Product Description

Where would your dream take you if you had a whole year to just travel? But perhaps you’re thinking, "if I only knew how to start planning my adventure!" This detailed "how-to" guide will get you moving from the dreaming to the doing in no time at all.

Included is step-by-step, real-life information on planning the trip you’ve always wanted to take -- along with generous doses of humor and advice on topics such as:

* How to pay for a year away from home * How to unravel all your current commitments – to family, work, and organizations * How to plan on the fly and enjoy every day * How to pack in 3 small drawers and 24" of closet space – for two! * How to handle the emergencies that crop up along the way * And the most asked question: How to enjoy your traveling companion on a 24/7 basis!

Once you’ve decided to "leave it all behind", Live Your Road Trip Dream takes you along on an action-packed, whirlwind tour of the authors’ trip – just to help you visualize what months on the road might really be like, and to offer a glimpse into how decisions and discoveries are made along the way.

This is the ultimate road trip planning guide.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #91092 in Books
• Published on: 2004-07
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 276 pages

Review
"...offers ... advice and instructions on how anyone with the free time can put things on hold ... and go traveling." -- Wilsonville Spokesman, July 28, 2004

"The book that launched a thousand road trips ...see what (they) learned on the road trip of a lifetime." -- The Villager, June, 2004

(This book) is very well planned and well laid out. It is a wonderful presentation... a fun book to read. -- Jana Oliver, Host DIY Author Show, Leisure Talk Radio, October, 2004

...a practical and inspirational gift for RV owners, new retirees, or anyone who’s ever dreamed of a cross-country expedition. -- Beth Harpaz, Travel Editor, Associated Press, November,2004

...fascinating - I've never come across a book that approaches traveling with such a carefree adventure-type attitude. -- Mike Miller, guest co-host, The Travel Hub, October, 2004

Not just a dippy "how we spent our vacation" tome, but a solid, how-to volume -- Judi Janofsky, Rich Steck, Where to Go Next.com, January 18, 2005

Plan, pack light, and expect the unexpected along the way. -- Maya Blackmun, The Oregonian, April 7. 2005

The book accomplishes its goal of stirring one’s imagination about embarking on a modern American odyssey... -- Dennis Gaub, for KOA Kompass, March, 2005

This is really an incredibly neat book ... nothing is going to surpass the resources you find in this book. -- Jeff Gerstl, host The Travel Hub, October, 2004

…the authors pack their book with advice on making your dream happen. -- Christine Delsol, San Francisco Chronicle, December, 2004

From the Publisher
Exploring America’s Favorite Dream: The Road Trip

Where would your journey take you if you had a whole year just to travel? How often have your thought, "it’s a great idea, if only I knew how to start planning such an adventure." What if someone helped guide you through the whole process and got you moving from the dreaming to the doing?

Many people dream of taking that long trip of a lifetime, but few actually make it happen. With humor, advice and loads of practical tips, Phil and Carol White provide a "road-map" for planning your own trip in their new information-packed book, Live Your Road Trip Dream: Travel for a year for the cost of staying home (ISBN 0975292803).

With 10,000 baby boomers turning fifty each day, and many gen-Xers heading out on mid-life sabbaticals, Live Your Road Trip Dream captures the spirit of our times.

The Whites finally decided that the time had come for them to live their road trip dream. Once they were on their adventure, people peppered them with questions, not so much about what they were doing – everyone has their own dream! – but about how they actually made it happen. Phil says, "It was with the encouragement of these want-to-be travelers everywhere that we decided to share what we had learned."

Included is step-by-step real-life information on planning the trip you’ve always wanted to take. Your vision may not be a road trip, but perhaps a sailboat trip around the world, a trek through Asia or a bike trip through Europe. Whatever your dream is, the planning process is the same – only the details will vary.

Whatever your dream, be sure to take the Whites' guide along as you plan your adventure.

From the Author
Traveling for a year? It is either one of your fondest dreams – or your worst nightmare! It’s something many baby boomers have long thought of doing after we are through with the family-raising stage of life and before we succumb to old age!

The difference between whether you can make it happen or whether you can’t is not how many obstacles you have, it is how badly to you want to do something totally life-changing -- totally for yourself.

When we first told people we were thinking about doing this, no one believed us, especially the kids. "Parents don't just run away for a year!" they exclaimed.

But we did.

Once we got the rhythm of being on the road, we could feel our curiosity begin to creep out of someplace deep inside us.

If you try to plan your every move, you will begin to feel like you are on a forced march to that next commitment, not on a trip of joy and exploration.

Let the child in you live again, your trip will be over too soon.

Once you have settled back into your routine, be sure to take some time to reflect on what you've accomplished. You have done something that not many people can say they've actually made happen. Congratulations!

So, would we do it again? You bet! We will never have another experience in our lifetimes as awesome and memorable as our road trip dream.

Customer Reviews

Get Prepared for a Year on the Road
I have to admit that when I first opened LIVE YOUR ROAD TRIP DREAM by Phil and Carol White, I wondered who in the world could pull off such a task? I mean, really. Living on the road for a whole year? What about responsibilities? What about possessions? What about finances?

