What to Drive

There’s a picture floating around Pinterest about turning an RV into a mobile wanderlust-wagon for you and your friends.
Sure, if y’all saved up your life savings for this, go ahead, but unfortunately, gas ain’t cheap these days. So I don’t recommend it.

What I do recommend is driving the smallest car you can find. There are very few roads in the states that you’ll need a 4×4 or giant SUV for. Especially if you’re only visiting for a short while, there is PLENTY do do on paved road, you don’t need to be wasting gas 90% of the time for the 10% of the time you might need to pull someone out of a ditch or engage in a high speed chase through canyon-lands.

If there’s somewhere you really MUST do off-roading on, rent a car locally just for that, and then go back to your little emission-friendly vehicle.

It’s pretty easy to buy a car in the states, even if you’re not from there, and not too difficult to insure, but unless you’re staying more than a month and are sure you can get a really good deal, it’s probably not worth it.

You can rent from a million car rental companies like Avis and Budget, but they’re not that budget.

What I really recommend, personally, is to find your nearest Rent-A-Wreck and see what they have that’s great on gas. Of course the longer you rent the cheaper it is per day. It’s exactly what it sounds like, you’re renting a P.O.S. But it’ll get you from point A to point B, and BONUS: you’re way less likely to have your car broken into ;)

I got myself a Kia Rio for $600 for the month, which is really cheap. Remember, you’re still going to have to pay for gas, which is more expensive with each day that passes.

No matter who you rent with, make sure your credit card offers insurance on car rental. That will save you on average a whopping $25 a day, which will buy you a really nice steak dinner and wine for two. So don’t be slackin’ call your bank and get the right card.