How to plan a road trip route. Overview of travel planning services Who plans car routes how

The best time of the year has come, which each of us has been looking forward to. Summer warm days relax citizens and give them a state of bliss. Many of us take another vacation in the summer months to specifically take a break from work. Some of us buy vouchers to resorts, someone spends the whole vacation at the dacha, but a large number of people, as usual, are planning to go on a personal trip.

But to our regret, many of those who plan that their long-distance trip will be exciting and ideal end up with not very pleasant situations, namely, grueling trials that fall on their heads on a long road trip. We invite our readers (motorists) to familiarize themselves with some good advice on roadside assistance, which should help you navigate your car in a relaxed atmosphere and without any unpleasant problems.

Plan your route.

Even if you know your upcoming route accurately and confidently, you still have to plan it in advance, thus providing for all the options for detours in case of repair of a road or in the event of an accident that can block the road for a long time. which you are going to drive. Thus, you simply avoid many hours of standing in the traffic jam created as a result. If you are going on a long trip across Russia or the CIS countries, you can look at Yandex Maps just before leaving in order to track all possible obstacles that you may meet on your way. It should be noted right away that all kinds of road blockages can be determined from the map. You can also freely go to the website of the State Corporation "Avtodor", which publishes operational data on the state of the country's main highways, as well as on the repair of roads and their overlaps.

Planning your trip in advance will save you a lot of time. You can also use Google maps for route planning, which, like Yandex maps, will help you plan your trip with predefined detour routes, with places of your future stops, with multiple cafes, restaurants, hotels, gas stations, etc. destinations.

Any of the motorists setting off on the road can also download various applications for themselves on their smartphone or tablet, which can be very useful to them during long journeys.

Going on the road, you must also look at the weather forecasts, especially in those regions through which you have to travel, and of course in the settlement that you will have is the final point of the route. You can also install a special application on your smartphone that will help you to find out the weather forecast on the road in any place you need. (For iPhone).

Treat all difficulties with optimism.

If during a trip in the heat you nevertheless got (got) into an unforeseen multi-kilometer traffic jam, then try not to worry and not reproach yourself for this, namely for the fact that your vacation starts so badly. You do not eat with a work trip and are afraid to be late for negotiations (?), You eat specifically to rest and in fact you have started that long-awaited vacation. Just enjoy this time from the heart and no matter what the circumstances.

If on your way there are traffic jams associated with the same repair of roads or bridges, then do not worry about this and try to be distracted by any extraneous topic, do not fill your head with temporary circumstances. For example, at this moment you can start photographing interesting signs or bridges being repaired that have fallen into your review, you can photograph unusual names of settlements, or much more that arouses your interest. These photos will not allow you to associate your car trip with the negative to the very place of rest.

The main thing is friends do not rush, thus trying to arrive at their destination as quickly as possible. Why it is pointless - you can read here. It is much more pleasant to travel slowly and unhurriedly, when you are not worried about how long it takes you to get to your place of rest. All this is useless, believe me.

Have a budget that you have prepared for your vacation.

When planning the material side of the matter, how much money you need to take with you for travel and for recreation, lay in a slightly larger amount of funds in advance, since, as already established, in any case, you are unlikely to meet this planned amount. Plus, when traveling by car, you must set aside a certain amount for unplanned expenses that will be associated with visiting the same cafe, restaurant, the same interesting places such as museums, shops, etc. places. In addition to all this, you friends should always remember that the car can simply break down on the way, and this can result in a waste of money for you. Dear motorists, friends, travelers, we invite you to make a specific calculation of your (your) budget using this calculator. In order to translate the page for review, you must use the "Chrome" Internet browser, which can automatically translate English text into Russian.

But, if you have already moved far from home and started spending your planned budget, and you are also not afraid that upon arrival at the resting place you will no longer have enough of this money due to unforeseen expenses on the road, then it does not matter, you You can reduce (cut) your friends' spending on vacation while traveling a little, using a few tips for this:

Look for ways to save money.

If you have stopped for a while on some section of the road, for example, in any settlement you like, then try not to rush to refuel your car on this very day of arrival. It is better to spend the night at the hotel, and refuel at the gas station the next day, having previously found out from the local residents or from the hotel workers where you can refuel your car nearby and cheaper. Thus, it turns out that if you do this several times during your trip, that is, stop for a rest and refuel your car at a cheaper price, then this will certainly help you save a little money.

- Going on the road (if you have such an opportunity) try not to overload your car with unnecessary luggage. The lighter the car is, the less fuel consumption will be. If at a short distance you do not particularly notice such fuel savings, then already at long distances such fuel savings will be significant and more noticeable for you..

