6 Tips for Family Road Trips on a Budget

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Going on a road trip with your family is more interesting than going by flight. The best budget-friendly road trips start with a car.

Road Trip

Ensure your vehicle is roadworthy and in good repair, so you will not be disappointed, put the tires in good condition for the best gas mileage. But not to worry, our six tips for family road trips is a standard packing list for your road trip on a budget.

If possible get a car: the first thing that can help you enjoy your family on a trip is a car. Put your vehicle in good condition before you embark on your journey so that your ride will not be a thing to worry about when you are supposed to be catching fun with your family.




Pick the right vehicle that is roadworthy if you have more than one in your family most especially the one that has a better gas mileage or has low operating and maintenance cost.

Rent a car: for long journeys that your ride may not be fit for, or you find stressful for your aging ride, you can choose to rent a car. Such ideas can eventually become a money-saving method in the long run; unexpectedly saving you some money.

Sometimes, situations may warrant you rent a ride when the number of family members that want to go on a trip is more than the size of the car. You don’t have any option in situations like this than to rent a car.

With this, you will over time realize that you have saved so much avoiding parking fees and other costs by all piling into a car instead of road tripping in two separate ones.

Stock your ride with plenty of foods: long drives automatically turn kids into bottomless food pits. Stock up enough snacks and drinks so that when kids need to fill up their stomach, you will not always have to stop to get them something to eat, it makes a journey boring.



Make a plan for a hotel stay along with your route: different families make different plans for their hotel stays when going on a journey.

Some map out their favorite hotel far in advance while some would have studied how long they could remain on wheels thereby crash at the first available option when they could not drive anymore.

Whatever decision you have chosen, it is essential you have a plan that will enable you to get a room at the right price. In case you are lost or stranded, you can make use of any available car camping tips.

You can use the red roof (red roof website), it has a feature tagged “Along-a-route” that allows traveler input their journey starting point and final destination and find the nearest hotels available along the way.

In this case, no matter the distance of where you choose to cover, this soft touch loving feature can give you a last minute place to stay while actually on the road or planning months in advance.

Fun and cheap roadside attractions: you cannot just be driving all along without stopping over some places to catch fun before you continue your journey. American high ways and byways have spots filled with exciting road attractions most of which are right for both kids and adults. Particularly for budget travelers, most of these fun-loving places are less expensive while some are free.

Say no to souvenirs: souvenirs are majorly for kids, too much of it cost a lot of money while on a trip not to talk of the ones in our house back home. As you genuinely try to avoid spending money unnecessarily while on a trip, the trip its self is a gift. But when you think of getting some for them, you set their budget, that way you will be able to stick to your budget while you should also try to teach them some financial lessons of how to spend money.

Going on a trip with a budget is necessary and exciting only if you have a fixed budget for the trip. Beware that despite your budget there are cases you may need to spend some unexpected expenses that are why while planning you need to inflate some of the figures of the amount required for the trip or you go with your credit card to avoid disappointments.

However, do not forget to make room for first aid. How do I mean by first aid, although it is not a normal thing for accidents to happen but it is one of those things you need to prepare for, that is why you need first aid preparation so that you can make for an unforeseen occurrence.

Among the first aid gadgets, you might need to take along is a first aid kit containing different kinds of first aid equipment. Also, take with you pain medicine for both kids and adults it helps a lot. You can also go with a disinfectant like iodine antiseptics for wound treatments.

Another useful thing you can take with you is mosquito repellent. Usually, travelers embark on their journey with a mosquito repellent just in case they get to a place they want to pass over the night; mosquito repellent bracelets seem to work so well in situations like this.



Do not forget that entertainment is essential; kids particularly would not love to go on a boring trip, what do I mean in essence is that you should be able to make music available a piece of popular music that will make everybody on-board happy.

Road tripping is one of the best way to enjoy a vacation on a budget. There’s definitely work to be done in the planning process and the planning process  itself is a part which makes the road tripping fun. Next time you hit the road, keep it safe and thrifty.

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