ROAD TRIP handbook N INTRODUCTION Overview Road trips have been a classic North American pastime for as long as there have been cars. U.S. Route 66 was one of the first cross-country highways, which allowed for uninterrupted travel from Chicago to Los Angeles from 1926 to 1985. Technological advancements in automobiles during the late 1930s and early 1940s allowed families to migrate westward as well as travel around the country for recreation. The increasing reliability of automobiles during the 1950s contributed to the rapid growth in their popularity, especially for leisure travel. The Trans-Canada Highway was completed in 1971 and allows continuous travel through Canada from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. This highway is over 8,000 kilometres in length, making it one of the longest national highways in the world. Canada and the United States share a 6,417 km long border, making it easy for Canadians to travel to many locations in the northern U.S.. The onset of road trips as vacation resulted from the increase of many businesses that catered to travellers, including roadside motels, restaurants and campgrounds. These services and the improvement in car speeds and comfort have made road trips very popular. Benefits of Travelling By Car Travelling remains one of the top interests for many people, regardless of the number of trips they’ve made in the past. They’re fun and relaxing, and also offer travellers an opportunity for cultural enhancement and mind-enriching experiences. A slow economy can make air or rail travel seem out of reach, but if you drive and rely on camping and other low-cost accommodations, you can reduce the expense of your vacation. The increase in the cost of gasoline in the summer still make travelling by car a cheaper option compared to flying or traveling by rail. The additional freedom and independence of using your own vehicle, as well as the ability to bring more belongings than you could on a plane, makes road trips preferable for many people. This kind of travel also allows you to stop whenever you wish, providing opportunities for rest, food and spontaneous side trips at your convenience. Road trips may also be easier to plan than other types of vacations, since they are typically limited by distance and time requirements rather than financial or scheduling ones. You can therefore plan a road trip more effectively before you set out as the distance and time needed for the trip is less subject to change than other parameters. Taking the most direct route between two points will save you time, but a less direct route may offer such benefits as cultural attractions, local sights, or simply a more scenic view. CHAPTER 1 How to Choose a Destination Personal Experiences Asking friends and family members about their own travel experiences is a great way to choose destinations for your road trip. Personal acquaintances are more likely to provide unbiased information on travel spots since they don't have any stake, financial or otherwise, in your selection. They may be better able to provide you with ideas and details that other sources overlook. Social media offers a great opportunity for networking, so let others know about your travel plans on such platforms such as Facebook or Twitter. There is a good chance you’ll get interesting responses from a large number of people who have visited or even live in one of your potential destinations and can offer you suggestions about attractions that are known to locals but don’t appear in official travel guides. Travellers who base their plans on the recommendations of friends and family members can avoid wasting time and money on bad food, expensive accommodations, or dangerous parts of town. Online Tools Online tools are valuable in helping you select travel destinations. These tools typically include a database of attractions along with their features: RoadsideAmerica.com Allows you to gather a list of your favorite tourist attractions such as historical landmarks, beaches, museums, national parks, bars and restaurants.You can add to your itinerary by clicking on the checkbox labeled “Add to My Sights” for that attraction and then print out a map or export it to your GPS device. These checkboxes are located throughout the RoadsideAmerica.com website, which also contains travel tips, stories and maps. RoadTripJourney.com Makes it easy to locate travel destinations when you enter the name, geographic location or other search criterias, and it provides you with an average user rating. The website also allows you to add an attraction, including its name, address and what type of attraction it is, to the database so that others can find it. Adding points of interest that you’ve enjoyed to RoadTripJourney.com makes it easy for others to discover new places and plan their own trips. RoadTrip Map Wizard Locates attractions along any route that you have generated by providing a starting and ending location, which can be specific addresses or cities, and then adds them to your map from its database. This website also has other tools and features for travellers, including a forum. CHAPTER 2 How to Plan Your Route Websites Many websites can provide a route for your road trip based on criteria that you provide. The following examples are some of the most popular route-planning websites: TRIPIT ROAD TRIP PLANNER Automatically generates your course, creates directions, provides local maps, and calculates your distance. You can access your itinerary from a mobile device by downloading a free app, as well as share your itinerary via email, Facebook and Twitter. It provides a powerful set of features for planning your road trip, such as a map with the most direct route between your starting point and your final destination. You can then add stops by dragging your path to a specific point with your mouse and releasing it. GOOGLE MAPS Provides a route, directions, and distance based on your starting and ending locations. You can enter the destination as an address or the name of a business and Google will generate ‘placemarks’ for it. Click on a ‘placemark’ to get specific information, like web page, address, phone number and hours of operation. Google Maps contains a large database of user reviews for many travel destinations, restaurants, hotels and other points of interest. TRIPADVISOR is a free online travel community with user-submitted reviews, advice, and mobile apps. This tool makes it easy for travellers to research and plan their trips and activities in destinations all over the world. Routes The best route for a road trip highly depends upon the activities in which you’re most interested. For example, If you like the seaside, you can find many beaches along the coast of British Columbia, such as Long Beach in the Pacific Rim National Park on Vancouver Island. Tribune Bay on Hornby Island requires you to take two ferries to get to it, but the extra travel time is worth it as water temperatures reach almost tropical levels during the summer. The Canadian Rockies, which extends through Alberta and British Columbia, offers many popular climbing locations. Mount Columbia in the Columbia Ice Field is the highest point in Alberta at 3,747 metres, and the second highest peak in the Canadian Rockies after Mount Robson. The northern limit of this mountain range is McGregor Pass at the intersection of the Kakwa and McGregor rivers. The southern point of the Canadian Rockies is the Crowsnest Pass between Alberta and British Columbia near the American border. Whitewater rafting is a common recreational activity in Canada, and the Kicking Horse River in southeastern British Columbia is one of the most popular places for this. The upper canyon is a class 3 to 4 whitewater run, while the middle and lower canyons are class 4 to 5 runs. The lower canyon is closed when the river reaches class 5. The Shubenacadie River is Nova Scotia’s largest river, which originates from the Shubenacadie Grand Lake and empties into the Bay of Fundy. The I Backpack Canada blog named the Shubenacadie one of the top five whitewater rivers in Canada. The Shubenacadie tidal bore forms waves of water that travel up the river. The biggest sets of waves are usually found in the narrow part of the river known as ‘The Killer K’ and attracts many thrill-seeking sea kayakers. Tips When driving through Canada, you should keep in mind several tips to ensure a safe and relaxing trip. THE SPEED LIMIT WILDLIFE AREA The speed limit along the Trans-Canada Highway Many routes in Canada pass through areas with varies quite a bit, from as low as 50 km/h on the wildlife, which can also limit your speed. The Vancouver Island section to as high as 110 km/h Icefields Parkway provides ample opportunities to through the straight, flat section of the prairies. Many spot animals such as bighorn sheep, black or grizzly scenic areas have a lower speed limit due to winding bears and elk, but the large size of these animals roads or wildlife, so it’s important to consider the can present a safety hazard, making it especially actual speed limit when calculating your driving time. important to observe wildlife crossing signs. EMERGENCY SUPPLIES THE WEATHER Remote roads in Canada often have long stretches Additional risks of Canadian road trips include the without gas stations or other services, making it accumulation of snow and ice in mountainous essential to ensure you have emergency supplies, regions, which can make some areas difficult to such as extra fuel, a spare tire and a jack, food, manoeuvre.