When driving on a road trip, when you need to refuel your car, try to choose only large network gas stations, which, as a rule, have a little cheaper fuel than those of the same small and unknown gas stations. In addition, refueling your car at these gas stations reduces your risk of refueling your car with low-quality fuel, which can lead to car breakdown at any time. In addition, all large gas stations are usually equipped with mini-markets where you can buy all the necessary products for yourself, the same water and much more..

... On motorways outside settlements, drive at a speed of 80 - 90 km / h. In settlements, however, no more than 60 km / h. Thus, friends, you will avoid not only unnecessary costs for unnecessary speeding tickets, but also significantly save your costs on the same fuel, since it is established that the higher the speed of the car, the higher the coefficient of air drag, which just leads to increased fuel (fuel) consumption.

Remember friends that when driving in urban conditions you can save up to 5% of fuel, and when driving on the highway, already up to 33% of fuel. Also, try not to use the air conditioner while driving unless absolutely necessary.

Remember friends that the operation of an air conditioner or climate control in a car increases fuel consumption from 1 to 3 liters per 100 kilometers.

Aside from when traveling, the biggest expense is usually the food itself. Despite the fact that you can't save a lot on food, you can somehow cut your expenses a little on this.

Before the trip, buy a car refrigerator and stock up on food that will help you satisfy your hunger, but not spend extra money on snacks in roadside cafes and restaurants.

There are many different food products that do not require special preparation, but they help a person to have a full and good meal on the road.

Try friends not to eat fast food in roadside cafes. This food is not healthy and, moreover, costs a lot of money. And to everything, even after a hearty dinner with such fast food, you will feel hunger again in a few hours.

Eating your own food during the trip saves you time. You will eat whenever and wherever you want. In a cafe, for example, you can wait a long time for food to be prepared for you. And if you hit the road with a small child, then it will be much more valuable for you to put your child to bed than to waste precious time in a roadside cafe.

Make sure the vehicle is ready for a long journey.

A few weeks before your holiday trip. This is important not only for you, but also for the safety of your passengers. After checking your car for serviceability, you will be calm in the future and be sure that it will not let you down somewhere in the middle of the route, when you are far from home, and even more so in an unfamiliar area for you.

In addition, friends, remember that a car in good serviceable technical condition consumes much less fuel than the same unserviceable car, which will also help you save money that can be spent on vacation.

Please make sure that your car has passed all scheduled technical inspections and all necessary work has been carried out on it. If any routine maintenance is not carried out on the car or they will be needed soon and in the near future, then we advise you to carry out such a necessary MOT just in advance.

Also, friends, make sure that during the trip all the necessary and necessary tools and items are in the car, they can be useful to you during the trip. The most important thing for you is that the car must have a pump, a jack, a wheel wrench for changing wheels, a fire extinguisher, a first aid kit, a tow rope, wrenches and, of course, screwdrivers.

Also, before the trip, visit a tire service to check the main wheels and the spare tire itself (spare wheel). If they require some kind of repair, then it is imperative to carry it out.

Put all things right.

You have your own pre-planned travel routes, you have also planned your budget for rest and travel, your car is now ready to conquer the vastness of our vast country. Now is the time to properly put all the travel essentials into the car. Please make sure if you really need all the things you have prepared for the trip. (?) If you are really afraid that you will forget something, then it is better to make a complete list of those items and things that you want to take with you on the road in advance. As you put the necessary items into bags and suitcases, cross the items already put there from the list. We also recommend that you, for your part, divide this list of things into two categories: - Important and necessary. Put the important category of items you need first.

When folding things into travel bags and suitcases, it is also advisable to put there items that may be useful to you during the trip itself, and it is advisable to fold them in such a way that they can be easily reached. The same applies to items of clothing that you may also need during your trip. For example, in the same bad and inclement weather.

And please remember, friends, that you cannot overload the car with unnecessary things, since this overload will certainly affect the same excessive fuel consumption.

Entertain yourself on the road.

As soon as you leave the city and start driving on the highway, immediately be prepared for the fact that the monotony of driving and monotony will lead to boredom, and then to drowsiness and fatigue, which can certainly reduce your concentration. These friends are really dangerous and can lead any driver to a serious accident. Therefore, remember, try to entertain yourself while driving in any way available for this. For example, listen to radio or news programs, you can listen to dynamic music or listen to sports events or business news. If necessary, you can buy yourself a CD with an audio book or download a similar book from the network to a flash card. But don't forget about your passengers, who might not like certain music or something like that. Including, in addition to listening to music or news, you can simply communicate with other passengers on various optimistic topics.

Don't let the kids drive you crazy.

