The Great American Road Trip: Digital Nomad Style
29. Oct, 2009 
30 Comments
In 2000, I packed up everything, said my goodbyes and drove cross country with my then boyfriend (now husband). We made the trip from Massachusetts to Seattle in early December, so we decided to take the southern route, and still got caught in an ice storm that stranded us in Tennessee for three days. There was a guy in our Motel Six lobby wearing overalls, buckled on one shoulder, no shirt and no shoes. He was muddied up like he just came back from an afternoon wrestling pigs. It was my first time in the south. It was awesome.
Driving across the US is one of those epic trips that everyone has to take at least once. This summer we decided to make that twice. This time we upped the ante a bit and made the drive from Massachusetts to Seattle, then north through British Columbia, Canada, all the way up and across to Alaska.
In nine years, a lot has changed.
Now we’re traveling nomads, working as we go. In 2000, I didn’t have a laptop, never mind a wireless card. Back then a trip like ours meant quitting your job and having a fat savings account. This time we worked and traveled for over two months, taking client calls outside of Yellowstone, checking email in the Yukon.
The New American Road Trip:
Cell phone coverage hasn’t surpassed Wifi availability. Even in the most remote areas, where my cell phone had lost coverage days earlier, we were still able to find free wifi.
Camping and RVing is still better than budget motels. At $25-$40/night it’s hard to beat some of these luxury campgrounds that offer cabins, game rooms, swimming pools, and free golf carts to drive around their property. We visited over 20 of them and the internet was always free.
Throw out your maps. We spent a good amount of our pre-trip time planning our stops because we were concerned about always having access to wifi. It was never an issue. There were plenty of options, signs from the highways and sometimes even ‘free internet’ flashing in neon.
We’re not alone. You’d be surprised how many travelers stick stateside to enjoy the vast empty spaces. There will always be the weekender, but on this trip we found many more long term travelers.
It’s still amazing. If you ever get the chance to take a long road trip, take it! It’s the only way to truly understand the size and magnitude of North America. Driving through BC, the Canadian Rockies and the Yukon goes down as one of my top five travel experiences… ever.
The barrier to becoming a digital nomad is shrinking everyday.
pic: wolfgang staudt
Having been driving for the last two months, I’d say that cell coverage is much better than wifi. I can get at least Edge coverage on my iPhone on most sections of interstate, and 3G can be found in some surprising areas.
I’m using my iPhone for most of my causal Twitter/email access and for all of my mapping. GPS+mapping data on the iphone is a godsend.
That being said, you can find wifi at almost every chain motel and campground now. The trick is finding places that aren’t too busy so their connection isn’t swamped at night.
Gary Arndt´s last blog ..Daily Travel Photo – Yosemite National Park
Gary,
We drove over two months too. I guess it depends on the network, but you’re talking in the US only right? As I mentioned before, we traveled up through BC and the Yukon and there was always wifi, but rarely coverage.
Great post, things have definitely changed. I’m on a quest to visit every unit of the National Park System (391 units in all) and head out on 3+ week roadtrips. Even just 3-4 years ago, that meant lots of planning – calculating driving times, reserving hotels, planning visitor center hours, and so forth. Now, I can do the same roadtrip with just my iPhone and occasional laptop access and do the same or more planning on the fly. Plus, I can do cool things like hit wikipedia for some insight on that funky town we just passed or yelp the diner from the parking lot. Some of my friends complain that the technology has invaded the trip – that we should be leaving the web devices at home. I disagree. I have no qualms at not answering a work email while I’m gone, but I love the ability to facebook a pic from the road.
Scott– I’ve heard the same comments, when I was twittering about how cool it was to find abundant wifi in the Yukon. “I prefer to travel where there is no wifi” someone said. But for me, it makes the travel possible. I love having the option.
Christine, you are my hero.
I leave Bangkok soon to explore other countries and am planning to travel across America from East to West with a mate and a camper van.
Could you give me an idea of costs, I am planning to be out for 3 months talking things slowly.
Also, what are the laws in America with regards just parking a van and sleeping on the side of the road.
Hero Christine, Hero
I´ve driven across the USA with friends twice in my life. We took one of those cars that you drive from one point to another. The first time we took a car from New York to a point near Seattle. It took us 10 days and we visited many national parks. The second time we also started off in New York but we finished in San Francisco. It´s a wonderful experience and I recommend it to everybody.
