USA Roadtrip - Coast to Coast, Tips?

jamesfinch

Hi guys, any help anyone could give on this subject would be much appreciated!

A friend and I are planning a road trip across the USA for the summer of 2010, we have anything up to two months to spend out there (ideally closer to one).

The plan is to take in as much of America; cities, natural wonders, culture, as is possible without going too far out of our way from NYC to San Francisco. Obviously we have lots of time to do the trip, so we can make significant detours nontheless.

A couple of specific questions firstly:

- car hire for under 23s (but over 21s), how easy? Could we do something similar to the "Autodrivaway" thing (taking someone's car across America for the them), they have it only open to 23+.

- hotels/motels, how much are likely to spend? Would rather not be in anywhere too grim, and camping isn't really a possibility.

Any advice re routes, stuff not to miss, other threads that are useful would be much appreciated!

Thanks

sturll

jamesfinch wrote: »

Hi guys, any help anyone could give on this subject would be much appreciated!

A friend and I are planning a road trip across the USA for the summer of 2010, we have anything up to two months to spend out there (ideally closer to one).

The plan is to take in as much of America; cities, natural wonders, culture, as is possible without going too far out of our way from NYC to San Francisco. Obviously we have lots of time to do the trip, so we can make significant detours nontheless.

A couple of specific questions firstly:

- car hire for under 23s (but over 21s), how easy? Could we do something similar to the "Autodrivaway" thing (taking someone's car across America for the them), they have it only open to 23+.

- hotels/motels, how much are likely to spend? Would rather not be in anywhere too grim, and camping isn't really a possibility.

Any advice re routes, stuff not to miss, other threads that are useful would be much appreciated!

Thanks

Motels/Hotels walkup tend to be around $40 - $60 for bog standard. - But remember, the standard of basic is far less than over here. For a hotel of a Premier Inn standard you are looking at $60 - $100

Obviously it does vary, but if you budgeted as i said for basic you wouldn't go far wrong. Expect to pay more in major cities.

Look at:
Days Inn
Motel 6
Super 8
Wyndham

To get some idea. Or if like me you prefer a bit of panache where you stay try Hampton Inn, Garden Inn.

In terms of driving it takes far less time to go farther than in the UK. In terms of distance 500 miles can be done in a day in most states but any more and you are pushing it. That said its very easy to sit at 100mph and not be bothered whilst out in the deserts and plains.

Route:

If it were me id fly into Boston, down to Washington DC via NYC, Down to Atlanta and Memphis, across to Las Vegas via Grand Canyon, to Los Angeles and then up to San Francisco.

If you go for 2 months then head up to Chicago from Atlanta then down to Vegas via Denver.

Throw in all the usual sites, plus Lynchburg TN (Jack Daniels) a few Six Flags and you'll have a great time.

Have fun

ferf1223

can't help on the car rental thing - you may struggle given your age.

on motels - prices will obviously vary by area, but on most US interstate routes you will run across tons of national chain motels which will serve your purposes...Motel 6, Super 8, Econolodge and the like. My rule whenever we were roadtripping was not to stop unless we could see it from the road before we took the exit...we once stopped somewhere in Indiana which was marked on the sign for the exit, but was a loooong way from the exit itself...and it was the closest thing to the Bates Motel I have ever stayed in in my entire life. The friend I was with wouldn't let her daughter walk on the carpet without shoes, for example.

What we normally did was to pick up a guide from each hotel chain we stayed at - they will list all their locations nationally...so if you're ready to stop for the night you can have a look at the map in the guides to see what's coming up and estimated rates. We would normally have an approximate idea where we wanted to stop but sometimes didn't make it as far as planned or sometimes pushed on.

Obviously lodging in larger cities will be different (though many chains will have locations there too).

Last time I did a roadtrip was way before Priceline, but if you'll have access to the internet it's possible you could get some good deals for a night or two out that way...I'm not sure how many of the interstate motels participate though.

I would always suggest a stop in Vegas, but that's just me.

cactusdust

Me and my family did a similar trip in 2006.. but from San Francisco to Vancouver, Canada.

We found Best Westerns were usually a good branch of hotel.. and we went with a loyalty card, so had quite a lot of points from each branch, which we've redeemed since on other stays.

gemmacarolyn

- car hire for under 23s (but over 21s), how easy? Could we do something similar to the "Autodrivaway" thing (taking someone's car across America for the them), they have it only open to 23+.

Car hire for under 25s is very expensive in the US unfortunately I fly there frequently, and occasionally hire a car. It's very easy to actually hire the car, but since I am still under 25, I'm normally stung with a $25 PER DAY underage driver fee! This is variable, and very occasionaly companies will do promotions where they wave this fee (Hertz did one in January.) You can get amazing deals on car hire, but with the surcharge it just works out as ridiculous money, although every car hire company is different . Have you thought about flights across America, the train, or greyhound? Internal flights can be quite cheap (And actually a good way to see the beauty of the Plains!), and the train is a very comfortable way to travel, although very very slow!

M4RKM

If you're thinking of starting somewhere, make sure your starting point is a reasonable way out of a major city, this way the rental price will be a lot lot lower.

DKLS

I would suggest doing the trip with an accompanying V8 soundtrack, but your age probably puts that option out.

When I do this trip I want to do it in an American Muscle Car.

tingtong

Best tip I can give is get yourself on this forum below:

http://www.roadtripamerica.com/forum/

Probably won't see you back on here for a while, there's that much info on there - hope it goes well !