My mom lives 2,000 miles away from us. We hadn’t seen her since January 2020, thanks to the pandemic. Since she’s older and didn’t yet feel safe taking a plane to see us, my kids and I decided to travel to see her recently. Since plane tickets for four can be pricey, we decided to drive because it’s easier to save money with cross-country travel.
We’re Not Travel Hack Experts
I should preface this post by stating that we’re not travel hack experts. I know some people use credit card churning to earn more rewards, but that’s not us. We have basic strategies to save money with cross-country travel that work well for us.
Use Credit Card Rewards
I last drove to see my mom in October 2019. In the 27 months between that trip and this one, I created a Travel to See Mom line item in my budget. All of the cash rewards I got from using my US Bank Visa went into that account. By the time we left on our most recent trip, I had accrued $1,350, which was essentially free money for my trip.
Drive Our Own Vehicle
Almost every time we make this trip, we rent a car to save wear and tear on our vehicle. However, this time renting a car was cost-prohibitive due to the pandemic. So, we drove our vehicle and made sure to get a tune-up beforehand. Using our car saved a significant amount of money on our trip.
Pack ALL of Our Food
Because we have food allergies, we always pack all of our food for the trip. We bring a cooler full of meals and snacks. For this trip, we packed sandwiches, pretzels, and carrot sticks for three days’ worth of car lunches. For dinners in the hotel room, we packed hot dogs, sloppy joes, and rice and quinoa microwaveable packs as well as prepackaged salad. Breakfasts included eggs, potatoes, and bacon and fruit. (To save time, we heated our breakfast in the hotel microwave and put the contents in thermoses to eat later in the car.)
For snacks, we brought along homemade muffins, applesauce in squeezable containers, beef jerky, and granola bars.
Our out-of-pocket expense for food was zero since we used our grocery money to purchase these groceries.
Use Hotel Reward Programs
I already belonged to a few hotel reward programs, but before we left on this trip, I signed up for a few more. We stayed two nights on our way to my mom’s and earned points for those stays.
On the way back, we also stayed two nights, but one of those nights was free thanks to our rewards points. (My rewards at this chain, enough for a free night, had expired in February 2021, but I didn’t notice because we weren’t traveling due to the pandemic. I called the company to explain, and they kindly gave me back all of the points, which was enough for our free stay! It never hurts to ask.)
Of course, while we were visiting my mom, we stayed with her, which was free.
Final Thoughts
We save money with cross-country travel with these simple measures. Our round trip, 4,000-mile odyssey cost us $910, or $455 each way. While flying would have been quicker, we were interested in traveling as cheaply as possible. Even better, we still have $440 in our Travel to Visit Mom fund for our next trip. Now, it’s time to start accruing credit card reward points to pay for our next visit to her!
Come back to what you love! Dollardig.com is the most reliable cash-back site on the web. Just sign up, click, shop, and get full cashback!
Read More
6 Travel Discounts for Disabled People
Discounted Fun: Costco Disney Tickets and Great Deals on Travel
22 Ways to Save Money on Summer Travel
Melissa is a freelance writer and virtual assistant. She earned her Master’s from Southern Illinois University, and her Bachelor’s in English from the University of Michigan. When she’s not working, you can find her homeschooling her kids, reading a good book, or cooking.
Comments