Fun reading this because it brought back memories of my extensive road trips across the US, Canada and Mexico! Once we took a 6 month trip from Harvard down to Key West, slowly across the southern route, then from San Deigo to San Francisco in just a small red fiat & small tent!
It was long ago (but I will blog about it soon) yet I’m sure many of the basics have not changed!
Slow road trips are really the best way to experience a country! There are tons of families living like this which you can find on FOTR (families on the road) & some have been doing it continually for 20 years!
It is sad that most American’s don’t realize how easy and cheap it is to do an extended road trip in Europe too! I write this from my small RV in a super lux campground in Barcelona with 3 awesome huge pools (one indoors), sauna, steam room jacuzzi, great restaurant, store, hi quality exercise room, wifi, zoo, rental cabins and more! All for 17 dollars a night with even greater bargains the longer you stay!
The sites are so densely packed in Europe & mass transit so good & cheap, that there is less driving than the US, which saves loads on gas prices. Plus ferries between places like barcelona and rome, UK and Sweden, Italy and Croatia or Greece, Spain and Morocco are fun money savers if used right.
Its also a great way to meet other Europeans from all over (plus from Oz &kiwi) but we have almost never run into Americans in campsites in our 4 years of traveling most of Europe overland!
Yea slow road trips!
I’ve often considered this. I’ve traveled much more outside my own country’s borders than within. I’ve seen Bangkok, Bombay and Barcelona but never NYC. I think you’re on the right path.
I’d be interested in the types of jobs you can do while being a digital nomad. Do you have any posts talking about this? I’ll poke around.
Thanks for your writing! Love the posts.
Blakesjourney / tBD
blakesjourney´s last blog ..Spain Songs: My Situation
The great American road trip is something I’ve wanted to do for a long time. In addition to the wide open spaces and beauty I love wacky Americana and the people that come with it.
Wendy-Escape NY´s last blog ..Nicaragua Bound
makes me wonder what the old-schoolers think…(I’m thinking of RTW trips as well) “back in my day we never had all this wifi, cell phone stuff…just the station wagon/the backpack/the dog/the kids. We used the pay phones. if we could find them…”
I wonder how many folks travel sans gadgets. Or how many trips would not be taken if the tech was not so available. Just musing here…
Robyn´s last blog ..Thinking About Traveling
Jonny-
Thanks! RE: costs, it really depends. If you don’t need wifi, you can camp at national or state parks for a lot less (between 10-20/night). As far as sleeping on the side of the road, it’s not allowed, as far as I know, but we did it often in the Yukon, but I’m sure there are areas of the US where you could get away with it.. It wasn’t hard to find a little dirt road to pull down and sort of position your car so the major road can’t see it. Since you have a camper van you can pull into any Walmart parking lot (or so I’m told) and stay the night– no cost.
Over all it depends on how much you drive per day, how much you pay for a place to stay and your food budget. If you go slow, stay out of major cities and go super cheap (sleeping for free when you can) you might be able to pull off $20/day. Personally I’d plan on $50/day and go from there.
Blakesjourney–
Yes I’ve written about digital nomading quite a bit… you can see all the posts here:
http://almostfearless.com/?s=digital+nomad
(There’s more than one page so be sure to click previous page to get more).
I also have a digital nomad job board:
http://almostfearless.com/work-wirelessly/
so jealous! a cross country road trip is on my to-do list but it seems to keep getting pushed aside for other trips and responsibilities. i need to reprioritize and make it happen.
has anyone ever done a similar trip with kids? i would love suggestions and advice on planning a cross country trip with a young child.
Robyn:
I’ve heard both. I’ve actually heard 20 somethings lament technology making travel less “pure” a lot more than old-schoolers, but maybe that’s just me. My 71 FIL wanted us to get The Spot, a GPS tracking system, so he could follow our progress as we traveled. But then again, I have heard lots of people saying they rather travel with no internet. I think it depends, if you’re vacationing, sure, no internet. If you travel as a lifestyle, then you want those things.
To me though, if there wasn’t wifi, I wouldn’t be writing this blog. I’d be in Boston, working in a cubicle and trying to figure out some other way to travel.
Melissa-
I was traveling on this trip with a really really young child. Ok I was in my first trimester, which probably a bit different.
