Planning a great American cross country road trip: Tips and observations

 

Somewhere in New Mexico

Confucius:  “Roads were made for journeys, not destinations.”

Looking back at my wife and myself’s journey throughout our 20+ years of marriage, there are several moments that truly stand out.  There is our wedding day/honeymoon to Hawaii, selling everything to move to Hawaii several years later, then there is our epic cross country trip from New York City to Colorado.

Of the many memorable trips we enjoyed together, none matches the sheer planning, intense research, and total excitement that goes into planning for a cross country trip.  It’s been over 19 years (2003) since we went on our cross country trip, but I remember those awesome three weeks during the month of August 2003 very vividly, like it was yesterday…

The beginning of that trip was totally memorable as one day prior to us leaving, New York City experienced a blackout.  It was late afternoon on August 14th.  We were taking an escalator down inside a shopping mall in Long Island, when power suddenly went out.

It stopped the escalator cold, and we walked down to the first floor, realizing that all the stores had their lights out at the same time.  We guessed, even as we were walking out of the shopping mall, that it was probably only that mall.

It wasn’t until we arrived at our home that we really understood that it wasn’t just that mall, but rather the entire East Coast.  Our apartment’s power had gone out, meaning no elevators, and we lived on the 16th floor!

The doorman of our apartment complex apologized for the lack of elevators, and volunteered to walk us up to the 16th floor as it was total darkness inside the stairwell.  We gladly took his offer, and safely made it to our place.

As clueless, first time homeowners, we didn’t put two and two together.  We thought some things might work even if power was out, like water and toilet.  Boy, were we wrong!  NOTHING worked inside the apartment.  No air conditioner, no fan, no water, and no flushing toilet(!).  We arrived at our place around 5:30 or so, and we were scheduled to leave on our cross country trip the next day.  What a timing…

Did I mention the day was August 14th?  That meant it was stifling hot, muggy, and uncomfortable inside a concrete building, that is an apartment.  We suffered, sweating profusely, trying to figure out what to do with our trip coming up the following day.

We tried to sleep that night but sleep wouldn’t come thanks to the summer heat.  We decided then and there to pack up our stuff and leave around 4 a.m. for Cleveland (Ohio), our first stop on our cross country trip.

Leaving that morning, the world around us felt alien.  There were no lights anywhere.  No lights in Manhattan, in a “city that never sleeps”, no lights in apartments surrounding us, and no lights from street lamps.  It was a surreal experience…

Using our car’s headlights as our only source of light, we made our way to the George Washington Bridge to take the I-80, heading for our first stop, Cleveland (OH).  On our way over to Cleveland, we wondered if Cleveland was ok, and whether or not they got electricity back.

We arrived in Cleveland at our hotel around 12:30 p.m. or so, then was able to check in.  We were relieved to find out they got electricity back!!!  The front desk clerk did tell us the showers will run cold as systems were starting to get back to normal.  

At that point, we didn’t care.  We were just thankful for running water and power.  It’s amazing how much we modern humans rely on electricity for everything…We learned this first hand.

After this eventful beginning to our first cross country trip, everything would work out ok for us the rest of the way.  We ended up booking hotels/motels as we traveled, relying on each hotel’s computer workstation to book our next reservation(s), as this was pre-smartphone days.  Note to anyone under 30:  Pre-smartphone days, if you didn’t have a personal laptop, hotel’s business centers and their computer workstations were the only other alternative to browse the internet.  To use them, we usually paid around $2-$5 to use the internet and to print our reservation.

We relied heavily on Expedia.com and Hotwire.com for all our bookings.  It really worked out great for the most part.  We did run across couple of really terrible motels in Rapid City (SD) and in Salinas (KS), but these were the exceptions.  We got a really good feel for what to look for and what to do when booking rooms thanks to that trip.