If you are traveling by car with children, then do not let them drive you crazy. Keep them busy. Please remember that children can lose concentration at any time. and the necessary vigilance that could lead you to an accident. Here are some good tips from us to make your trip with children a smooth one:

Going on a long journey by car with children, make sure that the children are busy with something on the road. Prepare some exciting game for them or download one to your smartphone or tablet, you can upload more entertainment programs or games there. Also, do not forget to take magazines and books with you on the road, which may be interesting enough for the child (children).

We all know for sure that many children are very sloppy and sloppy, especially when it comes to food. Therefore, please think in advance about how your child or children will (ut) eat in the car without getting it dirty. For example, prepare special containers and disposable utensils for food, not forgetting about napkins and paper towels..

During a road trip, your task is to keep the child (children) satisfied (s) in order to avoid all kinds of whims that can annoy you at any time. In no case should you get nervous while driving a car. To do this, we will advise you to collect a small bag with various tasty products. As soon as you feel that the child begins to be capricious or mischievous, you can immediately give them this bag. This approach should reassure your child (s), who, for their part, think (s) that he (s) influenced you.

If your child (or children) is small and young, then use the bag where the various sweets should be. As soon as your child (children) begins to behave badly, then invite him (them) to choose from this bag some kind of sweets or cookies. But do not let him (them) take sweets without restriction, so that they will last until the end of the entire trip..

Prepare for the road back.

When it's time to go back home, there are a few things you can do for your part that will certainly help you easily cover the long distance home. Please remember that car safety is the main rule for you. Therefore, before going home. Clean and wash your car. After all, it's not a secret for anyone that after a long trip, the car becomes very dirty, both outside and inside. And there is nothing worse than returning home in a dirty car. Nothing should spoil your impression of travel and rest. In addition, as you know, it is much easier to clean the car before the trip than to do it while stopping somewhere on the highway.

Before the very departure (departure) from the place of rest home, you have to do almost everything that we have reported and written above. Check your route back again for any road blockages. Also check the weather on your way back home. Find out for yourself where you can get cheap fuel on your way back. And also make sure that you have enough money left on the way back.

A trip by car over a long distance, and even more so together with your family or friends, can become for you an exciting and interesting by all measures an unforgettable journey ... But remember also that such a trip can be a lot of stress for you and for all other passengers (members of your family) if you approach this trip from the wrong side and in the wrong way, that is, without planning such a trip in advance or planning it quickly and in a hurry. , having gathered in this way to go on a journey in an untested car and on an unpredictable long journey. What needs to be done by a motorist to make a long journey by car a great, memorable and exciting adventure? It's simple. It is necessary to follow our time-tested (and not only) advice and approach the planning of such a trip with a sound mind.

Due to the devaluation of the ruble and the actual closure of transit through Ukraine, difficult times have come for Russian car tourists. However, there will always be people who are not afraid of these (I hope, transient) difficulties; for them and this post - here we will focus on a more fundamental problem: adequate travel planning, in particular, route selection... The general availability of navigators and online tools from the route planners category creates a harmful illusion of the ease of solving this problem, which is often dispelled in real life in the form of wasted time, money and nerves during a precious vacation.

So, the window to Europe (with the exception of Scandinavia and the Baltic States) for Russians has narrowed to four narrow loopholes on the Belarusian-Polish border, represented by the international border checkpoints (MAPP) Bruzgi, Berestovitsa, Varshavsky Most and Domachevo. Does the omnipotent Google know about them? In general, Google Maps is another ugly product from Evil corporations... Its creators neglected all the principles of cartographic science: maps are poorly readable, generalization is inadequate, the main thing is indistinguishable from the secondary, there is no hierarchy of objects (including the road network). Maybe it at least knows how to pave the way? I remember that just a couple of years ago Google carried out all routes from Russia to Europe exclusively through Brest. Now he copes with the border crossing better, but has gone to the other extreme.

For clarity, let's bring the situation to the point of absurdity by setting a trip from the Belarusian city of Lida to the Polish city of Olsztyn. And this is what the vaunted Internet giant put out:

Figure: 1. A typical incident of online route planners.

We are offered to cross the border through the “Sofievo - Lipschany” checkpoint, which was closed 20 years ago. I believe that after such an embarrassment, every self-respecting navigator should stop working with google maps due to loss of confidence... However, let's check how Google's commercial competitors cope with this quest: theaa.com, Bing, TomTom, ViaMichelin, and Nokia's here.com. Let's face it: they do poorly. The first repeated Google's mistake, the latter did not know such a city of Lida, and the rest had a vague idea of \u200b\u200bthe road network of the CIS countries and only for this reason were not mistaken. The only one who could take into account the nuances of border crossing is Yandex maps, but I will refrain from recommending them: the product is clearly incomplete (does not allow the introduction of intermediate points, does not give out alternative paths, poorly detailed stages, etc.), and the cartographic basis is ugly.

