Traveling by car is one of my favorite types of travel. It’s giving me a feeling of freedom, safety, and control. I have traveled to Europe with a car, I think, more than 30 times and once I even had a small Europe-trip where I visited 7 different countries. In the end, after calculating and reviewing everything, all my travels by car was the cheapest and the best choice. But, to travel cheap by car, you need to know a few smart secrets!

PLUSES TRAVELING BY CAR

Feel free to be flexible! Flexibility is more than just a plus, it’s your choice to be free and change your plans as you go. You don’t need to hurry up for train or airplane. You are deciding when and where you want to go. You can stop at any time and sight-see. And even more – by car you can go to places where it’s not so simple to get, which are situated far away from roads or up in mountains. Sounds good, right?

Take your house with! Well, not literally, but you can definitely pack in your car more than traveling by train, bus or airplane. Space is still limited, but it’s more than nothing or a small bag. Also, you can take with you things that are often not allowed in public transport, like a bottle of wine, knife, grill and so on. Just don’t pack too much, you will need a space for souvenirs!

Kids and pets are welcome! Also in airplane, they are welcome but what a stress it is for your animal to fly alone with luggage!? And what a disorder it is for other passengers when your kids are starting to shout and cry!? In those cases, you can’t just stop the transport, take a walk, sing some song and get back. No! You can do it only traveling by car.

Travel cheap! Traveling by car is definitely one of the cheapest types of traveling if it’s planned correctly. Did you know, that trips till 8 hour range are usually more cheap by car than other transports? Did you know that you can sleep in a car or tent and so save on hotel costs? Did you know, that traveling together with friends not only means fun but also smart planning?

MINUSES TRAVELING BY CAR

Long distances take a long time! The thing is, that you can’t go by car wherever you want. The further you drive, the more time and money you will spend. In this case, traveling from Norway to Italy is smarter and cheaper with an airplane. It’s more than 2500km and 30 hours without a stop. But traveling from Berlin to Prague by car is the best decision ever because it’s cheap, takes only about 4 hours and between both cities, you can visit other beautiful places!

Whoever drives, he doesn’t rest! And that’s the sad part of this type of traveling (except, if the person really, really, really loves driving). All passengers can sing and drink, play games or sleep while the driver will drive the car, concentrate, appreciate situations on road, fight with tiredness and loud passengers. Sometimes it’s very hard. That’s why the capable and experienced driver is one of the most important things traveling by car! Choose your driver wisely!

Depending on external circumstances! It’s one of the biggest minuses while traveling by car because it’s something that you can’t control and predict. Slow road traffic, crash on the road, traffic jam, closed road, strong snow and so on. Unfortunately, you can’t do something with it. But, luckily, it’s happening not too often!

10 SMART SECRETS

1.Choose and prepare your car! Best of all, choose a maximal new car which is comfortable and enough spacious inside, with manual transmission and low fuel consumption, with insurance and valid vehicle inspection. Before leaving prepare your car – check oil levels and tire pressure, take the spare wheel, car jack, first aid kit, hazard triangle, safety vest and all that you think you will need, like an umbrella, paper towel, blanket. Try to be prepared for every situation on the road.

2.Navigation system over the phone! The best thing is to have a built-in navigation system in your travel car because it’s very comfortable and easy to use. But if you aren’t so lucky– better buy or borrow from a someone navigation system. Using the phone on road (especially on long trips) is very dangerous. Every call or message can distract you from the road but your data roaming can cost much more than you will expect.

3.Easy-to-reach destination! So, as I already said, trips to 8 hour range are usually more cheap and easy-to-reach than 30 hour trips. Also, don’t choose your destination across seven seas. It will only give you complications and tiredness, but you are going to relax and enjoy traveling, right?!

4.Explore the road! After choosing your final destination, explore how you will get there. Will you need a ferry or car train? Will you need to pay for the highway? Maybe you need to buy a vignette? Or choose another way to drive? Explore the road! Be ready for your ‘’unexpected’’ costs!

5.Choose to refuel cheaper! Traveling through different countries and cities can give you one good advantage – the chance to find cheaper fuel. Sometimes the difference between two country fuel costs can be even 0,30 euro and that’s a lot.

6.Too fast too furious! And you know why ‘’too furious’’? Because too high speed can lead to increased fuel consumption and that’s not cheap anymore! All cars are having an optimal driving speed which improves your mileage and your cars appetite. Right speed on highway (especially on no speed limit highways) will save your money.

7.Travel not alone! More people, more fun, right? But actually it’s not only about fun, but it’s also about traveling cheaper. Imagine, if traveling alone by car in total would cost about 200 EUR, then traveling together with 3 friends makes only 50 EUR per person. Sounds better? I would like to say the best number of travelers is 4. It’s enough comfortable in the car and in your wallet!

8.The car need drivers! One more smart secret is to travel with 2 or 3 persons, who can drive (not only can, but also have a driving license, haha). If the distance is not too far, it can be enough with one driver, but what if you all need to drive about 10 hours and the driver gets too tired or sick? Drive aside and take a nap? Pay extra for some hotel and night sleep? Or take a risk and drive till the end? The second driver can really help in situations like this. And yes, it can save money, absolutely!

9.Think light! Don’t put in your car too much unnecessary and heavy things! Believe me, you don’t need all your closet, electric saw and sports trainer! All those heavy things only give an extra load to engine and then it wants more fuel. Remember, the heavier the car, the more expensive drive.

10.All about food! Before traveling you need to understand the approximate food price level between your travel-countries. If you are traveling from Poland to France and you know, that in Poland is much cheaper, then prepare food with you, at least for one day! I am always doing it and it saves a lot of money and stress. You don’t need to stop in half away and search for some expensive restaurant only to eat something or pay 5 EUR for a (tasteless) sandwich in the next gas station. Food is a very important component of our daily life and we can’t forget about it also while traveling.

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