Trip planning hiccups
We’re planning a trip to a couple of smaller towns in the Midwest. They’re pretty spread out, and the closest we can fly to our starting point (without paying a very large fortune to ride in a puddle jumper) is Denver. No problem, I thought, we’ll just rent a car in Denver and drive the remaining distance. Then we’ll rent one again when we’re ready to go to our next destination.
Well, there was just one leeettle problem with that plan.
Car rental companies do not like it when you want to drop off cars in small towns. So they charge you a LOT. We were looking at $450-$700 for a one day car rental.
Uh, ow.
Ok, I thought, we’ll take the bus or the train instead. I like trains anyway. But the train…why the train didn’t stop there. I found that almost as hard to believe as the car rental prices. No passenger train? From a major metropolitan area to a town that you constantly hear train whistles in? Ugh. On to the bus. Greyhound can get us in around midnight and cost around $200 for the one-way tickets. Not ideal, but better than nothing. Still, I kept looking. Eventually I found a shuttle that can get us there for less than Greyhound (and faster too) so that’s what we have booked. It just took some searching and asking around.
There are two points to this post. One, unplanned transportation expenses can really put a kink in your travel plans and budget. I made an assumption without even realizing that it was an assumption (that car rentals would be available and affordable). To combat assumptions and Murphy, it’s best to plan ahead and allow for extra money for unexpected expenses.
Two, we are WAY too dependent on airplanes and cars. Transportation within the small towns will be no problem, because heck, if worse comes to worse we can just walk around them. They’re not that big. But between them? Ouch. As gas prices continue to increase, cities and towns are going to get more and more isolated. The world will seem a whole lot bigger. That could be good or bad, or something of both, but it’s food for thought.
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July 13th, 2008 at 7:53 am
That’s some outrageous expenses. I do a bit of traveling myself and have run into the problem you had. I was surprised how expensive a bus trip would run. Good on you for finding the shuttle.
July 13th, 2008 at 8:10 pm
Better search the net for travel agencies near the place you want to visit and give them a call. This will allow you to ask them how to get to your destination in a more affordable and efficient way.