Here is such nonsense, little ones: tools that are worthless on the Internet. By analogy, would you keep a loose-headed hammer in your kit? The result is a little predictable: sooner or later, you will beat off your fingers.

Is it really a failure, thought Stirlitz, but guessed to change the platform. There is also an excellent open source project - OCM (OpenStreetMap.org), and various (paid and free) search engines are built on its basis. With the first click, googling on the subject gave the desired result: the site http://openrouteservice.org/?lang\u003den creates routes better than anyone else. There is even an interface in Russian and a very interesting and useful feature Avoid Areas: you can outline the territory that is better to bypass - large agglomerations, war zones, hostile states (as part of our test, I sent all of Ukraine there), and the engine will exclude it from consideration. The new service coped with our test perfectly, not only drawing a path through the existing Bruzgi crossing, but also finding the recently built ring road around Grodno.

It is with this engine - OpenRouteService - we will use it in further research (attention: this is not a panacea, but only one of the tools, not devoid of its shortcomings). Let's practice and create a virtual route from Default City to, say, the Montenegrin resort of Budva.

First of all, you should break the journey into stages. Do not overestimate your strengths: if there is only one driver in the car, he cannot steer for more than 10 hours without risk and harm to health. This means that a day's journey should not exceed 800 km when driving on highways and 400 km on ordinary roads. With this regime, the first overnight stay will inevitably end up in Belarus, which, in principle, should be avoided: there are few hotels, they are unreasonably expensive, and having dinner is a problem. However, there is nowhere to go: booking a motel on the Polish side is risky due to the unpredictable delays at border crossings. By the way, God forbid you to get to the checkpoint from Friday lunch to Saturday morning, because at this time thousands of Belarusians go shopping in Poland, and you are guaranteed to stand in line for many hours. Thus, it would be best to leave Moscow in the afternoon (not on Thursday!), Spend the night in the Smolensk region, in the morning drive through Belarus without stopping in 7-8 hours, cross the border and complete the stage in Poland.

Unlike Google and others like it, the smart engine did not even try to seize part of Ukraine along the Moscow-Budva route without clarification. (And I would gloat over those who, trusting Google or Yandex, would go to test the Kovel-Lvov section). Poland is proposed to cross along the shortest route: along rural roads, from Domachevo to the exit to Kosice. From rich personal experience, we will define this option as an amateur: in Poland and Slovakia, you have to get on bad sections of roads, wade through an endless series of towns and villages, drive in a ragged rhythm due to the interlacing of speed limits, sometimes drag for a long time after tractors and other slugs. In a tiring day, you will cover a maximum of 400 km at an average speed of 51 km / h and you will not go beyond the middle of Slovakia. Moreover, in Hungary you have to buy a vignette to compensate for the delay in driving on highways. This route is shown on the map on the left (let's call it route A).

Figure: 2. The best way to transit through Poland by private car

a) on the way to Romania and Bulgaria; b) on the way to the rest of southern Europe.

In general, the transit of Poland is akin to art. Real skill comes only with time, and no electronic assistant can replace it. It is better to talk about this rich topic separately, but for beginners I can give two tips: 1) be sure to get a paper map of Poland's roads; and 2) try to reach the highways as quickly as possible, bypassing major cities if possible. The implementation of the second principle in our test case leads to the variant shown on the map on the right ( route B): we get to the nearest to the eastern border of the Warsaw - Katowice highway and rush along it to the south. An important nuance is to enter the highway not in the Warsaw area (you will kill two hours at the intersection of the metropolitan agglomeration), but to the south - in the vicinity of the city Tomaszow Mazowiecki... Do you see how radically different routes are laid automatically (albeit with the best tool) and by a person based on practice and experience?

Route B is optimal not only for the Montenegrin direction, but also for all other countries south of the Czech Republic and Slovakia (with the exception of Romania and Bulgaria - for these directions, unfortunately, there is no alternative to route A). After following route B to Katowice, for further movement to Budva you have to choose between a longer and more expensive (but fast and less stressful) route along the highways through Ostrava and further along the Czech Republic - Austria - Croatia, and shorter and cheaper - through Tychy-Cieszyn and further across the Czech Republic - Slovakia - Hungary - Serbia. The transit of Hungary and Serbia are two separate complex topics (to which I may come back), but there it is possible to simplify the task by entering toll roads that run almost from the border itself.

I am not going to single out any service in the first place now, and this order does not give preference to one or another. They all have their pros and cons, more or less equally.

Let's start with Agenda.

Russian travel planning service, which recently began to gain momentum and received investment. The design of the service pleases the eye, it is convenient, nothing superfluous. Excellent calendar grid showing planned flights.

