Sometimes, I’m not as concerned about a specific destination as I am with just getting away. For this trip, I just wanted to get outdoors and keeping the budget low was a top priority.
Overall, the 4 day/4 night trip cost just over $500. No points or rebates were used for this trip. I was able to visit the Mojave National Preserve, Death Valley National Park, Alabama Hills and Zion National Park. As usual, I was always on the move passing through California, Nevada, Arizona and Utah as I drove 1,272 miles. Given the short days, I was able to do most of the driving at night. This trip wouldn’t be ideal for most but it was exactly the type of getaway I was hoping for.
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Car Cost – $280
Car costs really added up on this trip. I hadn’t planned to drive so extensively but took advantage of my flexibility as the trip progressed. Unfortunately, the drive to Mojave National Preserve didn’t pay off. When I woke in the morning the area was entirely covered in fog. I quickly abandoned it as I didn’t appear it would clear anytime soon. This created time to travel to Zion National Park at the end of the trip. By booking on Cyber Monday, the car rental itself only cost $93. Gas prices in California shocked me, being more than double that of where I live. This contributed to $132 of the cost. The remaining $56 was due to parking fees on the Las Vegas Strip and an offsite lot at the Atlanta Airport.
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Airfare – $87
For this trip, I made the 2 hour drive to Atlanta for my flight. Combined with the use of a Veterans Day promo code, this saved me a couple hundred dollars versus departing my home city. My flight was direct on Frontier Airlines. Frontier does tack on a substantial fee if you have checked or carryon baggage. This fee would have nearly doubled the ticket price. To avoid it, I left my tent at home and decided to lay down the cars back seats and sleep there. Doing this, I was able to (barely) fit everything in a “personal item” which is limited to 8″ x 14″ x 18″.
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Activities – $84
National Park fees of $70 were responsible for most of these cost. I also purchased a couple of drinks during my short time in Las Vegas.
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Food – $81
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Accomodations – $28
Sometimes, I’m not as concerned about a specific destination as I am with just getting away. For this trip, I just wanted to get outdoors and keeping the budget low was a top priority.
Every trip doesn’t have to be a dream vacation. For me it’s the escape from the everyday routine that’s really important. I had a few vacation days that would be lost at year’s end, so, I began to explore low cost options. My planning started by searching for an affordable flight. My favorite resource for this is Kayak’s Explore page. You’ll be able to choose your airport and filter destinations by price. Given the time of year, only a few locations were ideal for a solo outdoors trip. I settled on Las Vegas as the surrounding area featured a number of outdoor opportunities.
Overall, the 4 day/4 night trip cost just over $500. No points or rebates were used for this trip. I was able to visit the Mojave National Preserve, Death Valley National Park, Alabama Hills and Zion National Park. As usual, I was always on the move passing through California, Nevada, Arizona and Utah as I drove 1,272 miles. Given the short days, I was able to do most of the driving at night. This trip wouldn’t be ideal for most but it was exactly the type of getaway I was hoping for.
%
Car Cost – $280
Car costs really added up on this trip. I hadn’t planned to drive so extensively but took advantage of my flexibility as the trip progressed. Unfortunately, the drive to Mojave National Preserve didn’t pay off. When I woke in the morning the area was entirely covered in fog. I quickly abandoned it as I didn’t appear it would clear anytime soon. This created time to travel to Zion National Park at the end of the trip. By booking on Cyber Monday, the car rental itself only cost $93. Gas prices in California shocked me, being more than double that of where I live. This contributed to $132 of the cost. The remaining $56 was due to parking fees on the Las Vegas Strip and an offsite lot at the Atlanta Airport.
%
Airfare – $87
For this trip, I made the 2 hour drive to Atlanta for my flight. Combined with the use of a Veterans Day coupon code, this saved me a couple hundred dollars versus departing my home city. My flight was direct on Frontier Airlines. Frontier does tack on a substantial fee if you have checked or carryon baggage. This fee would have nearly doubled the ticket price. To avoid it, I left my tent at home and decided to lay down the cars back seats and sleep there. Doing this, I was able to (barely) fit everything in a “personal item” which is limited to 8″ x 14″ x 18″.
%
Activities – $84
National Park fee of $70 were responsible for most of these cost. I also purchased a couple of drinks during my short time in Las Vegas.
%
Food – $81
I could have nearly eliminated this category if I had stuck to cooking my own camp meals. However, I enjoyed some regional food. Functionally, this did allow me to keep a busy schedule by not have to stop and cook.
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Accomodations – $28
As it turns out, sleeping in your car is cheap. I paid for campgrounds twice, staying for free for the remainder. Overall, by choosing a car with mostly lie flat back seats and using a camping mattress, I was quite comfortable at night. Being in the car was an advantage a couple of nights as the sites were otherwise quite windy.