In our first cross country trip, we ended up visiting many of the places we wanted to at that time.  These included:

• Cleveland, Ohio:  Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the city
• Chicago, Illinois:  John Hancock Tower, the Navy Yard, and the city
• Minneapolis, Minnesota:  Mall of America and the city
• Rapid City, South Dakota:  Black Hills and Mount Rushmore
• Aspen, Colorado:  Vail and Aspen
• Denver, Colorado: the city
• Salinas, Kansas:  Stop over as the drive through Kansas from Denver was way too long…
• St. Louis, Missouri:  Gateway Arch and the city
• Cincinnati, Ohio:  Skyline chili and the city
• Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania:  the city

You can tell from the list of places we visited that most of them are cities with man made structures as attractions.  Back then, we were definitely more interested in city life, and not so much nature.  

Thanks to our Pomeranian Toby, our way of thinking has changed fundamentally.  Thanks to our many walks in parks and hiking trails, we really learned to appreciate nature.  We yearned to explore nature and really enjoy it.

To that end, our second cross country trip would include trips to cities and national parks.  Here are the places we plan to visit:

• Biloxi, Mississippi:  To visit the city, as well as nearby attractions like Gulfport, and Beau Rivage, a MGM Resort.
• New Orleans, Louisiana:  It’s been close to 19 years since our last visit to the city, and we wanted to see it again.
• Houston, Texas:  Our nephew and my wife’s friend live in the city, so we wanted to visit them and the city
• Galveston, Texas:  A resort town south of Houston with a beach and a well known port of call for cruise lines
• San Antonio, Texas:  Always wanted to visit the Riverwalk in downtown and the Alamo
• Albuquerque, New Mexico:  To visit the Petroglyphs National Monument, the Old Town, and the city
• Carlsbad Caverns National Park
• White Sands National Park 
• Petrified Forest National Park 
• Meteor Crater National Landmark
• Antelope Canyon, Glen Canyon National Park, Horseshoe Bend
• Arches National Park
• Canyonlands National Park 
• Capitol Reef National Park 
• Bryce Canyon National Park 
• Zion National Park 
• Las Vegas, Nevada:  To visit the city and to stay at several MGM Resort owned properties while there; it had been over 5 years since our last visit
• Death Valley National Park 
• Joshua Tree National Park 
• Laughlin, NV:  To see the Colorado River and the resort area
• San Diego, California:  To visit the city; been over 17 years since our last visit there

Before leaving on our trip at the end of November, we had only booked in advance a week long stay at the Beau Rivage in Biloxi, a two night stay in New Orleans, and a five night stay in Galveston.  We planned on booking the rest as the trip progressed.

We learned few things along the way booking hotels/motels and activities.  Here are some of our tips:

     Tip #1: Use travel sites/apps to get the best price but always compare 

When booking hotels/motels, be sure to use apps like Priceline.com, Hotwire.com, Booking.com, and Expedia.com.  They’ll allow you to compare shop same hotel/motel as needed, and all of them, except Hotwire.com will allow you to accrue loyalty status which give you perks, the more you book.

I found out that for us, Priceline.com seemed to be the cheapest option.  One important caveat though:  Priceline.com (as well as Hotwire.com) is pay everything upfront system when booking a room.  This means you’re paying upfront for the whole amount, and you cannot cancel or modify your reservation.  If this doesn’t work for you, then use sites like Booking.com or Expedia.com which will typically allow you to do so…

I also recommend using different hotel chain’s own apps.  For example, if you like hotel chains like Comfort Inns, Sleep Inn, and/or EconoLodge, then download Choice Hotels apps.  You can do the same for companies like Wyndham, Marriott, or Hilton hotel brands.  

I found out the hotel’s own apps sometimes run good promotions that may be cheaper when booked through their app.  I also found out that just by signing up for Hilton hotels app (Hilton Honors), I got two free bottles of water at checkin, and got a top floor with good views.  

Important tip #1:  When searching for hotels, I usually check the condition of the hotel from the exterior then the interior by using photos of the hotel.  If the hotel’s exterior looks dated, then most times than not, the rooms may also look dated.  

Important tip #2:  Be sure to read fellow travelers’ reviews of the hotel to get a sense of the place.  I had to cancel a hotel in New Orleans as the review of the hotel was scary.  It mentioned gun shots at night and drug dealings during the day near the hotel.  Yikes!  Had I not read the reviews, I would’ve really really regretted my choice…

Generally speaking, I found out hotels with review rating of 8 or higher are really good, while ones below 7 are questionable.  Depending on what you can live with, make your decision based on the photos and reviews.  

