How To Enjoy a USA Road Trip on A Budget

There’s nothing quite like a road trip. Setting off on the open road with the freedom to go anywhere and a million adventures ahead. Route 66? Disneyworld? Whatever you choose, there are lots of memories to create and adventures to enjoy.

However, this doesn’t come cheap, the price of petrol, food and all other supplies soon adds up. So, if you’re heading off on a USA road trip on a budget, here are some top tips on how to save yourself some money along the way.

Water

There’s no need to keep buying new water bottles all the time, this can end up being super costly. The tap water in America is completely safe to drink and pretty much all campgrounds and parks have drinking fountains where you can fill up your bottles.

If you’re road tripping in a campervan, keep two or more large jugs in your campervan and refill reusable water bottles with this.

Not only does this save money but it also saves plastic waste too.

Find cheap petrol

Don’t get ripped off on petrol, or gas as it’s referred to in the US. Make sure that you try and find the cheapest petrol prices in the area you’re in.

Google Maps can be a great tool to use in this scenario, if you type “petrol” or “gas” into the search it will show you results for the nearest petrol stations along with the price per gallon.

Highway petrol stations are often a lot more expensive than those just a short drive off the main road, so keep that in mind when on your road trip.

Car hire excess insurance

This is often something that people overlook when going on a road trip. Insurance is almost always included when hiring your car or campervan, which is all well and good, but in the event of an accident, you can feel a real sting when paying the excess fees.

To protect yourself from high excess costs car hire excess insurance is worth it just to put your mind at rest. Car hire excess insurance in the USA starts from just 12p per day and means that if you have to pay excess abroad, you won’t be out of pocket. We offer a variety of protection, including worldwide car excess insurance, holiday car excess insurance cover and annual car hire excess insurance.

Accommodation

Accommodation can often be the most expensive part of a trip. Travelling in a campervan can instantly save you accommodation costs.

Camping is also a cheaper alternative to staying in hotels and there are some sites you can stay on that are even free.

National Forests are usually a lot cheaper and sometimes even free and Bureau of Land Management is also free to camp on but check out the facilities before you set up camp as sometimes it’s limited.

If camping isn’t for you, there are also some ways you can save on hotel accommodation, try sites such as hoteltonight.com. Hotels that aren’t fully booked will advertise their empty rooms for a cheaper price but you can only book up to seven days in advance.

Food

Eating out every night will drain your budget quicker than you can say USA so you have to be prepared to get creative when it comes to food.

If you’re travelling in a campervan then you’ll most likely have some sort of kitchen available. Utilising this will save you a lot of money, plus it adds to the adventure.

If you’re travelling in a car, cooking for yourself won’t be so easy, but there are still ways to save.

Picnics are super cheap and you can pull up anywhere and enjoy lunch/dinner. You can even take a small stove with you so that you can enjoy hot meals and boil water for tea and coffee.

Every little helps and no matter how long you’re road-tripping for these tips can help you to have the trip of a lifetime whilst sticking to your budget.