippers is one of my favorite road trip planning tools to help you plan an amazing route. If you are flexible, here’s a map with some classic American road trip options. We designed a hybrid trip from the east to west coast.
Classics
2. Reserve Your Rental Car
Unless you don’t care about destroying your own car, I would highly suggest getting a rental. This is a great option if you’re short on time too. You can enjoy your journey with a more relaxed pace and fly back home. Most rental agencies offer great rates for pickup/ drop off at specific airports. Check out this site for rentals at an airport near you. You can also choose to rent an RV, although it’s a bit more expensive.
Azura <3
3. Reserve Hotels in Advance
This may be difficult if your plans are sporadic, but unless you’re planning on sleeping in your car I would reserve hotels ahead of time. Especially with the current pandemic, it’s a lot harder to just stop by a hotel when you see one. At the very least call them ahead of time so you don’t have to back track. There aren’t many establishments out west either, so it’s best to know where you’re headed.
Somewhere in South Dakota
4. Consider Buying a National Park Pass
No American road trip is complete with out seeing the beautiful national parks. Thanks to the travel restrictions, the parks are much less crowded. The pass is around $80 dollars (per car for 2 people), so if you intend to visit at least 3 parks you should break even. It also lasts for a year so You’ll have more opportunities to use it. Check which parks are included and purchase your pass here. You can also buy it at any of the national parks entrance.
Rocky Mountain National Park
5. Reserve tickets Far in Advance
Some national parks (like Rocky Mountain and Yosemite), also have a limited number of timed reservation slots. After you plan your route, be sure to select a spot for the parks you want to see the most. Many attraction’s hours of operations have been altered so make sure to check before hand for each of your destinations. For instance, a lot of museums around Chicago were closed and there were a limited amount of entries for the Willis Tower Sky Deck.
6. Download Offline Maps
Chances are at some point on your cross country drive you’ll end up in a spot with no data or wifi. Download the maps you need off-line to mitigate getting lost when the GPS can’t connect. Especially driving thru the mid-west (looking at you Wyoming), sometimes we couldn’t get a signal for miles. Same goes with music if you plan on streaming your jams or podcasts. Download them all just in case!
7. Pack Extra Snacks
We all know how important food is to this blog. Unfortunately your options while driving across the country can be quite limited. Most of the time you’ll have to make due with whatever is open or gas station snacks. There may be moments when restaurants and stores are closed throughout the ride and you’ll be forced to eat at unsavory places (looking at you again Wyoming). Always stock up on reserves for long stretches of road!
Like real world save points
8. Bring Extra Hiking Shoes
This one may be a bit obvious, but I’ll stress it just for my fellow city slickers. Pack an extra pair of shoes that you wouldn’t mind getting dirty for all the hiking. Try to be as comfortable as possible for the inevitable miles and miles of hiking!
RIP my Nikes
9. Pack According to Weather
Depending on the season your venture begins, be prepared for lots of changing temperatures. In the fall and winter time, many of the national parks up north can become quite frigid. We got pretty lucky with mainly warm, sunny weather, but there were a few nights I’m glad I brought a heavy coat. Just be aware of the general climate around destination so you’re not caught off guard.
Windy
10. American Road Trip Souvenirs
It is one of my goals to visit all 50 states. Fortunately with this great American road trip, you can cross off a bunch you would normally never get to. Despite the occasional worthwhile attraction, a majority of the mid-west states are just drive by states. Even so, stopping at the gas stations can be enough to get a feel for them. Try looking for cheap souvenirs that are unique to each place! Bonus; If you want some cool videos, pay attention when crossing every state’s border for their “welcome” sign.
11. Embrace the Boring Middle
Staring at thousands of miles of road makes it easy to forget that the long drive is part of the journey. We get so wrapped up in arriving at our next destination we neglect the boring middle, even though it’s a huge majority of the trip. I get it, driving down empty roads becomes tedious, but we should be mindful of every moment along the way. A lot of people live their lives the same way. Always hurrying to the next major event, and never being present in the now. Just try to embrace the long road and enjoy every moment along the way.
What if life is the journey and you’re the destination…
Driving across the country is one of the best ways to see the United States of America. Hopefully you learn from my mistakes and are prepared to plan your own epic road trip! Here’s the travel blog with our entire Great American Road Trip! Thanks for reading and keep leveling up!
