When hitting the road for a long stretch, pack your clothes in a large laundry basket in the car and keep just your pj’s, toiletries, and valuables in an overnight bag. Each night, put your next day’s clothes in the overnight bag to take into your hotel or tent.
It’s a lot less to lug in and out of the car than a full suitcase or duffel.
Looking for cheap lodging alternatives? Check on campus.
Most colleges and universities offer dorm rooms to rent for next to nothing to non-students during the summer. The price usually includes meals.
Or, if you don’t mind conjugating verbs while on your European vacation, check into an independent language-immersion program. A weeklong stay at a host home with classes can cost the equivalent of a night’s stay at an upscale hotel in the US. Bonus: you’ll get smarter on vacation! Now, who can make that claim?!
The best advice for anyone taking a road trip: get a mascot.
This doesn’t need to be complicated. On one cross-country trip, my friend and I took a small stuffed goat. Over the course of 3000 miles we told many stupid stories about that goat and photographed him with us in places ranging from the Hoover Dam to the Amish Country of Pennsylvania. A family member recently took a small stuffed Sponge Bob on her trip cross-country.
It’s not what the mascot is that counts. It’s that you have one. It will be the glue that holds the trip together.
Sometimes, we travel without a cooler (when we’re taking a shorter trip or don’t have enough room). But even without the cooler, we always have a way to have ice cold water with us.
To make cold water last the whole day, put a couple bottles of water in the freezer the night before*. Naturally, they’ll all turn to bottles of ice. An hour into the day, after the ice melts a little, you have a nice cold drink of water. When you see a water fountain, you can add more water — or, add water from unfrozen bottles.
In most developed countries, tap water is as good (or better) than bottled. Plus it’s cheaper and greener (of course, it’s ok to use the same bottles over).
* Be sure NOT to insert FULL bottles into the freezer! They might explode or leak when they melt, if the bottle has cracked from the pressure.
When my husband and I take our annual road trip from Denver to California with our two kids, we always pack frozen juice packs in our cooler for the 17-hour drive.
They’re perfect for keeping refrigerated snack foods cold during the journey, and along the way they melt just enough to drink or enjoy as a slushy.
The best part is: there’s no drippy ice to dump upon arrival — and no ice packs to lug home.