Road Trip CA, OR, WA, MT, ID, on a very tight budget $1800

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Originally Posted by alazar14

So to get back on topic, I asked my girlfriend about Couchsurfing and she said "absolutely not! I rather take my chances with the wildlife in the woods" - and believe me, she has never been camping a day in her life. So that basically leaves couchsurfing out.

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What a shame. She has no idea what she is missing out on.

If I had said "never again" after my first hostel experience in Venice Beach, I would be a lot poorer now, in both money and experiences. The top bunk was so close to the ceiling one could not sit up. The majority of residences were permanents and not travellers, the bathroom was used by some as a storage room and was disgustingly filthy to use. The so called 'breakfast' looked like it had been reheated a dozen times. But I learned from the experience. I learned what questions to ask, what to look for in reviews and what to look for on arrival.... before I committed. After that one experience I have stayed in dozens of wonderful hostels, and still a few which were not as wonderful.... but none like the first time.

Couchsurfing was a bit the same. The very first time I was with a lady and her two adult sons and two pit bulls. Me! who is terrified of dogs.. Cleanliness was not on the top of her priorities, though it was adequate. Turned out she has a heart of gold. Having couchsurfed in a village in Ghana, she learned that the village did not have clean water, nor a school. Through her fund raising that village now has a new school and several pumps on bores sunk to provide clean water. (I spent the evening with her making things for her fundraising.)

I would have been much the poorer for not having met this wonderful soul in Hartford CT.

Travelling is all about seeing places and meeting people. So why would one not accept hospitality from those folk?

Lifey

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Originally Posted by alazar14

In terms of cheap motels, I assume the best strategy is not always to just google motels in an area and call right? I've been having some terrible luck with this method finding most places charge between $55-$70 per night. Ultimately, it seems like we may need to find a way to camp out 4-5 nights during the trip.

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I guess that's not a bad strategy to try, but I certainly wouldn't call it the best one. They're likely to quote you their undiscounted "rack" rate. If you're really looking to stay at mom and pop places, it might be effective, as such places often won't be found on the major hotel search sites.

But those major hotel search sites are a much faster and easier way to get a complete look at what's available, and since hotels know that the internet makes it easy for people to compare, that's where they put their best prices. As was previously mentioned, there is a hotel search tool right on RTA you can use. You can also check out "blind bid" sites like priceline and hotwire, where you'll find discounted rooms, but you don't get to see the name of the property until you've committed to buy (and you can't cancel the purchase.)

As was also previously mentioned, there are coupon books and coupon websites that can also help you find discounted rooms.

But as I also said at the very beginning, I don't quite understand why you are so concerned about your budget. Based on what you told us, after gas, you should have more than $100 a day available to spend. Even if you have to spend $60-70 for a motel every once and a while, that still leaves you $30-40 a day for everything else you might need to buy in a day. Don't get me wrong, I love camping both as a way to save money, and for the experience, but if you don't think you'll enjoy it, I'm not sure why you think you'll be in such a budget crunch that you'll have to do it.

My recommendation to your girlfriend is to try camping close to home first, such as a weekend. This will tell her if she'll like it, and what equipment she absolutely has to have with her. That's what my husband and I did when we decided that we were going to camp out for road trips. At first I was hesitant, because I had never tent-camped before, only "camping" in a travel trailer. Then I found that I really enjoyed it, especially cooking outside, and listening to the birds early in the mornings.

What we found ourselves doing was camping for 3 nights in a row, then find a cheap motel for the 4th night so that we could clean up. Mom and Pop places always served us well, as did Motel 6's (when they were available).


Donna

Lifey,

You have the best advice. I'm going through posts and am really grateful for your input. I totally agree with you. A tent and sleeping bags and air mattress make a big difference.