How To Plan a USA Cross Country Trip

This step-by-step guide to planning a cross-country trip is a necessary resource for anyone planning to travel across the United States. It is designed for the leisurely traveler, intent on enjoying a full but relaxing and stress-free vacation. The principles involved can be utilized by those who are making a more intentional trip, usually made necessary by family or business circumstances which require a faster arrival on the other coast. These travel planning principles, if practiced for any trip, will result in an enjoyable experience for the traveler. They are:

- Plan ahead to plan your trip. You will discover where to find resources for your planning.

- Organize the resources and use them to find stopovers. You will learn how to use the resources to find the best places to visit, as well as quality food and lodging.

- Organize the findings. You will learn how to prepare lists of these desired destinations.

- Explore and discuss the findings. You will learn how to prioritize them according to the preferences of your fellow travelers.

- Prepare a schedule for each day. You will learn how to calculate the mileage and time needed for each stopover and to create an annotated schedule for each day.

- Be flexible and firm. You will discover the importance of "sticking to" the schedule as well as the necessity to "go with the flow."

- Plan for the unexpected. You will learn to anticipate emergencies and delays and how a plan can make it easier to deal with these situations with less stress and disruption.

- Be intentional. You will learn the value of an intentional plan and how important it is for each traveler to be committed to making the plan work.

- Be enthusiastic. You will find some thoughts on how to make the planning process almost as fun as the trip.

- Be ready for anything. You will learn some of the ways even the best-planned trip can be disrupted and how to deal with them.

- Plan to have a great trip! You will see how prior planning can make or break a trip.

About the Expert

Susan Bowman is a contributing writer for HowExpert.com. She is semi-retired, with many years traveling experience, especially along the Eastern corridor of the United States. She has traveled most extensively in the northeast and New England, the middle Atlantic states between Virginia and Tennessee, and anywhere she can find mountains. Her family took her on many long trips and she was always the "designated navigator." She loved and pored over maps in the back seat, directing her father at every turn.

As a travel consultant for AAA (2007-2010) she became an expert in planning and routing road trips, using her natural skills for reading and interpreting maps, her love of travel, and her broad knowledge of the country's attractions to provide excellent and sought-after travel plans for every kind of trip. She is skilled in...