Name:
Period:
Travel Project - 6th grade
For this project, you get to plan a trip somewhere in continental U.S. and will
calculate the cost of traveling to this destination. Your completed project will
include a completed packet and a typed, multi-paragraph essay which
answers the following questions:







Where did you go? Why?
Who did you take with you? Why?
What vehicle did you drive? Why?
According to MapQuest, how long is your trip?
How much did it cost to fuel your vehicle?
How much did it cost you to eat while on the road?
If your trip takes a day or more, how much did it cost you to stay in a
hotel?
At the end of the project, you will have calculated your overall budget for both
one-way and round trips to your chosen destination. You may complete this
project by yourself, or with a partner as long as you both complete your own
packets.
Please complete this packet step-by-step so you don't miss
anything and make sure to go in order!
Thank you and……..
Step 1:
Choose a state and city for your destination. It must be in the continental U.S. (this
excludes Alaska and Hawaii. You can use the map below to help guide your decision. This
step will require some research as to which city you may want to visit and you must explain
why you want to go there. (For example, what sites will you visit? Do you have family and
friends there? Are there outside sports you want to take part in? Is there a theme park
you’d like to visit? Etc…)
City name:
State name:
In the red box, write 4 – 5 complete sentences which include:


A topic sentence telling where you are going (1 sentence)
3 specific places you plan on visiting or 3 things you plan on doing when you get here (3
sentences)

A closing sentence (1 sentence)
Step 2:
Choose a person or people you’d like to accompany you on this trip. Want to take mom and
dad? Great! Want to take sister and brother? Fine! Want to take your best friend?
Awesome! Just make sure you can all fit in one vehicle, so you can take a MAXIMUM of 6
people. You should take AT LEAST one other person with you for safety reasons, even if
this is a hypothetical (as in not necessarily real) situation. After you complete your list, you
must explain why you decided to include that person or people. (Yes, you can take pets as
well.  )
Who are you going to take on your trip? List them in the blue box below as a
complete sentence.
In the red box, write 4 – 5 complete sentences which include:



A topic sentence listing who you are going to take on your trip (1 sentence.)
At least 3 good reasons as to why you picked these people (3 sentences)
o Example: Are they funny? Good drivers? Can come up with fun games?
A closing sentence (1 sentence)
Step 3:
Choose a vehicle that you want to use for your trip. Note your choice by putting a BOX
around the vehicle pictured below. It would be wise to choose a vehicle with high fuel
economy which means that the vehicle gets many miles per gallon of gas. For example, a
vehicle that gets 16 mpg (miles per gallon) is less efficient than a vehicle that gets 26 mpg.
This step will require you to research different vehicles described below and then you must
explain why you chose that vehicle. Note: No limos or charter/school buses, utility vans,
monster trucks, etc.





Sedan (an average 4 door car, could be sport or coupe – 2 door)
SUV (sport utility vehicle)
Crossover (cross between a car and an SUV, usually)
Van (usually a 7 passenger vehicle)
Truck (seats 2 or 5 with extended cab)
Sedan or Coupe
SUV
Van
Crossover
Truck
Now, continue on to the next page and keep answering questions to complete
Step 3.
Step 3 (cont.):
Now, go online and research which MAKE and MODEL of vehicle you want and write your
choice below. For example: Toyota (Make) and Corolla (Model) would be the make and
model for a specific type of car. Don’t forget to include the average MPG (miles per gallon)
your vehicle gets on the highway and the fuel tank capacity (which means how many
gallons of gas your tank will hold). This information will be VERY important later when we
start the budget calculations! You will also need to add picture of your vehicle below.
Make:
Model:
MPG (highway):
Fuel Tank Capacity (in gallons, round up):
Click inside this box, delete the text, and
then insert a screen shot clipping of your
vehicle.
In the red box, write 4 – 5 complete sentences which include:

A topic sentence with the make and model of the vehicle you chose (1 sentence)

At least 3 good reasons why you picked that particular vehicle (3 sentences)
o Example: Does it get good gas mileage? Is it safe? Comfortable?
A closing sentence (1 sentence)

Step 4:
During this step, you must use a website called MapQuest to determine how many miles
there are between your home address and your destination address. To get the destination
address, do a Google search for “Hotels in [insert your city and state name here].” Then,
pick a hotel in that location and use this address as your ending destination. Don’t forget to
copy this address in the box above your screen shot!