Here’s a post I wrote with a bunch of links to traveling family blogs: http://almostfearless.com/2008/10/08/traveling-with-kids-everyones-doing-it/
If anyone here travels with young kids, let’s help Melissa out! Thanks!
I love how quickly the landscape changes in the west. Forest covered mountains to boulder covered mountains, top to bottom it is something that you never forget and time and time again I find my self in shock of the awesome beauty that exists in this world. Go and explore this small world of ours.
Rhett out
Rhett´s last blog ..Bordeaux, Center
The longest road trip I’ve taken was from Chicago to Jackson, Mississippi as a kid. Back then, I didn’t appreciate all the lovely vistas and cultural hallmarks you see driving from North to South. Now, things are so much easier that I’d consider doing the drive again to take in the sights.
Fly Girl´s last blog ..Top 5 Most Beautiful Beaches
Sounds great. I would love to do a trip like that.
It really is amazing how fast technology is developing. Soon we will have universal access everywhere.
John Bardos – JetSetCitizen´s last blog ..Interview with Travel Writer, Anja Mutic
This does sound amazing. North America is so vast and has so many bril;liant things to see and enjoy.
Great stuff as always! One tack we took on our big Midwestern road trip this summer was to stay with family and friends. If you can, it’s a great way to go because they can give you “insider” tours of their favorite local attractions. And if you’re traveling with kids and they have kids, well, the trip turns into one big playdate and it can really compensate for the fact that you can’t carry a lot of toys with you.
This works well for us because my husband does not like to camp. Since he’s perfect in just about every other way, I think I’ll keep him.
Mara´s last blog ..Halloween treats around the globe
Melissa:
I’ve taken many long road trips through the east coast and some of the west coast. Since I live right in the middle of the U.S., I guess I took half cross country trips. Some of my trips was taken with a toddler (4/5 years old). He is pretty good when it comes to traveling as he’s traveled on long trips for most of his life. The few things that we have to keep him entertain in his car is a car DVD player, kids music, games for the road (ex: find a landmark or a certain street sign, etc.), and a comfortable pillow/blanket/toy to hold on to when he sleeps. We also get him excited about the trip and what he’ll get to do/see (ex: swimming in the hotel pool/beach if he loves water or visiting a zoo, etc).
yeah, the blog is really holding exciting features.
Thanks Robyn and NP! I appreciate the tips. I am due anyday so how I travel is about to change:)
Melissa´s last blog ..Photo of the Day: Christmas in the Caribbean
Christine, I’m heading out on a road trip next summer from Seattle to New Mexico. It will be my last domestic trip before we head out for South America. Since I’ll be going by myself i was considering couch surfing, but it sounds like campgrounds would be a good option, too. I didn’t even realize they had rental cabins.
How did you find such great deals? Is there a site you used, or did you find places as you drove through? Did you haggle on price or pay what was listed? The campground sites I’ve found are all quite a bit more than what you’ve listed.
Thanks for the great info!
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Christine,
I was wondering how long it took you to make the trek through Canada to Alaska. My hubby and I are total adventure junkies and would love to venture out on a slow road trip but unfortunately we would probably have a time limit due to our jobs. Could you do it comfortably in a 3 weeks, a month? I want to get planning!
Thanks
Alesha,
It’s about 3 days of straight driving, so however much you break it up is up to you. I think 3 weeks would be fine. Remember there is only one road, in and out so you’re backtracking for much of the trip. So we split up some of the stops for the way out as well so we’d have things to do besides drive
.
Good luck!
I never tried traveling onto the ends of America, to Canada and back again. Maybe I’ll do it if I’ve already save enough money for the expenses. Lol, now I’m getting excited with the trip.
I still prefer paper maps – would be lost couple times in Australians woods without it. Can’t trust computers 100%
Vi @ Travel Tips´s last blog ..Whale watching Sydney: 2009 season whale sightings update
Consider motorcycle travel. Experience the world, the changes in temperature, the smells, etc. don’t just look at it out the window of a car. Here’s a link that take you everywhere from the next town to around the world. See the “Ride Reports” section. You’ll probably be amazed.
http://www.advrider.com/forums/
Ray´s last blog ..Wtf!?
Thanks for the great tip about camping and RVing. I hate budget motels; they’re normally so dirty. But, I have yet to try those out, so this will be cool.
Lis´s last blog ..How to Socialize – Colin Wright Interview