What About Online Trip Planners?
Online trip planners seem like they would be the most awesome way to plan a trip. And, for routing, they are quite helpful. I actually have three different apps that I've tried.
The first is AAA Trip Tik. I have used this for years to plan car trips and it has been my "go-to" for route planning. Since I am most familiar with AAA's planner, it tends to be the baseline for comparing other online planners.
When we bought our RV, we also bought a Good Sam membership - which includes an online trip planner. And, after traveling in an RV for three years, I added "RV Trip Wizard" to my trip planning arsenal.
With all that electronic fire-power at my disposal, paper maps might seem to be obsolete. But, when a cell signal is weak (or non-existent) it's nice to have a paper back up so I tend to print out the trip - and keep an atlas in the RV!
I think what is most helpful about electronic planners is that they show you options for so many parts of your trip. From campgrounds and fuel stations to attractions and restaurants all the online planners give some information aside from the basic route.
You may be wondering which of the online planners I prefer. For me, each has its benefits.
Since AAA Trip Tik is so familiar, I tend to rely on it for much of my route planning. Yet, RV Trip Wizard has quite a bit to love as well. They have so many RV-specific filters that I have started using the tool more and more.
Good Sam is the least used of the three since it is limited in options, but as a baseline planner, it is easy to use and offers listings for all of their affiliated campgrounds, retail partners, and some private and public campgrounds.
Here's a quick summary of what I like and things I am not crazy about for each of the online planners;
AAA Trip Tik - I am so familiar with this tool that it is difficult to say how easy it would be for newcomers to use. It seems pretty straightforward: I put in the starting destination and the ending destination and it offers a route. I can adjust the route with a drag and drop interface or just add destinations through the search bar and it will adjust the route for me.
Of course, it offers turn-by-turn directions along with alerts for road conditions. One of its really terrific features is that it asks if I want to add driving breaks. I usually set the filter to show a stop for every two hours of driving and then work with the filters to find places to eat or find fuel.
It has a wide variety of filters to display fuel stations, attractions, hotels, restaurants, events, rental car locations, traffic, exits, rest stops, scenic stops, construction alerts, campgrounds, and parks, as well as a "savings" filter for AAA member discounts.
So, as I am planning the route, I can filter for fuel locations, campground options, and attractions without leaving the planner. As you hover over an item, it reveals the name and additional details about them.
As for the downside of AAA Trip Tik, it is not that intuitive to add destinations. Instead of something like a "plus" button you have to use the search bar and add them from the results. Not a big deal, but not as easy as Good Sam.
The filters don't always produce a full range of options. So, for instance, when I needed a rental car near West Yellowstone, I had to use the search bar rather than the "rental car" filter. Even then, I had to search for "Avis" before one came up in West Yellowstone (at the airport). That said, it is still a very useful tool.
RV Trip Wizard - This is still a new tool for me so I don't have the familiarity with it that I have for the AAA tool. Although it is fairly easy to use, it is a bit different than AAA Trip Tik. To start a trip you need to enter a starting point from a search box, but it does not ask for an ending point so, there is no "route" displayed.
Instead, you begin adding destinations and it calculates the route between those points as you go along. I like this format because it allows me to build the trip around attractions rather than an eventual destination. You can choose from attractions, places, campgrounds, or whatever to create the route.
Each place you add to the itinerary is editable so you can add notes, cost of tickets, or campground, and you can click through to find out more detailed information. And, each item on the itinerary can be moved by simply dragging and dropping a location description to adjust your route.
A pretty terrific feature RV Trip Wizard offers is a "running budget". As you build the itinerary, RV Trip Wizard calculates your fuel costs and campground fees keeping a running total of the cost of your trip.
It does not offer the driving break feature that Trip Tik offers but it does allow you to set a radius filter by either mileage or time so, in effect, it can do something similar.
RV Trip Wizard is geared to RV travel and it really shows in its filter options. Like AAA it offers all the filters for fuel, campgrounds, attractions, restaurants, etc. but it also offers RV specific filters for dump stations, low clearance hazards, and overnight parking locations - that is a big plus when you are on the road and need to stop before your planned campground.
Since it is unaffiliated, it shows all campgrounds, public, private, and membership. In fact, you can filter the campgrounds to show only the ones in your preferred membership club.
Good Sam - This is the most basic planner of the three. Put in your start and end destinations and it will calculate a route. You can easily add destinations and reorder your itinerary with a simple drag-and-drop interface.
There is not much to the "Things to Do" tab, but the message displayed there indicates there is more to come. At this time, Good Sam's affiliated retail outlets and campgrounds are listed along with just a few private or public parks (but not many!).
You can filter for each type to display on the map. It provides turn-by-turn directions that can be printed. And that's about it. No listings for restaurants or fuel or attractions, etc. Good Sam offers a road service benefit for an additional fee.
Which online planner is best for you will come down to technology preference and where you already have a membership. A Good Sam membership (which is very inexpensive - at this writing, it's $27 per year), includes its trip planner as part of the membership fee. It is quite simplistic and easy to use. It does a fine job of basic route planning but not much more.
If you are already a AAA member, travel planning is a part of your emergency road service membership. They offer an array of travel planning services from trip routing to air travel.
The Trip Tik online planner is just one segment of their member services. Their basic membership at this writing is $67 per year but their Plus membership to which you can add the RV option is $103 annually. Adding our 25-foot RV increased our membership fee by $40 per year.
Since AAA is primarily a road service that offers a wealth of other benefits - including a pretty nifty trip planner - the higher membership price is understandable.
RV Trip Wizard is a stand-alone trip planner without any other options. It is well priced considering its well-designed and equipped interface. There are no discount affiliations or road service options. But, as a trip planner, it excels in providing lots of information for RV travel.
And if you're wondering if we ever use Google Maps in our trip planning, the answer is, "of course!" We often do a lot of preliminary research on Google Maps before we use either of the other trip planners.
Google Maps allows us to plan routes, find reviews, and it's very handy when we are underway. If we need to detour, Google Maps can provide an alternate route "in-the-moment". I like that it also shows traffic conditions. As long as we have a cell signal, Google Maps is part of our trip.
There you have it. Three good tools to help with your trip planning. If you already have a membership to one of them, try out their online tools. (RV Trip Wizard has an online demo you can try even if you don't have a membership).
I recommend you give them a try and see how they help in your trip planning!
