Travel Costs

It would be interesting to know if there is a place or person that prints what the costs are of longer extended trips truly cost. I have a feeling that they are less than we think and would help people to take extended trips.

Most of my trips are 3 weeks or shorter, but it's pretty easy to calculate fuel costs based on miles to and from destinations plus side trips, food is fairly easy too unless you dine out alot. Entertainment...well that one's kinda hard to figure. Campsite fee's also can have a big range depending on the amenities. I'm sure I'm missing some expense's, but we usually have it down pretty close before we leave.

I do not yet have experience with extended trip costs. However, I have done planning for our first such adventure next year. Here are my budget projections as they stand now:

Item Unit $/Unit # Units Trip Expense Notes
Camp Site Night $20.00 98 $1,960 Senior Access Pass & Mil Campgrounds
Fuel Towing Miles $0.32 4700 $1,490 (1/12.6)$4.00=0.317
Food Days $7.50 98 $735
Entertainment Weeks $100.00 14 $1,400
Truck Maint. $200.00 1 $200
Camper Maint. $500.00 1 $500
Internet Months $0.00 4 $0 Tether on Blackberry
Satellite TV Months $35.00 4 $140
Total $6,425
Averages:
Week 14 $459 $6,425
Month 4 $1,606 $6,425

I hope this is helpful.

Glen,
I'm interested in how you are going to eat on $7.50 per day. Is this for 2 people?

Do you have your route all planned so that you can stay in Military Campgrounds or use your Senior Pass almost every night? If you are in the D/FW area, I can give you directions to some COE campgrounds - also the one in the Shreveport area that I reported on in Campground Reviews.

Tater

Tater,
We (DW and I) will mostly eat at the campsite. Our breakfasts are usually a bowl of cereal, lunch is a cold meat sandwich and we cook on our campfire for the evening. This might be a bit low, but if I make it $10/day it only adds about $150 to the trip. We cook a lot from scratch, not much prepared foods or dining out. If we plan more dining out I would increase the Entertainment budget or add a Restaurants category.

This trip is through AL, FL, GA, SC, NC, VA, and MD with a two day jump back to MN at the end. I have looked at the route and do think we can be in Military or Senior Pass campsites almost all the time. We are discussing being at WDW for a bit so if we go into FW that will change things some I know.

WDW would certainly change things. Some of that depends on the time of year. Summertime or holidays would be the most expensive. You'll probably want to try out some of the WDW restaurants, but cooking many meals at home is a good idea.

I highly recommend staying at Fort Wilderness. Last time we were there (January), we were using some old 5-day passes that each had 3 days remaining. We were there about 13-14 days, and were very satisfied going into the parks just 3 days..... we enjoy Fort Wilderness that much!

Tater

Glen,

Where you gonna be in MD???

oldelmer1 wrote:Glen,

Where you gonna be in MD???

I have two daughters (one with her own family) living just west of Baltimore and another in northern VA. Should be in the area in May '12. The youngest daughter gets her MSN from Johns Hopkins the Friday before Memorial Day. We will head back to MN the day after Memorial Day (it will be nice to avoid holiday traffic).

If I remember correctly you are NE of Baltimore, is that correct? Maybe we can arrange to meet up; I sure would like that.