I need some time to reflect. Need to do something to revolutionize my life.

[whit3room]

Hello. Early 20's male. Currently stuck in a rut. Have been for years now. Not going to get into my life story though so don't worry lol. I know going on a road trip or doing something adventurous isn't a cure all. It may not even be what I'm looking for. But the fact is I've been thinking about going on a road trip for years and I've just always put it off because of work. The closest I came to it was last year. I was ready to go but last minute I chickened out... instead I bought a plane ticket across country and stayed in Washington visiting a relative for 2 weeks. I want to visit Colorado, Arizona, California, Oregon, & Washington.

I'm not in college. I'm currently working as an apprentice tradesmen but the work just isn't for me. I'm thinking about quitting and turning my SUV into a camper conversion type deal. I wanted to get a van & deck it out initially but I took a step back and thought that'd be extremely impulsive considering I've never done anything like this before. I have money saved up but I'd like to keep this under 3k if possible. Plan on sleeping in car, and buying a yeti cooler to keep food cold for longer periods of time. I don't have a time limit. I guess it would end when I want it to end.

Truth is... I'm very apprehensive. The longest I've ever driven by myself was 3 hours. I've been in a car with other people for 24 hours (moving across country) a handful of times but I've never been by myself for that long. I'm afraid I'm going to break down or crash and total my car or get stranded. Or break down and get towed to a scam mechanic and get ripped off having to pay $1,000+ for a simple repair because truth is I don't have a clue about cars. I don't even know how to jump a battery or change a tire.

Things have got to change for me. Any advice would be helpful.

[Southwest Dave]

Hello and welcome to the RTA forums !

If it's something you really want to do then you should go for it and try and think more of the positives instead of the what could go wrong. It doesn't sound like you are in a great hurry so if you are only comfortable driving 3 hours a day, drive 3 hours a day. Your confidence may grow and you can go further, but distance doesn't really matter, it's the journey. Sleeping in a car is not an ideal way of getting a good nights sleep although there are cars where you can fold seats and lay out properly with room to stow your gear, but a tent is probably a better idea as you can't just pull up anywhere and sleep in a car anyway. As for the reliability of your chosen vehicle, well no one can tell you it won't have mechanical issues but you can do things to help such as getting it fully serviced and checked over before hitting the road and joining a motoring organisation like AAA.

I would recommend you search around RTA for ideas and inspiration and start looking at a decent map of the USA and start enjoying the 'dreaming and planning' stages and leave the 'What ifs' in the cupboard. Once your trip starts to come together and feels real you will discover that the unknown is a big part of the adventure of a road trip.

[AZBuck]

Welcome aboard the RoadTrip America Forums!

The first thing you need to realize is that this is NOT a 'Life Coaching' website. We do NOT offer advice on how to turn your life around. Nor can we really help you plan a RoadTrip with as little to go on as you've given us. Nevertheless, I will tell you this...

I have completely changed the course of my life several times: from being a divinity student to being an atheist; from being a medical technologist to being a planetary scientist; from being healthy and having a near-photographic memory to being aged and cognitively disabled. Each of those changes required me to take charge of my own life and do the things that needed to be done to make those changes, no matter the effort or cost.

I have also taken innumerable RoadTrips: over a million miles in total; through every state; in ten of the 11 Canadian provinces; in more than a dozen foreign countries. Each of those RoadTrips was done on my own dime and my as a result of my own initiative.

But make no mistake. NONE of the life changes were a result of ANY of the RoadTrips. NONE of the RoadTrips caused me, even for a moment, to reconsider the choices I had made in my life. The two are completely separate. You will NOT find a magic answer to your life's problems while tooling down the highway. They will come from within you, not from some external 'adventure' or any other stimulus.

Indeed, you could easily find that taking a soul-searching RoadTrip could actually prevent you from making the very changes you claim to want. As the simplest example, consider what you will need to have in order to make any such change: time, opportunity and money. Any professional change will certainly require an investment of all three in education of some sort or another, and yet you are proposing to burn through what little funds you have to convert your van, thus forcing you to live out of a cooler and sleep by the side of the road just to get by, meanwhile wasting time contemplating your navel rather than pursuing your real goal.

Look, you can do the thinking part just as well anywhere, in your home, at a nearby state park, walking local hiking trails. You will also need to do some research on how you would go about getting from where you are now to where you might want to go (including several possibilities). Rather than waste you resources on a RoadTrip, get a library card and start researching.

