Lodging for the budget traveler

Coming back from a 28 days around the USA trip, I wanted to add two little things to this topic.

First, about Truck Stops, here's a site I, sadly, found too late which has all the link you gave on the same page: http://www.allstays.com/c/truck-stops-locations-map.htm

And for wi-fi, what I did was to use the Starbucks. You get free wi-fi and the only conditions is you need to have used your Starbucks card in the last 30 days. So I bought this card (the card itself costs nothing, you have to add value on it, so I put the minimum: 5$) and bought a coffee the first day. Then everytime I was close to one (and they are everywhere, especially if you go to relatively medium/big cities) I went there and just used my free 2 hours of wi-fi per day. Never got bothered by the employees for not buying anything but if I had been, I would have bought a coffee (which it's still cheaper than paying it at most hotels).

To find if there's a wi-fi Starbucks near your location, go to their site: http://www.starbucks.com/retail/find/default.aspx and check the wireless hotspot box.

Hope that can help.

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Originally Posted by js_cooldude

Coming back from a 28 days around the USA trip, I wanted to add two little things to this topic.

First, about Truck Stops, here's a site I, sadly, found too late which has all the link you gave on the same page: http://www.allstays.com/c/truck-stops-locations-map.htm

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That site was only one of many I checked out before embarking on my trip... however, it gives very little information as to the services available at each truck stop. Not all welcome campers... in fact, only about 55% do.

I purchased The National Truck Stop Directory - The Trucker's Friend; $14.95 posted free to US addresses. It not only gives location, address and phone (with free email updates), it also states whether they have showers (ladies and gents), a restaurant or fast food outlet, and whether it is 24hr or not. Furthermore it states for every truckstop whether they welcome RV's and campers (no tents), internet cafe or wifi, and a myriad of other services available.

Allstays map for Pennsylvaia shows fewer than 20 truckstops, whereas the Directory lists almost 200 - 105 of which welcome RV's and campers.

Having the hard copy has been a great help to me, when I have found that my intended destrination for the day was just not going to be reached. Without having to find another wifi hotspot (hopefully free), I have the directory which instantly tells me what services are available, and where.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by js_cooldude

And for wi-fi, what I did was to use the Starbucks. You get free wi-fi and the only conditions is you need to have used your Starbucks card in the last 30 days. So I bought this card (the card itself costs nothing, you have to add value on it, so I put the minimum: 5$) and bought a coffee the first day. Then everytime I was close to one (and they are everywhere, especially if you go to relatively medium/big cities) I went there and just used my free 2 hours of wi-fi per day. Never got bothered by the employees for not buying anything but if I had been, I would have bought a coffee (which it's still cheaper than paying it at most hotels).

To find if there's a wi-fi Starbucks near your location, go to their site: http://www.starbucks.com/retail/find/default.aspx and check the wireless hotspot box.

Hope that can help.

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Try I Love Free Wifi, which is just one of many sites on the net listing free wifi hotspots all over the world.

Lifey who makes good use of all free services

I stayed in three Motel 6s on my recent 24-day road trip. Each of them were under $50 total. Actually the total bill for each hotel was about $49 + change for one night. The totals included the room for one person, plus internet ($2.99), and local taxes. I paid more than $50 at the mom and pop motels, except for one in Tucumcari, New Mexico that cost me a whopping $30.26 which included all taxes and free internet. Best price I found for a nice room with 1950s nostalgia, and had two phones, cable TV, refrigerator and microwave oven in the room. Not bad at all.

The Motel 6 locations were Amarillo, TX, Gallup, New Mexico, and Houston, TX - all just under $50.

Right now seems to be a good time for hotel/motel stays. I was never told there wasn't a vacancy when I just popped in without a reservation.

I also stayed at Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, and Candlewood Suites. Only one cost a bit over $100 per night - Holiday Express in Oklahoma City ($106). I think it was because I decided to extend my stay after I was already there, instead of doing it online. The next time I extended my stays, I did it online even though I was right there in the hotel and received the same rate for each night and was able to stay in the same room, unlike in OKC where they upped the rate for the second and third nights.

I learned a lot of tricks on this trip and when I find all my notes, I'll post them.

