Where do you want to go? How many kilometers? How many days? What's your budget? How much you going to spend? What do you want to visit? It's free? What the essentials you should bring? Where you going to sleep ? What you are going to eat?
Well, this are some questions you have to know the answer if you're planning an adventure on the road. All these questions and answers have to be aligned. For example, you not be able to go far if you have no money for diesel. Or, you are going to spend a lot of money if you always stay in hotels. How many friends should join? Remember, we are explaning for two people. So we suggest you that you follow these tips:
First you have to think about where you want to go! It's possible? How many days do you have? Let's see an example: We live in Lisbon, Portugal and we decided to go to Pula in Croatia. we just have 15 days of vacation, from 1 until 21 of June 2017. Thats gives me 21 days with the weekends. It's possible? Yes! Good! Now how many kilometers? About 2900Km = total 5800Km , so how much money we have ? How much money we gonna need? We have a van with a diesel engine! We make about 1000Km with one diesel tank. So we're going to need 6 diesel tank. If 1L of diesel is about 1,20€ and our van tank is 55L (55L x 1,20€) we'll need 66€ to fill up one tank. As we need 6 tanks, the total we'll need is 396€ just for diesel.
Now that you have a destination, you can begin to trace the route that you will do. You can use this TripIt App or Maps.Me App. You can see the route passes through Madrid, Zaragoza, Barcelona, Montpellier, Marseille, Nice, Genoa, Venice, and Pula. Now I'll count how many days I'll stay on each city. Imagine 2 days on each city and 3 days to come back. Perfectly fine!
Now you have to decide what you going to visit. Do you love big cities? Do you love the nature? When you get to a big city, first thing we recomend is take a map on tourist office! They're free and depending on the time you spend in the city, the receptionist will indicate which places to visit. Sure you can make it on your own but remember, you only have a few days. Choose wisely, it's very easy to get lost in a big city. Remember always where you put the car!
The night is coming. What do you want to do? Spend the night in a hotel, AirBnB, or camping park?We prefer nature, as natural parks or beaches, of course we like to visit the great urban centers, but when we are on holiday all we want is peace. So if you have a van like ours it is difficult to sleep in a big city. Usually there are parks for caravans and vans but they are quite expensive. We suggest you always look for locations outside the major cities using Park4night App. Just an advice: Always look for a good rating spot. Never sleep alone in a park. Even if you have to drive a few more kilometers. Choose places where exist caravans. Speak with the caravan people, ask them if they don't mind that you sleep next to them. You security is very important and you don't want your vacation ruined. If you sleep 21 days on the van, you're going to save a lots of money. But I recommend sleep 3 nights in the van, 1 night in a camping/AirBnb/hotel so you can take a hot bath, wash you clothes, and take a good rest in a mattress. Let's make some math. You stay 6 nights in a different hotel/camping. Each one costs about 45€ (6days x 45€) The total you will need is 270€.
Now let's talk about what you should take on the trip! We already made a post about the Essentials for a long Road Trip, go check them! Basically if you don't forget these objects you'll enjoy an adventure on the road.
Let's talk about meals! Do you like to eat? We too. So if you want to make a roadtrip and you don't have much money, or don't want to spent to much, we recomend you a restricted and healty diet. Fruit is cheap and healty like vegetables. You can also cook pastas and make some sandwiches. Don't forget to bring your Italian coffee maker (moka pot). There's no mornings without your coffee! So food and drinks, souvenirs and museums (remember most of museums have a free hour to enter) you gonna need 25€/day for two making a total of 500€
In total you will need:
Diesel 396€
Sleep 270€
Food 500€
TOTAL of 1166€ to make a roadtrip of 21 days from Lisbon to Croatia.
If you don't forget all these points, we are sure it will be an unforgettable trip!
Let us know your plans. We can share some thoughts and ideas!
Enjoy your road trip.
Awesome! Great work!
ReplyDelete