late in the summer/early fall, i will apply for a work abroad program in new zealand. if i am rejected, then i thought i could spend about 1 month traveling in the mayan areas of mexico. i really want to see the ruins of chichen itza and palenque. but another possibility is an extended road trip. the idea crosses my mind once in awhile but i never seriously considered it. i decided to create a basic road trip plan. this was spawned by coming across greyhound's website. they offer passes of various date lengths. it seemed very costly to me. sure i wouldn't have to drive but i still have to pay for getting around each city i visit and greyhound might not allow me to see everything i want to see. trekking around this way may be too draining for me. since i would road trip with a friend, the joint costs of our passes would be outrageous. i wanted to know how much it would cost to travel around the same length of time by car.

my road trip template (for 2 people):

• drive for 300 miles, slightly more or less depending on circumstance, so as not to get too tired and to absorb attractions on the way
• spend 2 days in the destination area to check out the local things to do and/or side trips
• budget with frugality
  • try to stay in cheap motels, $50 or less
  • try not to spend more than $50 per day for food
  • an allowance of $20 per destination for entrance fees for museums/natural wonders/etc.
  • an allowance of $100 per destination for misc. spending (parking, souvenirs, unforeseen costs, vehicle maintenance, cyber cafes)
• document the trip with lots of pictures/video/journal
• have fun, let loose, try new things, be up for anything

i then came up with a basic route i would like to travel: drive north to canada, drive east a little bit, drive south all the way back down, then head west to return home. major spots to cover along the way: seattle & vancouver for the northern destinations, four corners & the grand canyon for the south-easterly destinations. (i know it's the southwest but those attractions are east of where i live.)

at first i thought about a trip departing from santa cruz and ending in LA. this would work for when i move back down to LA but it's just not practical. this is a 1 month trip, at least. so then i started thinking about leaving from LA and what i would like to see from that starting point. there is so much of california i have not seen that i would like to drive along the eastern part of the state and see all the geophysical natural wonders. i live on the western part. it's beautiful but i should experience something different--not travel the coast in search of the most beautiful, which is probably what i would end up doing.

once i had considered all these factors, i started to look up major attractions in the areas i wanted to travel to and came up with the following route.

even though it's a very expensive (for me) road trip, the total cost of gas would be hundreds of dollars less than 2 greyhound passes valid for 60 days. unless the car needs a major repair, a self-driven road trip would be much cheaper than a bus road trip. i think it would be more exciting too. costs would be less if driving a hybrid car and staying at hostels where available, although it's not exactly enticing. once i realized the total cost of such an endeavor, i realized this is something i can't do until i'm in my mid-30s. i've got other foreign travel goals to complete before any domestic road trips can begin.