Yes, this is a RoadTrip site, but RoadTrips are not the answer to all problems great and small. And I don't think they are the right answer for you at all.

AZBuck

[glc]

If you are concerned about breakdowns, get AAA and get towed to a dealer for the make of vehicle that you have. Done that more than once myself.

[Lifemagician]

Hello. Early 20's male. Currently stuck in a rut. Have been for years now. Not going to get into my life story though so don't worry lol. I know going on a road trip or doing something adventurous isn't a cure all. It may not even be what I'm looking for. But the fact is I've been thinking about going on a road trip for years and I've just always put it off because of work.

Early 20as and stuck in a rut for years? Been thinking about a road trip for years?

Man, you are barely out of school, and maybe had your licence for a decade or so. It might seem years to you, but you have decades ahead of you. You are possibly yearning for independence and doing your own thing..... getting away from it all. We have all been through that stage. I was 17 when I left the family home, got a job and became independent. You already have work, save your money and go out on your own to see how you manage. Take weekend trips on your own... even every weekend to a different destination, gradually going a little further from home and get to know your corner of the world very very well. Then when you travel you will have something to share with others.

Travelling in and of itself does not necessarily solve any problems. Often your problems come with you. You can't run away from them.

I was a senior citizen before I hit the road and have now seen more of the world - especially North America - than most folk ever will. Not everything needs to be achieved before you turn 25. Settle down, save your money and the world will be your oyster.

All the best.

Lifey

[travelingman]

There's no free ride; everything has a cost associated with it. That being said, with a little planning you can cut costs.

Get a tent and camp at rustic State and National Forest campgrounds. These run around $16 per night. Here in Michigan, I've camped at some beautiful out of the way waterfront sites. They range in size from around 6 sites to maybe 40. Some are much bigger. Your camping fees would be around $450 to $500 per month.

Free camping is also possible if you really want to rough it. Here in Michigan you can camp free on any state land not posted otherwise, as long as it's a mile from a State campground.

Others might chime in about BLM and Army Corps of Engineers campsites.

Try a couple weekends at some of these.

[Born2Explore]

I'm thinking about quitting and turning my SUV into a camper conversion type deal. I wanted to get a van & deck it out initially but I took a step back and thought that'd be extremely impulsive considering I've never done anything like this before. I have money saved up but I'd like to keep this under 3k if possible. Plan on sleeping in car, and buying a yeti cooler to keep food cold for longer periods of time. I don't have a time limit. I guess it would end when I want it to end.

Truth is... I'm very apprehensive. The longest I've ever driven by myself was 3 hours. I've been in a car with other people for 24 hours (moving across country) a handful of times but I've never been by myself for that long. I'm afraid I'm going to break down or crash and total my car or get stranded. Or break down and get towed to a scam mechanic and get ripped off having to pay $1,000+ for a simple repair because truth is I don't have a clue about cars. I don't even know how to jump a battery or change a tire.

Things have got to change for me. Any advice would be helpful.

My wife and I built a sleeping platform for our small Subaru and took it cross country back in March of this year. We lived out of it for 9 days. Slept inside it for 4 nights (and the rest spent sleeping at a few different family members houses). We drove from Florida to Colorado, Arizona, and Utah.

You can do it! You do not need tons of money, use what you have! (as you suggested with the SUV you already own). We found completely FREE campsites in Colorado where you could sleep/live for a certain amount of time (sometimes up to two weeks, then you have to move to the next free site).

First you need to just COMMIT to doing it! There will be small obstacles, but if you are committed, you can overcome them.

We made a video going into some detail on the platform we built for our car, and show the free campsites we used. Check it out, I think it will help you think about ways to travel for cheaper!
https://youtu.be/naSdvMZquAY

[jwhit]

Old thread, and OP may be gone, but I wanted to add my 2 on this. No, a road trip won't solve problems and they could very well end up counterproductive. Yet getting away from everything for a week or two can give one time to decompress and think, without the pressures of daily life pressing down. There is something incredibly cathartic about just being someplace different for awhile. When you get back, your problems will still be there, but perhaps your mind will be clear, at rest, and ready to tackle them again with a bit more knowledge of yourself and wat you actually want to do with your life.