Transportation:
This was a great lesson in seizing opportunities as they arise. Gas is cheap right now. Like, really cheap. Those savings really add up over the course of 2,000 miles. Also, we fit a lot of stuff into one car. We had four humans plus their duffel bags, backpacks, sleeping bags, and food in one PT Cruiser. We packed light on the duffel bag/backpack front, which allowed us to fit four people in the car. Splitting gas between four vs. three people/ not taking two cars also led to added savings.
Food:
We spent the most money on food. It's hard to do food on the cheap when you're traveling because you're forced to eat out at restaurants rather than out of your parents' pantry. We kept our food costs under $15 a day by bringing a lot of food with us. We had supplies for PB and honey sandwiches and pancakes as well as fruit, crackers, chips, granola bars, cereal, etc etc. We also had something like 12 water bottles in the car that we constantly refilled. Eating out sparingly and not buying drinks saved us a TON of money. I'd estimate that it saved us a good $15 a day or $105 total. Considering it was a $235 trip, that's huge. It also saved us time, allowing us to eat on the go when we felt like it. We splurged (and by splurged, I mean poor college student splurged) on a few nice meals and called it good.
Accommodations:
The golden order of accommodation searching: 1) Friends and acquaintances 2) Couchsurfing 3) Airbnb
We spent almost nothing on accommodations. Let me lead with this, though- Staying with friends and couchsurfing should be done with the sincere intent of spending time with friends, meeting new people, and exploring somewhere new through the experiences of someone else. No one likes the mooch simply looking for a free place to stay. The freeness was sincerely appreciated though. I could go on for pages regarding the generosity we experienced on this trip. I'll save a little of that for the daily posts, though. Just know that world really is full of fun, generous people!
Airbnb is awesome. I will never stay in a hotel again. You can rent entire homes or apartments for cheaper than a hotel, and you get the added benefit of wifi and kitchen. We saved some money here by having everyone sign up for a new account through an invitation I sent them from my account. This gave us two $25 credits. We each saved $12.50 which was cool.
Entertainment:
We got a Redbox in Lincoln City, Or and went to a garden in Vancouver. That's the only entertainment we spent money on. Since our time was so limited in each place, we were mostly seeing the sights and landmarks. I personally love museums and shows and things like that, but there simply wasn't time for that during a trip like this. In the end, that also saved a ton of money. Also, we had each other, and that was entertainment enough. We honestly could not have had more fun enjoying the gorgeous coastal hikes or simply walking around the various towns and cities we visited.
In the end, there were no really ground breaking travel hacks. The little things really do add up, though! As my final point of discussion, I'd like to point out that we planned this whole thing as we went. We bought food at midnight the night before we left. We found accommodations like two-three days in advance. We never knew what we were going to do in a place until we got there. There are several lessons in there. 1) You can get in a car and head for the border and things will have a way of working themselves out. You won't starve to death, sleep outside, or be bored. Smart phones are a beautiful thing. 2) There is still value in planning. Planning ALWAYS saves you money. We could have possibly spent less on food and accommodations had we planned better. This rule tends to apply more toward flights and trains and things like that, though. Planning ahead also allows you to give more of heads up to the people you hope to impose on. Seriously, THANK YOU to our various hosts.
All we need is each other.
And a PT Cruiser.
