Travel Giveaway: Live Your Road Trip Dream
November 28, 2008 by Mary Jo Manzanares
Filed under Home & Living
Welcome to Day One of Travel Product Guide’s Countdown-to-Christmas giveaway.
If Thanksgiving with the family had you running for cover, today’s giveaway is for you. If you’ve ever wanted to travel around without a care in the world, today’s giveaway is for you. If you have a yen to visit all 50 states, today’s giveaway is for you.
Live Your Road Trip Dream, by Phil and Carol White, is the story of how they planned and executed traveling for a year – for the cost of staying home.
Make no mistake about it, this is NOT another travel guide. This is a how-to planning guide, mapping out practical details like arranging a sabbatical, mapping out a budget (there’s was around $76,000), breaking the news to family and friends, working on the road, and road-schooling kids. The White’s tell you what they did, give you feedback on how well it worked for them, and give you additional options that may meet your needs.
I liked their honesty and practical approach. While they traveled in a spacious van and stayed in RV parks much of the time, they also budgeted for motel stay as well. Also in the budget were a couple trips home.
They allotted money to eat well and to visit attractions. It wouldn’t have been much fun to travel the world, but not have the money to see and enjoy it. They talked about the pitfalls of being together 24/7 (you’ll have good and bad days) as well as what driving around is like (it can be boring).
I enjoyed their good-natured humor and stories from the road. But even more than that, I enjoyed the real life stuff – the planning lists, budget worksheets, sample itinerary, and supply list. A good resource list of websites, organizations and online discussion groups is also included.
What do you say? Is it Yea or Nay for you?
Would you take a year off and travel around? Leave your answer in the comments, and you could be the lucky winner of Live Your Road Trip Dream.
That’s right, just leave a comment here telling us if you’d take a year off to travel or not.
The contest runs through tonight, Friday, November 28th, 2008 at 11:59pm (PT). On Saturday, a random winner will be selected from all the comments to receive Live Your Road Trip Dream. Please enter only once, and leave your email address in the appropriate spot so that we can contact you.
A very big thank you to authors Phil and Carole White for providing me with a copy of the book for review, AND for providing a giveaway copy for a reader of Travel Product Guide.
Check back tomorrow for the winner of this giveaway, and to see what great gift Kori has for Saturday. Remember, we’ll be giving away a travel gift each day right up till Christmas.
I’d love to go traveling for a year, I took once a 3 month trip and I felt like I was only begining to see the world, ahving a year you could slow down the pace and do it a lot more relaxed!
My husband and I have talked about how we’d love to take the kids out of school and hit the road for a year or more. Unfortunately, making a living gets in the way of it, so we keep dreaming.
I had the privilege of traveling the world for a year back in my 20s and I plan to hit the road longterm again with my kids in a few years. It can be done, even without winning the lottery. I always love reading about other people who make this dream a reality. Hopefully this book will have some practical tips I can use.
I lived in Turkey for about 18 months back in the late ’70s and I understand completely the need to take your time and see the world. I learned a lot of the language, where to get the best shave and all of the really important stuff.
I would love to take a year off to travel. What a wonderful experience that would be.
A girl can dream. . .
In theory, I would love to take a year off to travel..but in practice, I think I would get restless after six months! An extended summer abroad would probably be perfect for me.
I would love to travel for a year. There is so much of this world to see and enjoy.
Absolutely, I would love to take a year off and travel
I would love to do this.
Yes, I would!
I would do it in a heartbeat if I were able to financially afford to do it. This is something that I’ve always dreamed of doing.
If would do this but we would have to wait untill our kids are gone and we have retired.
Yes, in a flash I’d take off a year to travel.
In fact, when I was 21 (many a year ago) I put a pack on my back and took a freighter to Morocco.
Traveled for a year all over North Africa, Europe, Scandinavia, and ended up in Denmark (where I married the Danish captain of my ship to Morocco). Our courtship was by scattered mail the year I backpacked.