Important tip #3:  When searching for hotels, be sure to use filters to search what’s important to you.  For us, it’s free breakfast and free parking.  We absolutely love the free breakfast and free parking, as these two things may cost upwards of $50 per day in some cities!  

For example, we paid $30 per day for parking in a hotel in downtown New Orleans.  Breakfast was also not included there, so I can all but guarantee that for us to eat a paid breakfast these days, it would be around $20-$30…

     Tip #2:  Consider using Rakuten to earn cash back

I looked into using the app Rakuten, which gives you money back on companies you would buy from anyway.  For example, Rakuten offers many travel sites as well as activities sites, which offer anywhere from 2% to 10% cash back when you book through their site.  

I did ended up using it for Groupon which gave me back about $7 in cash back.  Be sure to compare shop in Rakuten and the regular company app, as the price may not be the same.

For example, when using Rakuten linked Priceline.com, I found out I couldn’t use Priceline’s coupon code within Rakuten site.  This meant the money I would’ve saved by using Rakuten would be less than the money I could’ve saved by using Priceline’s coupon code, which saves 10% off the total price.

Always compare shop in both Rakuten and regular company app for the best price.  Don’t just blindly use Rakuten for cash back.  At the end of the day, the goal is to save the most money when booking hotels/motels.

     Tip #3:  Use sites/apps like Groupon for substantial savings on activities and at restaurants 

We had used Groupon in the past to book activities like kayak rentals and saved bunch of money.  We did the same when booking a plantation tour in New Orleans.  We saved roughly $13 per person and we got a $7 cash back by using Rakuten linked Groupon.

Always see if the activity you’re interested in is on Groupon.  It may save you plenty of time and money.  Same goes for restaurants.  We saved roughly $23 at a restaurant in New Orleans via Groupon.  

When you’re planning a cross country trip that is more than 2 months long, you have to find ways to save money wherever you can.  Every one of these tips have helped us make a not an insignificant dent, in reducing the cost of our trip.

     Tip #4:  Use any loyalty/rewards accounts to get free rooms, food, and/or activities 

We have MGM Resorts credit card and MGM Resorts loyalty card, which we used to get 18 free nights at the Beau Rivage (Biloxi) and at several resorts in Las Vegas.  We also used MyVegas rewards to get 2 free nights at a San Diego area casino resort, and free foods at different MGM resorts.  Note:  We’ll go over these in detail in our later posts.

If you’re part of any hotel/restaurant/credit card loyalty program, leverage that to score free rooms, food, activities to lower the cost of your trip.  We figure we’ll be saving well over $4,000 thanks to these loyalty programs.

In conclusion:

We had traveled using AirBnB/Vrbo since our early retirement in August 2020.  Because we had our Pomeranian Toby, we decided renting via these two sites would be easier and cheaper, as most hotels/motels charge extra fees for pets.

Since Toby’s passing, we are now able to explore other means of lodgings like hotels/motels.  We are finding there are definite benefits of staying at hotels/motels.  Yes, the cost of staying at hotels/motels are higher than AirBnB/Vrbo on a monthly basis, but by managing to get free hotel nights through MGM Resorts and MyVegas rewards, as well as staying at friend’s/family’s place, we were able to lower our lodging costs.

One of the major benefits of staying at motels is the free breakfast which we took full advantage of.  We’re also finding out that the quality of motels these days are much higher than what we remember when we did our first cross country trip 19 years ago.  We were plenty surprised when staying at two star hotel chains, like the Sleep Inn, for example.

We’ll break down the cost of each lodging, activities, food, etc., as we explore each destination.  Please stay tuned and come along with us, as we update everyone on our trip, going from North Carolina to California, making plenty of stops along the way.  It’ll be the trip of our lifetime!  Well, I guess until our next cross country trip…

Thank you for reading!

Jake

Wandering Money Pig 

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