Open a webpage and go to this address:
www.mapquest.com
Here is what the screen will look like once you are routed to the above address.
Follow the instructions in the boxes with the arrows to complete this step.
Click GET DIRECTIONS.
Step 4 (continued):
In the top box, “Where are you starting”, type your
home address.
In the bottom box, “Where are you going”, type
your destination address.*
Then click GET DIRECTIONS.
*Remember that this will be a hotel address in the city/state you chose.
Step 4 (continued):
Now, it is your turn to complete these same steps using MapQuest. After you click “Get
Directions”, choose the shortest suggested route. Don’t forget to copy and paste your hotel
address into the box above the screen shot!
Type the number of miles in the box below (before the word “miles”). Round to the nearest
whole number.
Type the travel time (before the word “hours”).Round to the nearest hour. (* You will use
this number later in Step 7.)
miles
hours
Hotel Address:
Click inside this box, delete the text, and then insert a screen shot clipping of the MAP part of your
MapQuest screen.
Now, fill in the red box below with the information you collected in this step!
Using the map quest website, I have calculated that my trip is ________
miles and will take me __________ hours to complete. I will need to stop for
gas, food, and possibly hotels to complete my trip, all of which costs money.
In the following paragraphs I will explain how I will budget my money in order
to complete this trip.
Step 5 – Gas Budget:
Here are all the variables we’ll need to work with to perform the calculations for this
part of the project. Fill in the BLANK boxes only.
1. The MPG (miles per gallon) of your car – This can be found in Step 3. Type it
into this box:
2. The fuel tank capacity of your car – This can also be found in Step 3. Type it
into this box:
3. The total mileage of your trip – This is found on the previous page in Step 4.
Type it into this box:
4. Current price of gas per gallon – We will estimate this number. Find it in the
box below (don’t change the price):
$ 2.00 / gallon
Step 5 – Gas Budget:
Now, we need to manipulate the variables in Step 4 to perform various calculations
in order to figure out the gas budget for your trip. To figure out the cost of gas for
your one-way trip. You need to complete the following steps:
Step 1:
MPG X
gallons =
(Fuel tank capacity)
miles
(Miles per tank full tank of gas)
Now, fill in the red box below with the information you collected in this step!
I can travel _______ miles with a full tank of gas when driving my
MAKE, MODEL.
Step 2:
gallons X
$2.00
gallon =
$
(Fuel tank capacity)
Now, fill in the red box below with the information you collected in this step!
I will spend $________ for one full tank of gas.
Step 3a:
My trip
=
miles
Full tank =
miles
Step 3b:
Choose which comparison symbol should be used. Delete the other symbol.
<
(My trip miles)
>
(Full tank miles)
Note: YOU WILL ONLY COMPLETE ONE OF THE RED BOXES BELOW, NOT BOTH!
If your trip miles are LESS THAN your fuel tank miles, then use the total from Step 2 in your
calculations and use the framework below for your explanation:
If my trip is _____miles, and my tank will allow me to drive _____ miles
when full, then one full tank of gas will allow me to get to my destination.
Therefore, my budget for gas for a one-way trip is $_______.
If your trip miles are MORE THAN, complete this section to determine how many times you
need to fill up and how that will affect your overall gas budget:
1. Take your trip miles and divide it by your full tank miles.
2. When you get your answer, round UP to the nearest whole number.
3. Take the amount of money you’ll spend to fill your tank once from Step 2 and multiply
it by the number of times you need to fill up.
If my trip is _____miles, and my tank will allow me to drive _____ miles
when full, then one full tank of gas will not allow me to get to my
destination. Therefore, I will need to fill up _____ times and my budget for
gas for a one-way trip is $_______.
Total Gas Budget
$
Step 6 – Food Budget:
Not only will you have to feed your car, but you will also need to feed yourself on the trip.
The first step in determining your food budget is to identify one restaurant you like to eat at.
The place you choose should be a franchise that you would find at most exits such as
McDonalds, Burger King, Chipotle, Friendly’s, etc.
Once you have picked your restaurant, type the name in the box below and put a picture of
the store’s logo next to it.
Insert picture
of restaurant
logo here!
We will assume that you will be hungry once every 200 miles and will need to stop at a
restaurant to eat, and perhaps, take a potty break (which are FREE…yay and thank
goodness!).  So, first let’s determine how many times you’ll stop on your trip using the
steps below.
