Below 2000 dollar budget Cross Country Road Trip:

Have you ever thought about how much it would cost to travel cross country and explore 21 states in the USA for two people on a budget? If you answered yes, then this post is for you. It cost my husband and I below 2000 dollar budget for a cross country trip

Before my husband and I decided on a below 2000 dollar cross country trip, we did a lot of research. We researched the average hotel costs in the different states, food prices, the average gas price for each state, and the appropriate fuel-efficient car, etc.

Hotel Search

First, we used hotel.com for all of our hotel bookings. This was a great idea because, after 10 bookings, you get a free stay for the average price you paid initially. For each state on our map, we looked for hotels with at least 3.5-star google ratings. We weren’t going for 5-star hotels because most of our nights during the trip were short and we needed about 5-8 hours of rest then continue driving. The average price of our hotel was $66. 

Car Type

Fortunately, I have a Honda Civic. My Honda at the time only had 30k mileage. My husband had a BMW, so we calculated the mile per gallon for both cars. This was a no brainer, the HONDA won. Now you may ask, couldn’t we have rented a car? The answer is yes. 

By doing so, you avoid the wear and tear of the car. However, being that we were on a strict budget, the best option was to use one of our cars. At the time, enterprise quoted 50 dollars a day for 14 days, which would have cost us $700 plus taxes and other fees. By using my Honda Civic, we saved that amount and next was to plan how much money we needed for gas.

Budget For Gas

Since we knew my car had an average of 30 miles per gallon, we did the simple math of how many gallons needed for the total trip mileage. We then multiplied that number by the price per gallon.  The value was $250. By the end of the two weeks, we spent $213 on gas. This may sound too good to be true, but think about it, most of the driving was on the highway, thus less gas usage. 

Food Pricing

We knew we would drive for extremely long hours, so we wanted to make sure we didn’t stop every time we were hungry. So we budgeted $70 for snacks for the road and treated ourselves to 3 dinners during the entire 14 days trip. 

We went to Costco the week before to buy snacks filled with high-calorie intake. Belvita (link) was my favorite. It has 230 calories and 1 pack can fill you up for a good 2 hours (at least for me). We also bought peanut butter, chips, soda, juice, and almonds, etc. We had an old ice chest which we filled with ice to keep the beverages cool until our next hotel stop to fill it with more ice.  

Sticking to Food Budget

Because of how massive our snack list was, we only stopped 5 times during the entire trip to buy food. And our go-to food on the road was subway which was very cost-efficient. Most of our unplanned stops were because of the need for gas and restroom breaks.  Overall we spent $300 on food including the $70 for snacks during the entire trip, and we were still able to eat at some famous restaurants especially in New Orleans, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas.

We also made sure all the hotels we picked and booked had free breakfast. This approach was cost-effective, not only did we save money on breakfast, but we were always satisfied each morning before a long drive.

National Parks

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Luckily if you plan your budget friendly cross country trip accordingly, you can visit as many national parks as long as it makes sense for your planned route. We purchased an annual pass for $80. The amount covers up to 3 individuals in a car. The amazing part is, all the parks are free for children under 15 years old. If you are a current US military, you and all your dependents can also enter the parks for free. 

Some of the National parks we visited were the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, Rocky Mountain, Yosemite, Carlsbad Caverns, and Death Valley National Park. If your goal is to visit all the national parks within 12 months, just know you can do all for $80 while visiting over 2000 national parks and recreational areas.  For your convenience, you can get the annual pass here 

California

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California was the most expensive state. Our standard typical 3.5-star hotel costs upwards of $120, which is above the average hotel price we budgeted. Due to the high hotel cost, we had to be strategic on the things to do. Besides universal studios which cost us 200 dollars, everywhere we visited in California was free. It was free to explore the Griffith Observatory, the Hollywood sign, the Golden Gate Bridge, Hollywood stars, rodeo drive for window shopping (we can’t afford all that expensive stores) and Beverly Hills to check our some famous people homes. We also visited most of the beaches including Venice Beach and Santa Monica Pier.  

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Buying Souvenirs

For every single state, we stopped at the welcome center to buy keychains, magnets, etc for our loved ones. It cost a total of 60 dollars.

Good Perks

This less than 2000 dollar cross country trip was indeed one of a kind. The best thing about the route we chose was the many sight-seeings which cost little to $0. Most of the sightseeings in LA, San Francisco, and Las Vegas were all free. Due to the strict budget, we stayed on course and made sure to not get carried away.

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