I quickly learned that Phil and Carol White had already thought of these things - and more! In fact, their decision to carefully plan absolutely everything turned this feat (and yes, I do mean feat, as even the most dedicated traveler might be overwhelmed by lack of planning when attempting to vacation for an entire year) from an unrealistic dream into a doable possibility.

Fortunately for the rest of us, the Whites lived their road trip dream with the objective to share with us their experiences, warts and all. Because of their meticulousness, their journals, their detailed accounting, and their willingness to be pioneers of travel, the rest of us can avoid the minor pitfalls and poor decisions that can inconvenience or derail even the tiniest vacation, much less a year-long trip across the country.

Through the Whites we learn about (among a great many other things):

*What to do with your house while you're gone

*Who will take care of your responsibilities while you're on the road

*Traveling with pets

*Choosing a vehicle for the trip

*Packing a year's worth of clothing without dragging along everything you own

Quite possibly the most detailed vacation planning guide you could get your hands on, LIVE YOUR ROAD TRIP DREAM will have you more than wishing you could spend a year away - it will have you actually believing it is possible!

The first half of the book is dedicated to planning for your trip, with tons of advice that could be useful for even shorter trips and proves to be absolutely necessary for a year on the road. The second half is a travel journal of sorts, complete with pictures, that chronicles the White's vacation experience and offers glimpses of what is to be seen in regions literally across the country. Unlike typical travel guides which offer prices and hours of exhibits but little in the way of commentary on what was enjoyable and what was not, LIVE YOUR ROAD TRIP DREAM attacks the vacation experience from a refreshing angle - like that of a trusted neighbor who's just come home from a holiday.

In addition, there is a lengthy appendix at the back of the book that is packed full of worksheets, tip sheets, and templates that would get a prospective year-long traveler well on his way of getting started.

A good resource guide to have around for future vacations of any length, LIVE YOUR ROAD TRIP DREAM is a tempting book for any travel fan. And, who knows? Maybe with the help of Phil and Carol White, your own road trip dream can become a reality.

Don't Leave Home without Reading "Road Trip Dream" First
My husband and I have been on the road for almost a year, and we owe much of this successful year to Phil and Carol's book.

I bought the book because I wanted to figure out how we could take some time off without going broke, and Road Trip Dream succeeded in helping us do just that. We aren't even close to retirement, and this book really helped us to see that a trip like this was possible at our age.

With the release of its second edition, the Whites' book is as vital as ever when it comes to considering every critical aspect of how to plan, execute and live your own road trip dream. Don't even think of embarking on a journey without reading and following the advice laid out by these two seasoned road trippers.

Great Budgeting Information
Based on our own spending habits over the last year, I can vouch for the fact that the book's budgeting methodology is on the money. Their budget's "memory joggers" will help you look at every aspect of road trip living that you'll spend money on, from postage to Internet access. They also spotlight important things to consider, like realizing that you need to plan for fluctuating costs in different regions around the country (for example, campground fees in the east are much higher than in the west).

Get Creative, and Get on the Road NOW!
For working age people like my husband and I, the Whites have included a section about sabbaticals, working from the road, and even "road schooling" for families. The information, suggestions and ideas provided in this section help get a reader's mind around the fact that you don't have to be retired to take time off to travel. With some creativity and flexibility, they illustrate how even working people and families can hit the road. In this edition of the book they've provided a number of resources and ways to research this further.

Keeping In Contact on the Road
Technology changes so much in just a couple of years, and the revised tech section in the book is great. I can appreciate how the Whites do a good job of presenting a general overview of road technologies, without going over the heads of novice users. They did a fabulous job of explaining air cards for internet access, which is what most people end up using on the road. A comprehensive resource section at the end of the book includes lots of great websites to consult.

Hit The Road with the Information You Need
By reading and following the White's advice in Live Your Road Trip Dream, we were able to pull off our journey in the kind of organized, budgeted and well-prepared manner that makes us both comfortable. If we had just taken off without doing our research first, this journey might have ended months ago.

There are so many things to consider and planning for something like this can seem overwhelming. Don't let it. Buy Road Trip Dream, and you will receive the comfort and encouragement that it takes to believe in yourself, and know that you can get your way to living your own road trip adventure.

Not much substance
The book is well-organized, well-written, and a smooth, easy read. Carol writes well, and obviously put a lot of time into it. But there is very little substantive information in it. This is not a book for RV'ers. Although they used a Class B RV (basically a full van conversion), they stayed in motels most nights. Their RV advice was to buy one of the excellent books on RVs already out there. Sadly, their trip seemed rushed. I think they were more interested in being able to say that they visited every state, than enjoying where they visited. The whole last half of the book is just entries from their journal. These are cryptic, and offer little help in choosing where you might want to visit yourself. Financially, the book assumes that you are retired, and that you sell or rent your house and use that money, along with your retirement income to pay for the trip. In all, the book reads like a day dream, and doesn't give much more information than the obvious. If you are just looking for inspiration and confidence to do the trip, this may be a good book for you.