1. Take your total trip miles and divide it by 200. Then round to the nearest whole
number (you don’t want a remainder)
a. For example: 402 ÷ 200 = 2.1.
b. 2.1 will round to 2.
 I will stop two times for food while traveling to my destination.
Now, it’s YOUR turn to determine how many times you’ll stop.
miles ÷ 200 =
Step 6 (cont.) – Food Budget:
Now that you know how many times you need to stop, you have to figure out how much
money to budget for food for your trip. In order to do this, you need to complete some online
research in order to locate a restaurant menu with prices. Once you find the menu, put a
picture below of the meal you chose along with the price. Round the price to the nearest
dollar!
Insert a picture of your meal here.
$
Now that you picked out your meal, multiply the price of your meal by the amount of times
you have to stop.
Total Food Budget
$
x
=
$
(price of the meal) (number of times you stop)
Now, fill in the red box below with the information you collected in this step!
For food, I will stop at _________________ on my trip. At this
restaurant, I will order _______________, which costs approximately
$________. I will need to stop _____ times on my trip to eat, so my
budget for food for a one-way trip is $_______.
Step 7 – Hotel Budget**:
**Please note that not everyone will need a hotel budget. Some of you will be able to make
it to your destination in one day. However, some of you will be traveling too far to make it in
a day and will, therefore, need to stay in a hotel for a night or two. Here is how you determine
if a hotel stay is needed for your trip.
First, copy and paste your hours of travel time from Step 4 above into the box below:
hour(s)
There are 24 hours in a day, 12 of which can be used for travel time and 12 of which should
be used for sleeping! Therefore, if your trip is longer than 12 hours, you will need to complete
this step. If your trip is less than 12 hours, you can skip to Step 8.
Here are the steps for determining how many days you’ll need to stay in a hotel:
1. Take your total travel time hours and divide that number by 12.
a. For example: If my total travel time is 48 hours, I’ll take 48 and divide it by 12.
b. 48 ÷ 12 = 4
 If I travel for 48 hours, and I spend 12 hours a day driving, then I will
need to stay in a hotel for 4 nights in order to complete my trip.
Now it is your turn to determine how many nights you’ll need to stay at a hotel.
Complete the calculation below, make sure to round DOWN:
hours ÷ 12 =
nights in a hotel
Step 7 (cont.) – Hotel Budget:
So, now that you know how many days you need to stay overnight in a hotel, you’ll need to
find out what the rate will be for your stay. You will need to complete some research in
order to determine this. Go online and find the hotel you used before (if you don’t’
remember the address, refer to the screen clipping of MapQuest you inserted in Step 4
above.)
Type your hotel address into the box below then copy/paste it into your Google search box
in order to locate the hotel. (You can copy your hotel address from Step 4!)
Your hotel address:
Insert a picture of your hotel here.
Check out the “Rooms & Rates” for your hotel and type the price for one room
for a night in the box below. Put the total in the box below.
$
per night
Now, take that room rate and multiply it by the number of days you’ll have to
stay overnight to determine your total hotel budget:
Total Hotel Budget
$
x
=
$
Now, fill in the red box below with the information you collected in this step!
If I travel for _______ hours, and I spend 12 hours a day driving, then I
will need to stay in a hotel for _______ nights in order to complete my
trip. My total budget for hotel stays is $_______.
Step 8 – Total Budget:
Now you are ready to calculate your entire budget for your one-way trip.
Type your totals from the boxes above into the boxes below:
Total Gas Budget
$
Total Food Budget
Total Hotel Budget
$
$
Add all of these numbers together and type your entire budget into the total
box below:
Total Travel Budget
$
One way trip
Total Travel Budget
X2=
$
Round trip
(There and back)
Now, fill in the red box below with the information you collected in this step!
When I combine the money I have budgeted for gas, food, and a hotel,
my overall travel budget for this trip one way is $______. Assuming I
will require the same amount of gas, food, and hotel stays on the way
back, my budget for a round trip is $_______.
Step 9 – Essay:
The final section is for your essay. This essay needs to include all of the paragraphs and
sentences you typed throughout this packet. Look back and you should copy and paste all
of the information from the RED boxes to form your essay on the next blank page. You will
need to write your own introduction paragraph and add a conclusion sentence to the final
paragraph. If you need help with this part, I will assist you. You can also read the example
essay written by Ms. Reina if you need help (located on the next page.)
