Road Trip Series: Preparing for the Trip (Part 2)

Money isn’t everything; it sure is a lot of things. (Photo: jtyerse)

This is part Two of Six for the Road Trip Series. The road trip series is all about preparing for a road trip to finishing a road trip. Read the series for some great tips.

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How much preparation done for a road trip can mean how much fun it is or how miserable it is.

There can be both too little preparation and too much preparation.

Can you imagine coming back from a road trip to find out you lost your job or someone died in your family?

This is why there are some things to prepare for. Of course if you were a true vagabond, you would be location independent.

Planning for Work

If you are indeed working, you’ll need to plan for time off. Not every place will grant vacation time or time off so be prepared for a no.

Submit your time off request early and ahead of your trip by months. If you wait too long, there may no slots for time off when you want to go on a road trip.

Plan ahead for holidays and other busy times of the year, many people who work on the holidays apply for time off on the holidays.

Not all places you work will allow you too much time off at one time either, which is one reason why I quit my job.

Many companies do not function well when an important person leaves for too long, unless you learn to delegate your job functions. I learned to delegate my job functions in my previous job and was able to leave for a week or longer without telling anyone.

I used GoToMyPC or Log Me In to access my PC remotely. I recommend trying these programs out, Log Me In has a free version which works great. I’ll write more about these programs later.

Basically to prepare for time off from work for a road trip:

• Submit your time off request early
• Determine how long you want to be gone
• Plan for holidays and other busy times of the year
• Find ways to delegate work and work remotely

Be Reached on any Phone in the World

To prevent losing your job or not knowing when important matters arrive, you may want to be reached wherever you are in the world by phone. I would still recommend spending less time on your phone while on a road trip; enjoy the experience, not your phone.

There are programs which will give you a phone number for people to call and make it forward to any phone you have access to in the world.

I’ll write more about using these programs later; here are a few you can try and use. Google Voice is free and Skype being very inexpensive.

I currently use Google Voice to forward calls to my cell phone. You can use it to forward to work phones, home phones, and most any other type of phone. I’ll write more about using it later; it is great for a vagabond traveling the world. I will trying Skype only while traveling over seas and combining it with Google Voice.

Here are some benefits:

• Google voicemail: voicemail like email
• Voicemail transcription: read what your voicemail says
• Custom greetings: vary voicemail greetings by caller
• International calling: low cost calls to the world
• Notifications: read voicemail messages via email or SMS
• Share voicemails: forward, embed, or download voicemails

You can also use Skype to forward calls or receive calls while connected to the internet on a laptop (or Wi-Fi on phones which can use Skype).

Either solutions works well, Google Voice is free for forwarding while Skype can actually be used to talk.

What I do while on a trip, I log into my Google Voice account online and set it to forward to any phone I might be around for a while.

Let’s say I’m staying with friends or strangers who don’t currently use Google Voice, I would just have my calls forwarded to their phone (with their permission of course) for the important people. Some places you stay may not have service for your cell phone, so definitely look into Google Voice.

You can also use Google Voice as your main number to mask any of your private numbers. Especially good if you NEED to give your phone number to stalkers or just change phones a lot.

Get a phone call wherever you are in the world from the important people!

Financial Planning will prevent Headaches

Road trips can be really cheap and really expensive, just depends on the person or people planning the trip.

When I went on road trips with my friends, we would find deals and stay at places for free or really inexpensive.

How much do you have to spend? I find it is better to spend less and stretch your money further so you can do more.

These are some of the expenses you need to consider pertaining to the road trip itself:

• Gas
• Hotel/Hostel/Lodging
• Food
• Souvenirs
• Fees for parks/camping/entertainment

Here are some expenses not fully related to the road trip you will still need to think about:

• Rent/Mortgage for Home
• Insurance for cars, house, health, etc.
• Cell/Home Phone Bills
• Pet costs (if you have a pet)
• Utilities
• Subscriptions for home
• Any other expenses

Unless you are a vagabond and don’t have a set home (you make a home wherever you go) then you will still have a lot of bills to pay. Bills just suck.

If you are looking for places to stay as you travel, I recommend you check out Couchsurfing.org. Couchsurfing.org is basically what it sounds like, couchsurfing.

The biggest difference with this couchsurfing and the normal one is safety and reliability. With a good reputation for yourself, you can find people all over the world to stay with. The other great part is that staying with locals means you get firsthand experience from a native showing you around.

I could write so much more about Couchsurfing.org, someone else has already written a great guide about it. Check it out from Karol Gajda called the Black Book #001 from his blog Ridiculously Extraordinary.

Splitting the Bill

Another aspect of traveling with other people is how to pay for everything. Planning ahead with expenses will definitely help any vagabond prevent headaches while traveling.

There are many ways to do it such as each person pays for themselves or if someone pays for all of it (if they have a large bank account or credit card) and everyone reimburse them.

What my friends and I have done is the 2nd way; we would split the bill third ways at the end of the trip and reimburse the person paying for everything. Of course we wouldn’t split luxuries such as a person’s special huge mean or souvenirs; we would split lodging, gas, park fees, and other trip supplies.

Definitely plan ahead and decide:

• To split the road trip bill evenly between everyone
• Everyone pays for themselves

With a little planning, a road trip should just be a fun trip to experience new things. It’s been said that our lives are enriched by new experiences more than possessions. Plan ahead and have fun.

From author of Vagabonding Rolf Potts posted on Tim Ferriss’ Blog 5 Travel Lessons You Can Use at Home

“Scientific studies have shown that new experiences (and the memories they produce) are more likely to produce long-term happiness than new things. Since new experiences aren’t exclusive to travel, consider ways to become time-rich at home. Spend less time working on things you don’t enjoy and buying things you don’t need; spend more time embracing the kinds of activities (learning new skills, meeting new people, spending time with friends and family) that make you feel alive and part of the world.”

Try new things today! Even at home.

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On the next Road Trip Series: Packing for the Road Trip (Part 3).

Posted on February 24th 2010.