I've been on several trips, but no more than 10 hours from home and had the same hotel/cabin for the entire trip, so I never really bothered tracking the finances. I'd like to go to Yellowstone this year and will be traveling for two weeks, staying at different hotels every night and splitting the rooms with a buddy. I was planning on about $200 per day for total expenses. Does that sound reasonable? Any other tips?

 

Should be more than enough if you are just talking about gas, lodging and food. I figure on an average of 30 per day for food, 25 for gas figuring 300 miles per day at 40 MPG and 3.00 per gallon. Then I average about 75 per night for a room. But I don't stay at the 4 Seasons.


Bill

 

Put as much as you can on a credit card. I get great cash back from Chase and Cap One, plus I can really see how much I spent in one statement at the end of the month. Also reduces the amount of cash that I need to carry. Safer to keep your cash in the bank.

 

My wife and I do it with two bikes and it comes out around $200-$250 per day (combined). It really just depends on the area you are traveling. Some areas are very limited on lodging and the room rates are higher. If we are traveling in areas with larger cites (50K-100K people), I will bid using Priceline on the day we need the room and have been fortunate to get 4 star rooms for $60-$75 per night (of course if it does not work, we end up in some questionable places...which always makes for a good story later...LOL). For meals we look for local places that are not national chains and most times get meals for $10 per plate or less.

So with splitting with a buddy, I see no reason why $200 per day would not cover you.

 

Sounds about right, I spent 28 consecutive days on the road last year with my wife and we averaged 242.00 per day and stayed in hotels each night. Take howitzers advice and use your credit card, cuts down on worrying about your cash. Enjoy your ride

 

rooms closer to big touristy areas.... yellowstone etc... may be a bit more. $100 plus. More secluded areas often less so. There was a thread about how to find reasonable rooms a few months ago. Search it up. Most crossroads of major highways have hotels. Point??? Cheaper but nice rooms are out there.

 

High for me. Always use points for hotel stays so no money out for that

 

food $$
on the budget, we had good luck with hitting one good restaurant meal a day. Whatever your habits, adjust to... but we carried snacks or something light for evening and usually hit a good meal for lunch. That helps keep way down in $. Even a McDollars stop can be $$ anymore for 2 folks.

Longer ride days often deviated from this plan. Hit a couple of meals sometimes for a break as much as grub. You may want a big breakfast, light lunch....whatever

And of course one must stop at the famous spots

 

On a 22 day trip last year.
TRIP FROM EAST COAST, TO WEST COAST AND BACK.
22 DAYS AND 8,350 MILES

Hotel Information



$109.24 Comfort Inn Tuscaloosa, AL 5-24-14

$ 64.96 Comfort Inn Terrell, TX 5-25-14

$175.62 Comfort Inn Pecos, TX 5-26-14

$ 78.74 Comfort Inn Lordsburg, NM 5-27-14

$ 89.27 Days Inn Globe, AZ 5-28-14

$108.50 Best Western Cottonwood, AZ 5-29-14

$280.50 Comfort Inn Williams, AZ (2 nights) 5-30,31-14

$ 75.94 Sleep Inn Barstow, CA 6-1-14

$ 84.67 Comfort Inn San Luis Obispo, CA 6-2-14

$102.64 Comfort Inn Monterey, CA 6-3-14

$155.71 Hampton Inn Truckee, CA 6-4-14

$138.74 Days Inn Oakhurst, CA 6-5-14

$107.91 Comfort Inn Vasalia, CA 6-6-14

$ 90.72 Virgin River Casino Mesquite, NV (2 nights) 6-7,8-14

$113.19 Comfort Inn Kanab,UT 6-9-14

$224.36 Hampton Inn Kayenta, AZ 6-10-14

$ 96.56 Comfort Inn Santa Rosa, NM 6-11-14

$ 54.85 Interstate Inn Rolannd, OK 6-12-14

$103.14 Cookeville, TN 6-13-14



Total $2,255.26 Divided by two equals $1,127.63



My Expenses

Gas $ 766.81

Hotel ½ $1,127.63

Cash $675.00

C. Card $108.23

Total $ 2,677.67 Average per day $121.71

 

Wow, now that's a detailed report! Thank you. I'm assuming the cash & cc were food and miscellaneous?