My Travel Project Essay
By: insert your name here
Write an introductory paragraph here
Copy and Paste paragraph from Step 1 here
Copy and Paste paragraph from Step 2 here
Copy and Paste paragraph from Step 3 here
Copy and Paste paragraph from Step 4 here
Copy and Paste paragraph from Step 5 here
Copy and Paste paragraph from Step 6 here
Copy and Paste paragraph from Step 7 here (if you completed this step)
Copy and Paste paragraph from Step 8 here and add a conclusion sentence.
Ms. Reina’s EXAMPLE TRAVEL PROJECT
Taking a trip across America may seem like an amazing idea, but it definitely can cost a
lot of money! It is very important to calculate your expenses to make sure you can afford the
trip before you go!
For my trip, I am traveling from Highland, NY all the way to San Francisco, California!
This incredible city has a lot of tourist attractions such as the Golden Gate Bridge, catching a
baseball game at AT&T Park, and visiting the Golden Gate Park! On top of that, you can take a
tour of the city on cable cars! If that’s not reason enough, the average temperature in San
Francisco during New York’s winter months is 60 degrees! That sure beats fifteen degrees!
Who wouldn’t want to go to this beautiful city?
Seeing as though I will be driving cross country, I definitely want to take some people
with me! Ms. Bertone and Ms. Neenan will be taking the trip, too! These two ladies will be
great vacation buddies because we all love the same music and will be singing so much it’ll feel
like the miles are just flying by! They are both really safe drivers as well for when I need to
take a break from driving. Not only that, they’ve both been to California before so they will
be great tour guides! I’m getting so exciting for this trip!
It is very important to take a dependable car on a road trip, especially one this long!
We will be driving a 2014 Acura MDX…in gray! This car has a lot of space for our belongings
and we will be very comfortable on this long trip! It gets 28 highway miles per gallon with a
fuel tank capacity of 19.5. When researching this vehicle, I found that it received almost all 5
stars for safety! Not only is this car dependable and spacious, we will be very safe on our
journey to California!
I took out my trusty calculator to determine how much gas will cost me. I can travel
546 miles with a full tank of gas when driving my Acura MDX. I will have to spend $47.78 for
a full tank of gas. If my trip is 2,930 miles, and my tank will allow me to drive 546 miles when
full, then one tank of gas will not allow me to get to my destination. Therefore, I will need to
fill up 6 times and my budget for gas for a one-way trip is $286.68. Let’s hope my road trip
buddies chip in!
This trip is getting expensive already and I haven’t even calculated the food budget!
Since my trip is going to take almost 45 hours, we’re going to have to make a few stops. If I
assume that we will be hungry every 200 miles, then we will have to make 15 stops on the way
to California. Our favorite restaurant is Chipotle and an average meal of a delicious chicken
burrito and regular soft drink costs about $7.85. If I stop 15 times for food while traveling
to my destination, my total food budget for the trip is $117.75. Yikes!
We will be traveling through many different states on our way to California. Since this
trip will take us multiple days, we will need to stop at hotels on the way so we can catch up on
our sleep! If we only spend 12 hours a day driving, making sure we aren’t too tired and staying
safe, we would need to stay over at a hotel for four nights. An average hotel rate is $263 per
night. Therefore, staying at a hotel for four nights will cost me a hefty $1,052! My wallet is
feeling awfully empty!
When I combine the money I have budgeted for gas, food, and a hotel, my overall
travel budget for this trip is $1,456.43! Assuming I will require the same amount of gas, food,
and hotel stays on the way back, my budget for a round trip is $2,912.86! That doesn’t even
include the amount of money I will be spending once I finally get to California! Who knew just
how expensive a trip across the country could be? I better start saving now!
Name: _____________________
TRAVEL PROJECT RUBRIC – Step 7 Not Needed
3 points
2 points
Period: _____________________
1 point
0 points
Packet:
Student completed all of
the sections in Step 1.
Student completed ½ of
the sections in Step 1.
Student completed all of
the sections in Step 2.
Student completed ½ of
the sections in Step 2.
Student completed all of
the sections in Step 3.
Student completed ½ of
the sections in Step 3.
Student completed all of
the sections in Step 4.
Student completed ½ of
the sections in Step 4.
Student completed all of
the sections in Step 5.
Student completed ½ of
the sections in Step 5.
Student completed all of
the sections in Step 6.
Student completed ½ of
the sections in Step 6.
Student completed all of
the sections in Step 8.
Student completed ½ of
the sections in Step 8.
Student did minimal
work on the sections in
Step 1.