The emphasis of the Agenda is mainly on the purchase and booking of air tickets, hotels, transport, there is also the possibility of booking trains and buses, but unfortunately, mainly only in the Russian Federation. The service is closely related to Panaramio, which allows you to see photos of interesting places, and Foursqare to select the attractions of the city where you are going. Compared to other services, there is a big disadvantage to adding interesting places to view, and if you are planning a big trip, you will have to work hard to add them to the calendar. It would be great if there was a synchronization with the calendar on your phone or tablet, but I did not find one. It is not clear how the creators missed such a moment in all their travels as the lack of the Internet. Since there are no apps for either Android or iOS, it is not clear how to use it while traveling. Timeline export to pdf is very sparse.

Yes, it is quite possible to buy tickets, book hotels and cars here, besides, the search goes on low-cost airlines. But even during test drives to book a hotel or a car in Asia, he did not pick up anything for me.

In general, there are shortcomings that I hope will be finalized in the future.

Next Mygola

An English-language service, also with a good interface, but less convenient. Compared to Agenda, the calendar grid is perceived worse, but nevertheless it is quite convenient and understandable.

The same service is more tailored for sightseeing. A large selection of places with detailed descriptions and a link to the source or site of this place. There is an application, but it is no different from the site. You can look at all the points on the map, but you cannot separately each point, and this is a minus, since there is no way to jump over the link to google maps and plot a route.

A huge plus for Mygola is the route search and preliminary estimation. At the very beginning, I was very surprised by this, because such information is usually found only on some kind of blogs. A large number of options for movement between points are offered, on a variety of vehicles. From a taxi with its cost, to public transport, which is also sometimes indicated by a cost. It is not clear where this information comes from, but it is quite possible to estimate the cost.

There is no export at all. Synchronization is also missing. In conclusion, it can be noted that when planning a trip, the Mygola service can be used to find cheap public transport routes.

Youroute

Another Russian-language service. The service attracted with its simplicity. Nothing superfluous, easy interface, everything is simple and clear, come in and plan. Of course, like all of the above, it also has disadvantages. But let's start with the pros, the first of which is a large base of attractions from all countries and cities of the world. Convenient addition of objects to your route. The service is also tied to Panaramio and you can conveniently view photos of objects. From each point you can go to Google maps, you can plan a route, but then there will be a service in which it is a little more convenient to do this.

The route immediately creeps between the points, the transport can always be changed. You can also easily change the order of sightseeing.

In the end, you get this kind of route.

As you can see, the route can be saved in pdf and, if desired, printed. The stages themselves look pretty boring.

I would add the flight time, they can, in principle, be written in notes, but nevertheless they are not displayed in the PDF, and links to the map for each point, preferably on Google. But on the other hand, there is information about these places, in a quite varied form.

Well, the service is quite excellent, but something it lacks, if it were to add a little from the first and the second, it could get a better service for travel planning. Of course the application is still missing. So guys, developers, I hope you will finish this service in the future.

Gogobot

Initially, I learned about it as an application. The first thing that struck me was that he posts all your actions to facebook, but this is disabled in the account settings. The service is English-speaking and has a large database of attractions that you can easily add to your trip. Bulk add only from the table view, from the map you have to go to the object page. But in the application, this does not cause much discomfort. There are selections of restaurants and hotels that can be booked.

There are interest clubs in which themed places are selected.

The travel plan looks quite simple, just like the pdf file, but nevertheless contains all the necessary information about the objects, with links to the page of these places in Gogobot.

Here is a view of a pdf file that can be minimally configured

An undoubted advantage is the presence of an application (for iPhone and Android), where you can see the travel plan and use navigation for each object.

Decent service, unfortunately not in their native language. Another would be an app for ipad and it would be great.
Well, in the end

Tripomatic

The web service is not particularly striking in design, but the application is quite good (again, the ipad was bypassed), moreover, it supports the Russian language.

It is quite convenient to add places to the trip plan, the route and the approximate travel time immediately sneak between them, which will give an understanding of the time spent on the road, but unfortunately not about its cost. He also automatically plans the route of the day in such a way (well, at least he tries) so as not to make detours around the city, but to visit all the places along the way with the least amount of time. On the website, you can book a hotel, the purchase and viewing takes place on Booking.com. You can add transport movements, for example between railway stations, unfortunately, the time is not displayed, there is no search for ticket prices either. But it doesn't matter here.
I also liked that at the end of the drawing up, you get a schedule of your trip. Shows how many of the main attractions you missed.

Export to pdf is good, with all links to Google maps. On click, it immediately creates a route. The ruler of the day is not very clear, but you can figure it out.

