How to Choose Your Next Road Trip

Road Trips are the best way to get to know the geography around you, have the opportunity to talk to locals, and learn about new places along the way. I've found many different museums, parks, and cool non-touristy off-the-radar areas I wouldn't have noticed if I had not taken a road trip.

---

Road Trips are Economical

The great thing about road trippin' is that you can easily fall within your budget when you aren't flying or renting a car. Flying and car rentals can be significant expenses on your trip. Consider, too, that you can bring as many foods, drinks, and snacks that your car space allows. Bringing your own food also substantially lowers the expense of your trip by reducing the amount of eating out. 

And, of course, when you're gluten-free, you are at least guaranteed to be able to survive if you're bringing food with you because, seriously, being sick on vacation is right up there with having bad hair on your wedding day.

How to Choose Your Road Trip Location

When you choose your road trip, you must use a backward design. If you're unfamiliar with the term, backward design is a way to create a path using your goal in mind. Starting with your goal, in this case, a location, direct your route from A to B with your end goal in mind.

With a road trip, you want to consider what type of car you are driving when considering your land destination. Make sure your vehicle is equipped to handle the road type, road conditions, and know the seasonal conditions before you decide on a location for your road trip.

You'll also want to consider the weather at the location you are headed for and what type of weather you want to visit. If you are planning your trip in summer and you want to get out of the heat, make sure to go north to a cooler location. Many times, I head for California as I'm only a 12-hour drive, and the weather is similar year-round. Cali is sunny, mild, and beautiful every time I've been there. Haven't had to worry about crazy weather or road conditions with one exception - Donner's Pass. 

​Another way to choose your next road trip is merely finding a destination you've read about in a magazine, fall in love, and decide to go to that location. I've also watched a video or seen a picture of the destination, which then gets printed up and placed on my vision board.

---

How to Plan Your Road Trip

I discovered PCH, Pacific Coast Highway while reading Sunset magazine. It's one of my favorite travel magazines by far. Exploring US 1 on the Pacific Coast was literally life-changing (you know you're a travel junkie when a scenic byway changes your life). Also, I realized that part of the highway I had been traveling on for an extended weekend vacation to central California, was but a small piece of a road which reached from southern Cali to Washington State coastline.

Living in Utah makes the entire western US very accessible for road trips. The downside is it makes the Northeast extremely more daunting to plan. I generally choose road trips in the west half of the US because 1. It's geographically accessible within a 12-hour drive 2. There are many different types of road trips, locations, experiences on the west that I haven't delved into as of yet.

​Pick what you want, base your trip using your destination city or location, and what you love, plan it out and do it. The only thing that is stopping you from experiencing the vacation of your dreams is yourself :)