A road trip could give you a great opportunity to explore the places between your home and the destination of your travels. When you travel by car or van, you can stop at various points along the way and take in sites that you wouldn’t get to experience from a plane or train. For instance, if you pass through Nevada while en route from Chicago to Los Angeles, you could make a pit stop at Hoover Dam and marvel at one of mankind’s mightiest feats of engineering. Imagine trying to take that in from a mile high in the sky.
Road tripping can also give you plenty of chances to absorb the scenic beauty of the open roads. Say you take a trip from Seattle to Texas and you pass through Utah and Arizona on the way. This would give you the perfect opportunity to take an afternoon stop-off at the Grand Canyon or Bryce Canyon. Imagine the photos you could take of all those beautiful brick rock formations. If your travel time allows, these stop-offs could be an integral part of your trip as a whole.
Stop and stay where you want for as long as you want
Another major advantage of road tripping is that it allows you to stay as long as you want at each stop along the way and back. If you find a stopover town that you really enjoy, you could stay an extra night and really take in the local shops, restaurants and scenery. If you don’t like a certain stop, you can move on immediately.
This wouldn’t be the case if you traveled via connecting flights or trains, which don’t give you the chance to find those small towns off the radar. If you take the trip by plane, the airline would dictate where you stop and connect, which might confine you for an entire night to a dull hotel. That’s no way to spend a hard-earned vacation!
Take all the luggage you want
When you travel by car or van, you have a lot more luggage space than you would in a plane or train. Therefore, you can take more things with you and also bring back more souvenirs from your trip. While you pack your suitcases, you won’t have to worry about space constraints. Instead of restricting things to necessities, you can bring that fancy outfit for the odd chance that you end up dining at some ritzy hotel.
As you drop by various shops and souvenir stores on your trip, you can purchase any item that strikes your fancy and pack them all in your trunk or van. If you visit a winery, you won’t have to limit your purchases to one or two bottles. You could ultimately buy two bottles of your five favorite flavors and even bring back a few more as gifts.
Find alternate travel destinations
You might arrive at your intended destination and find that you don’t enjoy the place. If you travel there in a plane or train, you’d pretty much be stuck there until the date of your return ticket. No vacation should ever have to be a gamble like this.
If you take the trip on your own set of wheels, you might find places along the way where you’ll have loads of fun. If you get to your destination and find yourself dissatisfied with the accommodations, attractions and scenery, you could easily turn back to the stopover place you liked better and spend your vacation there instead. Alternatively, you could point to some intriguing spot on the map beyond your destination and try your luck there. Whichever way you decide to handle the situation, road-tripping gives you more ways to make the most of your precious money and vacation time.
Cut your travel costs
Flying is a costly way to travel. Unless you are going overseas or traveling thousands of miles across a continent, flying might not be prudent. Instead, you could easily save money and enjoy a lot more sites on your trip by driving to your vacation spot. If you travel by van or with a trailer, food and gas expenses could be the extent of your travel necessities. Any other money you spend would be up to you, whether you want to splurge on souvenirs, deserts or amusement park rides.
There’s simply a lot more fun and opportunities to be had when you choose road tripping as your way of travel.