The application is very good. With some nice features. For example, the object page shows the distance to it and a rotating compass that shows the direction of movement. Also, many attractions show the opening hours and the price of the entrance ticket. For some reason, the screenshots from the aytyuns show the translator, but I did not see it in the program itself.

In addition, the Tripomatic application has a paid, but very useful for tourists, offline maps function. For 129 rubles. you can buy a map of the country, for 449 - Asia and Australia, and for 549 rubles. you can download maps of all countries available on Tripomatic (358 locations). In general, the application takes place in the traveler's smartphone.

In conclusion, I will say that there are quite a few travel planning and planning services, in my opinion these are the most prominent. There are also many social travel networks where you can also get a lot of useful information, but they do not have the functions of planning.

Developing a travel itinerary is no less exciting than the journey itself. Here, in our deep conviction, it is very important to maintain a balance. On the one hand, plan your time in an unfamiliar country with the maximum benefit for yourself. On the other hand, "do not overheat" yourself with information and leave room for your own discoveries.

First, let's define the terminology. The travel itinerary in this article implies a basic travel plan - the places we want to visit and the logistics of the trip (i.e. the order of visiting places and the way of travel), as well as the number of days in each of the places.

Travel route. Stage one: travel wireframe

The framework of the future travel is the first major decisions of the traveler that determine the further efforts to prepare the trip. First of all, this is the choice of the country (or countries), the choice of the travel format, the determination of the number of days in the trip and the determination of the budget. Moreover, all these decisions are closely related.

Choosing a country and travel format

Where to go is a rhetorical question) Your own tastes and preferences, as well as blogs, photos, videos about travel and social networks, will help you determine the direction and format of your future travel.

Tastes and preferences largely determine the format of the future travel - some want to spend their next vacation blissful on the beach, the second rave about wild safaris and conquering mountain peaks, and still others just want to put a backpack on their shoulders and spend a couple of weeks - months wandering around the remote corners of the world.

Stage two: route development

So, you have found the time, money, fellow travelers and start, in fact, to plan the route. At the exit, you should get a list of places in a specific order, as well as a scheduled number of days for each of the places and a route map. The easiest way is not to reinvent the wheel and choose for yourself.

If you didn't find it to your taste, proceed in the following order.

Travel destinations

First of all, read reviews of regions and directions in and decide on the directions that you want to visit (record the desired directions in a list in no particular order). Make an online folder on Pinterest along the current route and save all useful links. It's also a good idea to do your first draft of the map (use google maps) and also save it in your bookmarks.

Number of days and general logistics of the trip

Learn more about each of the destinations in the generated list. What to do and how to get there are the main questions, the answers to which will help you create your first draft of the route. At this stage, some directions may have to be abandoned.

Determine the number of days for each direction. Build the overall logistics of the trip (from where-how long-for how much money). At the same time, the understanding that you can get from point A to point B by bus in so many hours is absolutely enough to plan a travel route.

Don't waste time and energy on detailed planning of each day and stay in each place. You do not need to search the Internet in search of exact information on which corner the bus you need stops, in which direction you need to turn from the hotel to get to the attraction you need and where is the restaurant in which someone once liked.

The main thing is to navigate the duration of your stay at the place and find out what is important not to miss a particular place (ours will definitely help you with this). The rest - you will see and find out on the spot. At the hotel, take a map on which the attractions will be marked. Walking on foot, you will find a place where you (and not someone else) have a tasty and pleasant meal. On the spot, you can always buy a tour, find the markets you need, shops, massage parlors, etc., etc.

Accommodation and budget

The next step is to decide on the format of housing, as well as the budget for each destination from the list.

Choose accommodation focusing not only and not so much on your budget, but on the specifics of the place... Very often, properly selected accommodation makes your stay in one place or another brighter. And also, importantly, it allows you to feel the "right" atmosphere. Conversely, improperly selected housing can easily spoil the impression of the place. Please note that we are not talking about the price here, but about the successful choice of the location of the hotel / guest house and the format of housing in its “own” price category.

In each of the places you will find reviews of "where to live", for cities - orientation in the city and overviews of areas, for resort destinations - reviews of beaches, for national parks - reviews of nearby villages and camp sites. Each review highlights a different housing format. This is done so that readers have the opportunity to decide on their desired format.

- If you want to plan everything first, book later - read the reviews, choose an area / beach / place, follow the appropriate links, turn on price filters and select accommodation in a focused way, without wasting time on “shooting sparrows with a cannon”. Save the variants of the accommodation you like in your on-line bookmarks so that when the time comes you don't have to waste time searching again.

- If you are used to combining search and booking - bookmark our Where to Live reviews so that when you are ready to book everything is at your fingertips, and then according to the above scheme. This approach will simplify and speed up the process.