Student did minimal
work on the sections in
Step 2.
Student did minimal
work on the sections in
Step 3.
Student did minimal
work on the sections in
Step 4.
Student did minimal
work on the sections in
Step 5.
Student did minimal
work on the sections in
Step 6.
Student did minimal
work on the sections in
Step 8.
Student did not complete
any sections in Step 1.
Student did not complete
any sections in Step 2.
Student did not complete
any sections in Step 3.
Student did not complete
any sections in Step 4.
Student did not complete
any sections in Step 5.
Student did not complete
any sections in Step 6.
Student did not complete
any sections in Step 8.
Essay:
Student completed essay
by copying and pasting
all information from the
blue boxes into the body
of the essay.
Student completed the
essay by copying and
pasting most of the
information from the
blue boxes into the body
of the essay.
Student completed the
essay to copying and
pasting a minimal
amount of information
from the blue boxes into
the body of the essay.
Student did not copy and
paste any information
from the blue boxes into
the body of the essay.
Student used proper
spelling, grammar, and
punctuation throughout
the entire essay.
Student had minimal
errors in spelling,
grammar, and
punctuation.
Student had multiple
errors in spelling,
grammar, and
punctuation.
Errors in spelling,
grammar, and
punctuation were so
profound that the
teacher could not
understand the content.
Students removed all
underlining from words
and formatted the essay
so that the same font
type, size, and spacing
was used throughout the
entire essay.
Student failed to remove
underlining from words
or did not format the
essay to have the same
font type, size, and
spacing.
Student failed to remove
underlining from words
and also did not format
the essay to have one of
the following: same font
type, size, and spacing.
Student did not remove
underlining from words
and also did not format
the essay in any way.
Points: ______ / 30
Name: _____________________
TRAVEL PROJECT RUBRIC – Step 7 Completed
3 points
2 points
Period: _____________________
1 point
0 points
Packet:
Student completed all of
the sections in Step 1.
Student completed all of
the sections in Step 2.
Student completed all of
the sections in Step 3.
Student completed all of
the sections in Step 4.
Student completed all of
the sections in Step 5.
Student completed all of
the sections in Step 6.
Student completed all of
the sections in Step 7.
Student completed all of
the sections in Step 8.
Student completed essay
by copying and pasting
all information from the
blue boxes into the body
of the essay.
Student did minimal
work on the sections in
Step 1.
Student did minimal
Student completed ½ of
work on the sections in
the sections in Step 2.
Step 2.
Student did minimal
Student completed ½ of
work on the sections in
the sections in Step 3.
Step 3.
Student did minimal
Student completed ½ of
work on the sections in
the sections in Step 4.
Step 4.
Student did minimal
Student completed ½ of
work on the sections in
the sections in Step 5.
Step 5.
Student did minimal
Student completed ½ of
work on the sections in
the sections in Step 6.
Step 6.
Student did minimal
Student completed ½ of
work on the sections in
the sections in Step 7.
Step 7.
Student did minimal
Student completed ½ of
work on the sections in
the sections in Step 8.
Step 8.
Essay:
Student completed the
Student completed the
essay by copying and
essay to copying and
pasting most of the
pasting a minimal
information from the
amount of information
blue boxes into the body from the blue boxes into
of the essay.
the body of the essay.
Student completed ½ of
the sections in Step 1.
Student did not complete
any sections in Step 1.
Student did not complete
any sections in Step 2.
Student did not complete
any sections in Step 3.
Student did not complete
any sections in Step 4.
Student did not complete
any sections in Step 5.
Student did not complete
any sections in Step 6.
Student did not complete
any sections in Step 7.
Student did not complete
any sections in Step 8.
Student did not copy and
paste any information
from the blue boxes into
the body of the essay.
Student used proper
spelling, grammar, and
punctuation throughout
the entire essay.
Student had minimal
errors in spelling,
grammar, and
punctuation.
Student had multiple
errors in spelling,
grammar, and
punctuation.
Errors in spelling,
grammar, and
punctuation were so
profound that the
teacher could not
understand the content.
Students removed all
underlining from words
and formatted the essay
so that the same font
type, size, and spacing
was used throughout the
entire essay.
Student failed to remove
underlining from words
or did not format the
essay to have the same
font type, size, and
spacing.
Student failed to remove
underlining from words
and also did not format
the essay to have one of
the following: same font
type, size, and spacing.
Student did not remove
underlining from words
and also did not format
the essay in any way.
Points: ______ / 33