Lots of places now have free wifi, including McDonald's, bookstores, restaurants, and state information/rest areas along major highways. Many more places are offering free wifi and I'm sure more will do so in the future. Some cities have the service within their boundaries at no charge.

If you have a pet with you, be prepared to spend a lot more per night in many places. On my return trip, I transported a cat for our local animal shelter. One hotel charged $50 for her (Holiday Inn Express), a Holiday Inn charged $20, the next Holiday Inn didn't charge anything for her but required that all pets be declared upon check-in. Finally, Motel 6 didn't charge anything for the pet. So for four nights with the pet, it cost an extra $70 total - nonrefundable. If the other two places had charged a pet fee, that could have gotten quite expensive.

When I'm on a roadtrip, Im always try to find the cheapest motels.
Motel6 are usually the cheapest however there are cheaper mom and pop motels in smaller towns.
Do any of you have a strategy in finding the cheapest motels on your route?
When its late and Im tired, I don't like driving around and walking into many of them to ask their price.

If you have a laptop and can find Internet access, you can try sites such as hotels.com in addition to checking the sites for the major budget chains.

For people who enjoy traveling and meeting new people, I suggest couchsurfing.org. It is a community of people around the world who are both willing to host guests in their homes, and stay with fellow couch surfers when they are traveling. The site has several checks for security (a credit card donation to verify location, "vouching" for people you've met, recommendations, etc). Its a wonderful idea, and a great community! I wonder why it hasn't been mentioned on here before.

Recently my friends and I found ourselves 600 miles away from home on the first day of a 14 day road trip with a predicament that swiftly needed solving. We were in a bind for money and were trying to figure out where 3 teenagers in a car could park and sleep for the night without being asked to leave. As we listed the ideas off in our heads 2 places stuck out more than any others. We arrived in Newport News, VA and headed straight for the nearest Amtrak station. Since people will be leaving cars over night for whatever reason we came to the conclusion that our car would fit right in and it did. A few nights later we faced the same decision but didn't feel like hunting for an Amtrak and we found our way to the nearest hospital. We found a spot in the back of the parking lot and for the rest of our trip hit 4 more hospitals before we made it back home. We discovered that if you arrive late and leave early the hospital employees will have no problem with you sleeping in the far end of their parking lot. Mind you, in order to sleep there i would not recommend staying any later than 8am.

I've taken 2 long road trips in the past 2 years, and I've saved a LOT of money by getting rewards credit cards before the trip. For example, the Priority Club Visa (from Chase I think) gave us points for getting the card, and more points for using the card one time. We had enough points to stay free twice during our trip.
You must join the hotel rewards programs, which you can do for free on their web sites. Join all of them, and keep your ID number and password in your wallet on the trip. NEVER STAY AT A HOTEL WITHOUT JOINING THE REWARD PROGRAM. Even if you don't get a free night soon, you'll end up getting one later.
We did the same thing with another card for the next trip, and were able to stay at Comfort Suites free also. We used the cards for gas on our trips, which saved us from carrying hundreds of dollars, then we paid off the balance after our trip. Free stays, free credit, and no charges, can't beat that!

I also wanted to mention that we never stay at low-budget hotels or motels unless we have no other choice. Sleep is very important when traveling, as well as staying in a safe place where other people have some class and won't stay up all night or be loud. Cigarette smoke is also a big nuisance for us.
We save money other ways, like food, and make sure we stay at nice places that have free breakfast, and breakfast at nice hotels is always great, with hot items too.
The free breakfast is important for 3 reasons. 1) It gets you up earlier so you're on the road sooner, 2) it saves time over stopping somewhere else, even McDonalds adds up for a family, and 3) it saves money, we've paid $30 for breakfast for the 4 of us at Denny's, etc. - so when we stay at a Hampton or Holiday Inn Express or Comfort Suites for $99, I always take $30 off the price for what we're saving for getting a free breakfast. So to me, it's $69, not $99.
Plus you can eat all you want, AND take cups of cereal, and a bagel and fruit, to eat in the car, which the kids love. And then we don't need to stop for lunch for at least a few hours.

Couchsurfing.org

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