At this stage, it is important to get more or less similar to the final draft budget. Although it is possible that you still have to adjust the number of days in one or another place, or change the logistics of movements or the directions themselves (depending on financial capabilities and priorities).

Stage three: finalizing the route

The main work has already been done at the second stage. You have a route, it remains to buy air tickets and then finalize the travel route. After purchasing air tickets, you may have to finalize your travel itinerary. Often, the planned number of days can change by plus or minus 2-3 days, depending on the tickets).

It remains to finalize the route by dates. There are two approaches.

Finalization and booking en route

The first is the so-called hard finalization. Schedule route dates and make all necessary reservations, including local transportation and accommodation. First of all, book domestic flights and trains, as it may be necessary to shift the schedule when booking, depending on the availability and cost of tickets.

After that, book all accommodation along the route, focusing on your estimated budget (see recommendations above). At the exit - you are all ready for the journey. All vouchers on hand. Minor issues (a la local buses, boats and tours can be dealt with locally without any problems). It remains to go and have fun without thinking or worrying.

Floating travel route

The second approach is floating finalization. This approach works best. If you are going on a long trip (a month or two), as well as traveling in the off-season. You have on hand the same route, scheduled by dates. , adjust the schedule if necessary. You book accommodation upon arrival / arrival on known, non-floating dates.

And then you orient yourself on the spot - somewhere you want to stay longer, somewhere to leave early. Don't bother with a specific choice of accommodation before your trip. Take with you our Where to Live reviews for each area. Book your accommodation at the next point on the route on the spot when you know the exact departure / arrival date. Often you will have to book "today for tomorrow", so this approach does not work during high season. Housing will be either "best of the worst" or expensive. In the off-season, on the other hand, you can book excellent accommodation with good discounts.

Please note that you will have to spend time searching and booking accommodation on the spot. And therefore, if you are going on a trip for no more than three weeks, it is better to do a hard finalization of the route.

The main advantage of traveling by car is that you are absolutely free in your decisions: you can make a stop, admire the scenery, take a different route, or visit friends. So many possibilities! How can you plan your trip to the United States so that you can see as much as possible and not waste time on trifles? The ZagraNitsa portal knows! About this our material below

Plan your route

If you don't have any leads and don't know where to start your journey, you can use the already prepared paths. We have already written. So why not start with one of them? If you really want to make your own path, you can use Route XL or RoadTrippers services. It will not be superfluous to take with you an ordinary paper map in order to draw, draw and mark places you like on it. And at the end of the trip, you can hang this treasure on the wall as a souvenir. And the card will also be a good safety net if something happens to your gadget.

Mark "useful" places in the route

Think in advance at which points on your route you will make stops. This will save time and help you plan your trip efficiently. Also pay attention to the places where you will sleep, where you can eat or fill up your car. Arrange an overnight stay in advance: this will save you from unpleasant surprises and unplanned nights under the starry sky. Help in finding key places will be provided by the mobile applications WorldMate (booking air tickets and rooms in nearby hotels, searching for a car), HotelTonight (searching and booking rooms in hotels), CityMaps (an interactive map with places where you can rent a hotel room, eat, relax and etc.).

We drove over 2000 km in 5 days. Visited three states: Arizona, Utah, Nevada. It is better to extend this route for another 3-4 days. I felt that we were in a state of constant race: woke up at 7-8 in the morning, had breakfast and already left at 9. Every day about 400 km on the road. Because of this, they checked into the motel after sunset. And they just passed out from fatigue, not even having time to review what photos were taken during the day. In my experience, 200 km a day is the most ideal option. If you are going in a group of 4 people, you will save a lot on car rental and tickets to national parks. And motels have standard rooms with two double beds, so pay as double. A car can be rented for $ 30-40, gasoline - less than a dollar per liter. For 5 days of travel we spent about $ 1000 for two.

Take care of the technical side of the issue

It will not be superfluous to find out in advance where along your route there are service stations, gas stations or offices where you can rent a car (if something happens to yours on the road). And, of course, do not forget to check the car before the trip - rescue apps for your smartphone will help out here. GasBuddy (will help you find fuel at low prices), (a map with places where you can fix your car or get technical assistance), iExit (will tell you where the nearest gas station is) will be useful.

Don't take too much on yourself

When your list of stops and key places you want to visit is ready, take a good look at it again. Find out where crowds of tourists might be waiting for you. You don't want to waste time in long queues, do you? For convenience, you can also divide the list of places you want to visit into two parts: on the way "there" and "back".

