Fisrt time roadtrip

[Cassandra Lea]

I am twenty years old and i am planning to go on a roadtrip for about two monthes. I just want to take time hile im young to explore this country and find out exactly what i want in life. I live in arkansas and want to travel first east to alabama and gergia i then want to head sounth west to baton rouge louisianna and then travel north to texas and then move on to colorado and whyoming and then to oregon and washington and from there travel south to california where I plan to relocate permantly. i am curious how much this trip will cost and would like suggestions on planning camp sights and cheap motels. I would like to spend alot of time in the rocky mountain area. I am planning to do this trip alone and i plan on driving my ford tarus. My whole life ive only been to two places Arkansas and Missouri ive always wanted a chaance to travel and see new things. the college life did not work for me and i would like to discover all my options while i still can.

[AZBuck]

Welcome aboard the RoadTrip America Forums!

I can offer a bit of help on your second question: "What will it cost?" That's the easy part. As a rule of thumb, I count on spending about $100/day when I travel solo. That includes lodging, meals, and one or two small-to-modest entrance fees a day. On top of that you'll have to determine how many total miles your trip will be, how much fuel you'll use with your particular car, and how much the total fuel bill will be. I would add 10-20% to whatever your mapping software says is the total point-to-point distance for your trip. That's to take into account side trips to various attractions, exploring various cities you'll find yourself in, etc. And I'd assume $4/gal for gas. All those assumptions should give you a pretty good handle on your actual fuel costs and preclude any nasty surprises. The main thing to remember is that travel is expensive. If it were cheaper than staying at home, everyone would be traveling all the time.

As for the "find out exactly what I want in life" part, that's not really what travel is all about. It can give you some insight into yourself, how comfortable you are in your own skin, how self-reliant and resourceful you are, what your interests are, and things like that. But it is never going to tell you what you want in life - only you can determine that. Probably the best bit of advice I can give you, from someone who made a similar trip at a similar age, is to just enjoy your time on the road and don't put so much pressure on yourself to figure out life, the universe, and everything.

AZBuck