Road Trip

You may work alone or with a partner on this project.  

You're going to plan a  Road Trip for yourself and one to three friends.  You'll pick a departure & arrival date.   This Road Trip is a driving trip, so stick to the continental United States.

The scenario:  You have a rich uncle.  He will pay for your trip as long as you plan your expenses & make a presentation to convince him.  Therefore you'll make a PowerPoint presentation explaining your trip, and also an Excel spreadsheet that documents your budget. 

Step 1: Choose a destination.  Get rough driving instructions from Lansing to your destination.  (Yahoo Maps is good for this). 

As you begin collecting information, use Word to take some notes.  Make sure to copy and paste web addresses of websites you visit.  Name this Word file "rough draft".  You will be asked to submit your rough draft about halfway during the course of this project.

Here's a few ideas:  

  • Cedar Point
  • Disneyworld, Disneyland
  • Grand Canyon
  • Las Vegas
  • Miami Beach  

The more detailed you plan your trip, the more credit you'll get.  If you pick a trip like Cedar Point, you might not be able to get very detailed.

Step 2:  Rough out your itinerary.  You will be leaving the Monday after school gets out.  That means that you'll be leave Monday, June 18th and arrive back on Sunday, June 24th.  Break down your seven days.   How much will you need at both ends of the week for driving?  Where will you be staying each night.  What's the address of each hotel/motel, what are the rates?

Remember to copy/paste the URLs of all websites you visit.

Here's an example of a rough itinerary

DisneyWorld Trip
Monday Driving Lansing to Atlanta---hotel
Tuesday Driving Atlanta to Orlando--hotel
Wednesday Disney World
Thursday Disney World
Friday Disney World
Saturday Driving Orlando to Atlanta
Sunday Driving Atlanta to Orlando

Step 3:  Get costs for everything.   You'll have to budget everything--you're not using any credit cards.

Get driving instructions & mileage.  

When will you arrive at your destination?   You need a hotel for overnight.  Check the rates.

When you arrive at your destination what will you do?  Where will you visit?  What are the hours?  How much is admission?

Final Outputs
You will have a minimum of two final products.  One will be an Excel Spreadsheet which will itemize your budget.  The other output will be PowerPoint presentation.

Spreadsheet

One of your final outputs will be an Excel spreadsheet.  You will probably itemize the following categories:

  • Gas
  • Lodging
  • Meals
  • Admissions
  • Souvenirs

The bottom line is the Grand Total.  What will it cost you and your friends?