Make your trip comfortable

Traveling in itself is enjoyable and relaxing. However, do not forget that sometimes you will have to spend 5-6 hours in the car. And small joys in the form of a comfortable pillow under your head, favorite music, a small cooler with drinks or a bag of lollipops will not be superfluous.

Marina Gritsenko, traveler, author of the Columbus-Chocolate project:

During 5 years of traveling around the USA, I managed to visit and get to know 10 states. The routes were completely different, as were the trips themselves. Sometimes these were spontaneous ideas with friends: “Listen, let's fly to Miami right now!”. Sometimes well-thought-out, meaningful and planned trips, such as my West Coast road trip. I drove twice in the sunny state of Florida and once on the west coast of the U.S. When it comes to road travel, they are very affordable and comfortable. You can rent a car even for $ 20 per day, the cost of gasoline is not much different from its cost in Ukraine (in my opinion, even cheaper). For a week and a half of traveling, I spent about 300-350 dollars, while I traveled around 3 states, made stops where and when I wanted, drove in a comfortable car ... I will not continue, I think that everyone has long been familiar with the delights of traveling by car. ? Before the trip, I did not know that when crossing the California border, the car can be stopped and asked if we are bringing fruits and vegetables into the state. Simply because, by law, these products cannot be brought into the state and then, accordingly, taken out. They say that a real traveler is a person who does not plan his trip. I agree with this and disagree at the same time. I cannot say that spontaneous trips were brighter and cooler than those that were carefully planned. Why am I all this? I recommend planning! If you have 3 months to travel, of course, you can trust fate and just hit the road. But if you have only 2-3 weeks and you do not want to miss some sightseeing, spend half a day trying to find the right way, or get lost and then look for the right way for a long time, and you want to enjoy the trip and get the most out of it - for I recommend planning it carefully!

Prepare a realistic budget and contingency plan

Realistically estimate the future costs and cost of renting a car. On average, you will have to spend about $ 30-80 per day to rent a vehicle. And it is better to use the services of large international companies (for example, Hertz, Avis or Sixt) - this way the risks of additional problems and expenses will noticeably decrease. Be prepared to have a plan B in case of force majeure. An alternate route, money for a "rainy day" or for an emergency return home may not be needed. But it's best to avoid unwanted delays and troubles.

Chat with local

Online tips make life a lot easier for the novice traveler. But some things can only be learned empirically. So don't be afraid to try and deviate from your plan. Talk to the locals, ask them where the food is tastier, where it is softer to sleep and where to relax. It may happen that the guidebooks have missed something important, and the "aborigines" will prompt you, show you and, who knows, maybe even treat you. The whole world knows that Americans are very outgoing and friendly. It would be foolish not to take the opportunity to verify this personally.

Gather a company

An equally important condition for a successful trip is company. Cheerful and positive people will make any trip an unforgettable adventure. If you have Napoleonic plans and want to visit as many interesting places as possible, you should take care of your slow or distracted friends. Delaying someone leaving their charger in a motel room will not brighten your vacation.

Marta Trotsyuk, traveler, photographer:

It is always difficult to plan everything completely. There are many different factors that affect the end result of a trip. When I travel, I always leave "room for maneuver" and tend to think that there is no need to deprive the trip of romantic and spontaneous things. And it's always important to remember that spending on such an adventure usually goes a little more than you planned. You just need to have 30% of the total budget in stock. And there are often unplanned meetings that can radically change the route. I saw a friend, took the car and drove in the opposite direction! I usually travel about 6 months a year and I have no clear boundaries. I can be flexible in my planning. But I know that something spontaneous can happen on a two-week trip. I usually take a little clothes with me - about a week. Then I give it to the wash and from time to time I buy something new. I love shopping! I also always have a notebook, a laptop (I work remotely, so this is my office), a camera (where can a photographer do without it) and a phone. I wish I had fewer gadgets, but with my “digital” lifestyle this is unrealistic. The most important thing is not to forget about insurance (it is mandatory to have it when traveling). And, of course, it is important to know about the culture of behavior of the country where you are going. But in the USA everything is much simpler than in Ukraine, so there shouldn't be any problems.

Do not study the stops in advance and do not be afraid to take risks

If you know everything in advance, what kind of adventure will it be? Therefore, when preparing your travel plan, do not get carried away with studying the details. Let the road itself lead you, and any knowledge gained, any interesting information will be your joy. Despite all the warnings and risks, don't be afraid to get lost. The most memorable moments and magical places open up after the “wrong turn”.

Most importantly, don't forget to take a photo!

Yes, the advice may seem pretty commonplace. But sometimes there are such crazy moments and beautiful views when you fall into a stupor with delight. So keep your camera close at hand and don't forget to click! And then be sure to share the results with us.

So enough of the boring planning and fees. It's adventure time!