Free Sample
The Complete Guide to Road Tripping
What it really costs, what you really need, and how to plan your first trip without guesswork
by Alumigogo Books
Chapter 1: What Is Road Tripping and Why People Love It
What road tripping actually is
Road tripping is not one thing. It's not just camping, though you might camp. It's not just driving, though you'll drive a lot. It's a loose structure of moving through the world by car, on your own schedule, with your own soundtrack, and your own snacks. That last part matters more than you'd think.
At its simplest, a road trip is a journey of at least a few days where the driving itself is part of the experience, not just a way to get somewhere. You might drive from Chicago to New Orleans over four days, stopping in Memphis for a barbecue lunch and a night in a roadside motel. You might loop through the national parks of Utah over a week, camping in a different spot every night. You might drive the Pacific Coast Highway from San Francisco to San Diego, pulling over whenever you see a viewpoint you like. The trip can be two days or two months. It can cost two hundred dollars or two thousand. There is no minimum distance and no minimum duration that makes it official. If you drove somewhere on purpose, stayed overnight, and came back a different way, you've done it.
What a day on the road actually looks like
Let's be honest about the day-to-day because there's a lot of romance floating around this hobby, and most of it is true, but only in between