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N@vigate
road trip resources
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The following is a list of resources which we have used on when planning our road trips. We've saved our best money saving tips and advice for our downloadable road trips but here's some useful info to get you started....... Presumably, you've decided which part of the world you wish to visit - and that can be a challenge in itself! Once you've done this, it's best to list the places you want to visit first, then determine the most suitable route to take. Check whether a circuitous route can taken. By taking a round trip, this will considerably reduce costs than if you have to fly in and out of a different airport and the also the hefty increase in charges for one-way car hire. Guide books are often useful to find out the key sights in an area and I would use them as a guide only - remember they can't cover everything! Recommendations would be Lonely Planet series, Rough Guides, Moon Handbooks and the bible of all road trips - Road Trip USA by Jamie Jenson. You can find out more about this book by clicking HERE. This book focuses on offbeat destinations and sticks to highways and historic routes in the US rather than the interstates network. Once you have selected your start and end points, you'll need to determine how long you will be travelling between locations. One of the best resources for this is Map Quest which in recent years has been surpassed by Google maps. If you are planning a road trip to Australia then www.travelmate.com.au has a useful distance/driving time calculator. Once you have worked out how long you will need, take the plunge and purchase your flights. If you are flying to the US then return flights to the USA always fall considerably in September rather than August and even further if you travel in October. Expect the summer months to be the most expensive period for flights. The three companies I use the most are Expedia, Lastminute.com and Kayak.com. Once you have booked your flights, I would always advise booking your first nights accommodation.
This will save
a great deal of hassle with immigration officials as they will demand to know your first place of stay.
It will also make things easier for you knowing where you first hotel or motel will be.
Car hire rates can vary significantly between companies. In my experience
Budget and Dollar via
Net Flights
have been pretty good. Generally I book direct with the company although
brokers such as carhire3000.com
sometimes have bargains. If you didn't see our
favourite websites on the home page, here are some websites that we have found
useful when planning our trips:
1. Save yourself plenty of $$$$$ if your travelling across the Eastern US with online coupons for accommodation: 2. Cheap one way car rental relocations are available in Australia through this company: 3. Useful resource for planning a trip in Australia - check out the map section to get directions and calculate duration and distances! 4.
Planning a trip to Laos? Take a fantastic road trip through this
amazing country. Book your hotels at www.laoshotelrooms.com |