Yay! We are on the road. We plan to be gone about 6 weeks, and it’s important to me that we have an overview of where we’re going and when. I don’t need to plan every detail, I’m a big picture kind of gal. I find that RVParky suits my needs perfectly.
It’s important to know what kind of travel planner you are in order to find the right tool for you.
#1 = all you know is you’re headed West
#3 = you have major stops mapped and scheduled
#5 = you have reservations for every night, and every turn is mapped out in your GPS
There are several popular road-trip planning tools out there
- RVParky – $20/year
- Roadtrippers – free for up to 7 stops, part of RoadPass Pro $36/year
- RVTripWizard – part of RV Life Pro $65/year
- Furkot.com – free, $15/year for special features
I use RVParky for my planning. I love how easy it is to add stops, set the number of nights we’ll stay there and then see exactly when we will reach our next destination. For example, here is the first week of our current trip. Notice the driving time and mileage in between stops and the Dates and number of nights at each stop. Those are exactly the things I want to know when planning my trip.
Did you also notice the “Auto-Split” button? There is a setting for how many miles you want to travel in a day. If your plan goes over that number, the Auto-Split button appears. When you click that, RVParky marks a spot exactly halfway to the next destination. Then you can click the “Find a place to stay” and add a night stay.
You can even click on any of the dates and see a simple calendar showing where you plan to be on each day.
I do most of my planning using RVParky on a computer thru the website, it is also an app on Android devices and iOS devices. All 3 versions allow you to view your trip in the list view and a map view. The calendar view is not availabel on iOS yet.
Here’s the map view:
I find that we almost never stick to a plan, so I also love how easy it is to delete/change/add stops on RVParky and all the mileage and dates are recalculated immediately.
See this past article about RVParky: Travel Planning: Calculating Dates It also includes a video showing exactly how to use the website.
What about you?
What kind of traveler are you? Do you need every detail planned? Or do you just go? What trip planning tools work for you? Please leave a comment below.
About the author: Chris Guld has been teaching technology since 1983. Since 2010 her focus is on travel, smartphones, maps, and photography. You can get her current book: Learn Google Photos at Amazon. Chris is a Diamond Level Google Product Expert in Google Photos.
From 2003-2017 she traveled the country in an RV with her husband, Jim offering technology seminars at RV rallies, computer clubs, and senior centers. Now they travel the world and continue teaching on their website, GeeksOnTour.com, over Zoom, and on their YouTube channel. Specializing in the use of Google Photos, Chris teaches people how to get control of the thousands of photos and videos taken with both phones and cameras these days. She is designated by Google as a Diamond leve Product Expert for Google Photos.
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I, too, use RVParky, ever since it came out. I don’t go as in-depth with it as you do – I use it to locate places to overnight near where I have planned to stop, or to find someplace to stop if we travel beyond our original destination. I also use RV Trip Wizard to verify the route I have planned is “RV friendly”, since I don’t rely on an RV-specific GPS. I still rely on paper AAA maps and highlighters!!!
Thanks for the tips on using RVParky – I’ll check it out. I miss Microsoft Streets & Trips!!
Ha! We loved Streets and Trips too. We have lots of how-to videos on it. Worthless now 🙁