East-to-West Coast roundtrip, poor teenagers, $4000 total, 22 days: Doable
My questions
Is this possible to do?
How should I plan to budget this?
Would you recommend an alternative route if this is too much?
Background
There will be four of us, 3 18 year olds, 1 19 (all will be going into freshman or sophomore year of college). We're all going to be splitting all of the costs (gas, lodging, shared food, etc.) We are very prepared to rough it. We're doing this for an experience, not a vacation in the pleasure cruise sense. Long days, crappy accommodations are givens.
Our purpose (in order of importance)
1. See the country. Experience all of the cultures and differences in the United States. We want this to be something we'll remember for the rest of our lives. This could be the last time the four of us can have three responsibility-free weeks to do this. We want to make the most of it.
2. See important sights like Rushmore, Yellowstone, etc.
3. Reach the West Coast and travel coast-to-coast back to the east coast.
Here are the limits of the situation
- We have 20-25 days at most to do this due to conflicting plans.
- We can spend $700 each. $1000 each is the ABSOLUTE LIMIT.
- We're fitting 4 people and everything into a 1998 Volkswagon Passat.
So have at it. These are the only real givens. Below is just some planning that I've done and more questions I have.
I was looking at these routes, Oregon Trail and US-50
and I like Philadelphia (our home) -> Yellowstone -> San Francisco -> Ocean City, NJ (where one of us has a beach house. we figure this will be good because we'll need some time to just relax after all of this).
We're expecting to sleep in cars at least a few nights. I understand that truck stops are safe for this. Where else is okay? Any other advice relating to this?
What about camping? We've never camped before. Parks generally charge $12...individually or for a group? What do I need to know about camping?
We'll sleep in motels occasionally. What can I expect for rates for a double room? A single (with some of us on the floor)? Motels have to be clean, but no luxuries.
For food, we plan to get 90% of our meals from grocery stores to cut costs.
We can always turn back sooner if we're running out of money. We just cut down south and head east along US-50 and just cut the corner. I think this is a good safety net in case expenses add up or we just can't handle sleeping in cars/camping every night.
Or am I crazy to think $4000 will get 4 teenagers across the country and back in 3 weeks while being able to see enough to make it worth it? I figure you guys are the ones to ask, because I have no idea.
Humor, with a side of reality.
OK, I think it might be possible for you to pull this off as a large trip going west, but lets break it down and see what you're up against.
You've got $4k and 3 weeks. First, lets pool all the money together and look at total costs, not per person costs, because its just easier to divide it at the end.
First off, you need to eliminate anything on the east coast. You simply don't have time to make this a big 48 state loop. More miles also means more money, which you don't have. That's not to say you can't visit those places at another time...
Compatability:
"We're all good friends, so that won't be an issue," are the famous last words of a roadtrip. There's also a saying that the best way to become enemies with your friends is to live with them, and on a roadtrip you aren't just living with your friends, you are living with them in a tiny box with few opportunities to escape each other. Money issues and how day to day decisions will be made are two of the biggest ways this surfaces on a trip, so make sure everyone is on the same page before you even begin. Taking shorter pre-trips is also an excellent way to get your feet wet before leaving on a major trip, this is where you could maybe make the trip to Cooperstown or your friends beach house.
Sleeping:
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In the car, we could sleep a couple in the back seat and two in the front reclined. Plus some rest during driving times (all 4 can drive). I'm thinking this should be enough to tide us over to a motel the following night.
Sorry to be blunt here, but just take a minute to think about how rediculous that actually sounds.
When you recline the front seats in a Jetta is there even room for one person to SIT back there, much less try to sleep? Not to mention, even a reclined front seat, just isn't that comfortable as a bed.
Sorry, but 4 people sleeping in a small sedan just isn't an option. Even if you did manage to get a little sleep each, it wouldn't be quality sleep, making you more iratable and less likely to enjoy the trip and each other.
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Could we expect to average $40/night at motels?
No, not really. I'd say $50 is the minimum you should budget for a hotel stay. You can occationally find things for around $40, but there will also be times where $70+ might be the cheapest room you can find. By time you factor in taxes, you are almost always looking at $50 or more a night for even a room that's listed at $40. If you spent every night in a motel, you would have already spent 1/4 of your budget.
Camping could save you quite a bit of money. Setting up a tent will generally cost you $15-20 a night. If you went with a tent for say 15 nights and moteled the other 5, you'd be looking at a savings of nearly $500 for the trip.
Food:
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I think we could get by on grocery store food (no grill) knowing how important it is to be that frugal.
Frugality aside, do you really think that 4 people will be able to survive on cereal and sandwiches for 3 weeks? This is a case where trying to save too much on paper can backfire. I'd say the odds are that after a week of cold cuts for every meal, you're going to start stopping at restaurants on a real frequent basis. Just one meal at Dennys can quickly blow your entire day's food budget if you plan on spending $15/day per person.
A grill can really be a good money saver. For $20-30 total, you can buy a small propane grill that will allow you to eat real meals with food from a grocery store. My trips with friends, which are all done under tight budgets too, we eat cereal in the morning, sandwiches at lunch, and then grill steaks, burgers, or chicken at night. We still occationally will stop for a restaurant meal, but there's no where near the same urge to eat out when you are eating at least one hot meal a day.
If you keep things frugal, I'd say $15/day each is possible, so that's $1300.
Gas:
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I figure gas is about $200 each with the * 1.25 padding. This is really padded because I put the price up and fuel mileage down quite a bit.
This is usually the killer cost, and considering how volitile gas prices are, it can be the hardest to figure.
Lets say your Jetta gets 30 mph when loaded down with 4 people and gear, and hopefully gas will be $3/gallon this summer. A Direct Loop from Philly to Yellowstone to LA and back would be 6000 miles, but you aren't going to be taking a direct path. I'd say 9000 miles will be more likely. Even these are pretty liberal estimates, and that puts your gas costs at around $900.
So right now, before food, gas, and shelter, you will be looking at a minimum of spending about $3200, with a bare bones approach. That doesn't include any money for attractions or anything else you want to purchase on the way. A National Parks pass will cost you $50, and be good for everyone in your car. But admission for other things like hall of fames can easily cost your $25 each or more, when you think about things like parking fees. But if you really watch yourself, and avoid higher priced activies, you should be able to stretch that remaining $800 into a pretty good time.
So in a nutshell, Clearly $700 per person just isn't enough money, but If you can get everyone to spend $1000, and you very carefully watch your budget, you could be able to pull off a pretty bare bone, but still fun trip.