We later immigrated to Australia. But that’s another fine adventure.
oh, god yes
I would definitely love to travel for a year. I think I would need to wait until my children are older because of school. I can see myself doing this though if I had the money.
My neighbors just left. They bought a fifth wheel and are off to see the world. They have 3rd and 5th graders. They said they would be back in a year. They even rented their house. Thank goodness gas prices went down.
i would love to take a year off and travel
sounda like fun- my parents did it and well the way they did it was more work for mom, I would make sure it was an adventure for all
It would be awesome to do it!
This sounds like a dream-come-true. : )
I would like to take a year off to travel. Thanks for the giveaway.
I would love love to travel for a year, there’s so many parts of the country I’d like to see.
heck yeah did you even have to ask? i’m very interested.
In a heartbeat
Lawd A Mercy!! When are we leaving?
I’m already packed!
Yes I’d take the year off to travel. Meeting different people and seeing the sights would be educational as well as enjoyable.
Thanks for the contest. Best wishes for happy holidays!
I also would have to wait until I am retired.
If I could find a way to do it, and still make ends meet, I would definitely take a year to travel.
YES! My children and I would LOVE to travel around this great nation for a full year! My children are home schooled through an on-line program, and I am working on my Master’s degree, also through an on-line, fully accredited University program. We have had a tough last few years, between their father’s death, their grandmother’s sudden death, my own ill health (heart problem), job loss, serious auto accident and other issues. We would thoroughly enjoy learning together while vacationing too!
ooh, wouldn’t that be fun!! I have the time now, but not the money(just got laid off
)
I travelled for 5 weeks once and totally enjoyed it!
I could I suppose since I have no children. I’d go to Ireland.
You betcha I would do it! What a grand adventure that would be!
Thanks
Now that I’m retired I could travel more, but after a couple of weeks of traveling I’m ready to go back home, so I don’t think I would like to travel for a year. It would be interesting to read all about their travels, though. Thanks for having the contest!
Yes, I would.
yea actually I think I’d definitely like to travel for a year… wow.
I would like to take a year off to travel. I hope I find the money.
I’d love to do that. I don’t know how we’d do it, though, since the hubster has an excellent job that wasn’t easy to get. Hmmm. Something to consider! We would learn so much!
If I had a chance – this would be my dream come true. It’s not the destination, but the journey. I live to travel, it is as much to me as breathing.
I would love to take a year off to travel. Thank you for the opportunity to win!
In a heartbeat!
If I could travel for a year, I’d try and visit places that I have only dreamed of visiting….like Egypt, Australia, New Zealand and Bali!
I would love to travel I always dreamt about it.
Hey all you road trippers!
Thanks for all your comments and enthusiasm. I see that our lucky winner lives in Canada – I should consult with her about a trip up there – that is our next planned adventure.
For all of you who just “dream” of doing it, or doing it “later” – my #1 piece of advice is to set your date to leave – even if it is 5 or more years away and start working towards it. It really isn’t that difficult – it just takes some planning and prioritizing. You’ll find that once you are committed to doing it – the pieces will start falling into place.
My top 10 tips are on my website here:
http://www.roadtripdream.com/10-tips.html
along with tons of other information. You never know, maybe you too will find yourself living your road trip dream.
Live Your Dreams.
Carol White
http://www.roadtripdream.com
I love the idea of travelling around with my son. It would be such a great experience.
Sightseeing – Vancouver Canada really rocks for sightseeing!
Great to see so much enthusiasm for this kind of road dream. I just want to support those who are dreaming to let them know that it is easier, cheaper and more rewarding than they even imagine.
We have been living on the road for going on 3 years now as a family on 4 continents and 29 countries. We have had the time of our lives and our child has had the best possible education.
We live large on 25K a year, total expenses for a family of 3. If one goes slow it is green and cheap and more rewarding.
Yes, one can work on the road and go do roadschooling. All one needs is a laptop these days & we even took our laptop to the Sahara in Morocco. There is hardly a place on the planet where you can not find a connection & usually free.
We travel the world for much, much less than we could living at home. Go for it!