When considering traveling anytime, always plan your trip. This helps you by know what direction(s) you plan to travel, fuel stops, hotels, attractions. Also know how you plan to travel. You can take a passenger airliner, a bus, an RV, train or the good ole' family station wagon just like the Griswold’s. Just kidding!
Trip Planning 101
If driving your own vehicle or if you rent a vehicle, plan every foot of your trip. I cannot stress this enough. If driving your personal vehicle it is a good idea to get a complete tune-up & fluid change. Check all your car's fuses, lamps, wipers and most importantly, have your tires and brakes checked. America's mountains are treacherous on brakes & your transmission. It would also be knowledgeable about your auto insurance and what it cover in lieu of breakdown. If renting a vehicle, be smart and use their insurance and not your own. If an accident occurs with your auto insurance, your premiums will skyrocket. Just map out your fuel stops, night stops and any other stops along the way. If you choose to travel by rail, this is a good idea as trains travel through the most beautiful county side and in many train stations are railroad museums & libraries that inform you on the history of that railroad. If you choose to travel by bus, I would reconsider.
Plan Ahead to Make Your Experience More Enjoyable
Sometimes it's a long ride between stops and this is bad if you get hungry or have to use the restroom, unless you choose to brave the restroom on the bus. I do not advise that. Going down the road a bus gets tossed around. Enough said! If you choose to fly, this is also a good choice for travel if you want to get there fast, but you have to consider extra baggage fees, same as buses & trains. Also, you must consider rental car fees and/or taxi/shuttle fees after your plane lands at your destination airport. The fact of lost luggage will be in the back of your head the whole flight because if your luggage gets lost, you have some unplanned shopping to do. Take all these into consideration when trip planning. Make sure to carry along a GPS for traveling roadways that the map doesn't show. Be sure to pack a weather radio, flashlights, first aid kit(s), cellular phones & chargers. Don't forget the roadside emergency kit (reflective triangles, flares).
Personalize Your Trip
If you choose to drive your own personal vehicle or rental car for long periods of time be cautious as you will become extremely tired. Stop for a break and stretch your legs. Be wary of traffics alerts from text alerts, digital roadway message boards and radio broadcasts. You may also want to avoid inner city driving by taking bypasses, especially during rush hour. A bypass route is usually twice as long as driving directly through the inner city, but with traffic congestion being a factor, a bypass is less stressful. Along the way, if you're unfamiliar with the area you can use the internet as well as your GPS to find specific POI's, hotels, restaurants and other attractions.
Travel Can Be Efficient
Traveling major interstates and highways is a great idea due to all of the rest areas, picnic areas and DOT Weigh Scales allows take bathroom breaks & snack stops. Yes, even the weigh stations have restrooms and in an emergency, there are officers in the scale houses a majority of the time.
Always have a plan for Roadside Assistance, as you never know when the next breakdown is likely to occur. Something as simple as a flat tire is a simple fix, just remember to load a spare before you leave, or purchase one. Tow trucks are expensive and are very expensive after hours.
Bonus Tip
A point to remember when traveling is that odd numbered highways and interstates run North & South. Even numbered highways and interstates run East & West.
