Help for booking a (family) US Road Trip.

Murphy_The_Cat

I've just returned from a family road trip to Maryland, Deleware, Virginia & Washington DC with Mrs Cat, our son (aged 7) & our daughter (aged 4) and whilst its fresh in my mind I thought that I would put onto MSE some of the things that helped make the last 2 and a bit weeks some of the best times of my life.

Whilst some of my thoughts are very much family/child related, thay may still be relevant for others.

Also, some of my suggestions aren't very MSE at all, but helped make the holioday as much fun as it was .

Before I start, this is for a road trip type holiday, if you are planning on going to (say) Orlando and are going to empty your wallet with Uncle Walt, then most of this thread will be irrelevant.

First off, prepare yourself that the holiday is probably going to cost you (a lot) more than you originally anticipated.

As its going to be a family holiday, have a family get together to find what each of you would like to do. Go around the table and only give up when you have lots of things on the to do list (you may be surprised as to what your children would like to to). & then divide your list into 'must do', would really like to' & 'would be nice if we could manage it,.

Decide on which parts of the States will fit your purpose best.

Decide which time of year will fit your purpose best (especially check out historical weather records and opening times of 'must do' things -- e.g a lot of tourist attractions facilities only fully open after Memorial Day weekend, the last Monday in May).


Book your flights. In this particular case, price definitely isn't king !. Time of flights, airline choice and route choice will have an enormous impact on the enjoyment of your holiday. If possible, get as early a flight as possible from the UK, with a 'full service' airline that offers seatback entertainment (or take personal DVD's) , but seat back entertainment works better, to get to your destination airport ASAP (if transiting in the US leave a decent enough time to clear Customs, Immigration, collecting your bags & rechecking). Ideally, if you can clear your destination airport by mid afternoon, you're laughing - get ready for your children to fall asleep as soon as they hit the road in the car !
If possible, for your return trip, arrange your return trip for as late as possible in the day, to give yourself the best chance of sleeping on the return flight - & don't forget, jetlag is awful coming back !


Booking the car.
Book the largest and most comfortable car that you can get your hands on, that fits your purpose. A car with a massive boot that will swallow all of your travel luggage, hand luggage, holiday collected stiff, shopping & nick nacks without constant repacking and faffing about makes a big difference. Having a car with a cavernous interior, that gives all of your plenty of room will be appreciated by all of you, on every trip that you take.


Either update your existing SATNASV with US mapping or buy a Sat Nav system that has up to date American mapping on it BEFORE you start properly planning your trip - if you are going to buy a new SAT NAV that features US mapping from (say) Amazon.com, try to find one that has text to speech function. It costs a few more ££'s but its worth it for motoring relaxation.

Start doing your research on where you are going. Use the usual resources both in written form and online.(I bought Fodors Maryland, Virginia & Washington DC which was brilliant). Tripadvisor is a great source, but be aware that a lot of reviews may be several years old and things do change. Plan on 2-3 things that can be done for each day, plus things to do whilst travelling from A-B. Obviously you aren't going to do 2-3 things per day, every day, but give yourself plenty of options. Now input ALL of the things into your SAT NAV device. It'll be a lot of work, but it'll be worth it.

Realise that the holiday is probably going to cost you (a lot) more than you originally anticipated.

Book your accomodation.
My preference is to prebook all of your accomodation several months in advance. Its going to cost you more doing it this way, but your not going to turn up into one of your destinations to find that tehre is noi room at the inn, or you are staying in a part of town/city that you would prefer not to be in. Especially if you are travelling with small children I cannot stress enough how preferable it is to have a suite with a seperate bedroom, so that at nights your little'uns can settle down to sleep and you can relax in a seperate area. Also, remember that on the first 2 or 3 days your children will be affected by jet lag and will be up very early (any time from 4.00am onwards) and having a seperate room for them will be invaluale. We found Homewood Suite & Embassy Suites to be perfect for us. Plus you get a full breakfast from them to start the day and an evening cooked meal (including beer/wine, dpending on State) at Homewood Mon-Thur, & a Managers nightly reception at Embassy. If it suits your purposes, stick to one Hotel brand/chain and enrol into their loyalty card. If at all possible, make sure that your hotel has a pool. Your children will love you for it. Get your hotels into the SAT NAV.

Start your itinerary.
America is huge, truly massive and it is so easy to plan on doing way, way to many miles per day. If it can't be avoided, then try and do one, or maybe two long drives in your entire trip, but be aware that your children will be bored stiff while you you do a 300/400 mile stretch. Also, don't underestimate the amount of 'running around' that you will so. The total 'round trip' mileage of our trip was 800 miles, but our total mileage covered was over 1700 miles, and the way that we did it made the trip really enjoyable for all of us.

Sort out your money.
Take 3 credit cards (see the MSE guide for the best ones) and get about $100 in cash to get you going.

The penny will have dropped by now about how much your holiday will cost -- a lot more that you originally thought. At least with booking early and paying your CC off early, you'll be spreading the pain.

Things like ESTA's, Passports, etc,etc are discussed at length elswhere on MSE, so I've not mentioned them on here.


After you've done all that kick your chair back and put your feet up. You will have put in one hell of a lot of preperation work, but the benefit of doing so much will come back to you in spades when you are travelling from A-B-C and it all goes seamlessley.

If you are currently planning a (family) US road trip, I hope that this thread is useful and hopefully adds to the pleasure of your holiday.

As I said at the top of this thread, my last holiday had some of the best time in my life in it. I hope that yours does as well

Murph.

P.S, i don't know if I mentioned it, but its going to cost you a lot. If you are of the 'can I get to New York for $250' or 'which credit card will charge me 0.005% less for usage' persuassion, then maybe a US Road Trip type holiday isn't for you !

soil_2

Murphy_The_Cat wrote: »

First off, prepare yourself that the holiday is probably going to cost you (a lot) more than you originally anticipated.

This is certainly true, especially if you eat out. You can spend $120 on breakfast for 4 in a 4* hotel for example! Then lunch, dinner, admission fees, and you are looking at a few hundred per day on top of your accommodation, car rental and flights. Even with more basic choices it's never cheap

Book your flights. In this particular case, price definitely isn't king !.

Not necessarily, but last time we flew to the US we flew BA Club World to Atlanta, we got economy plus (WT+) tickets in the sale for £600 each, upgraded to business class with miles (doesn't take many at all), and it was great.

The economy fare was only about £50 cheaper.

Atlanta airport is however horrible. I think they wanted $4 for a luggage cart, which I refused to pay out of principle.

Time of flights, airline choice and route choice will have an enormous impact on the enjoyment of your holiday. If possible, get as early a flight as possible from the UK, with a 'full service' airline that offers seatback entertainment (or take personal DVD's) , but seat back entertainment works better, to get to your destination airport ASAP (if transiting in the US leave a decent enough time to clear Customs, Immigration, collecting your bags & rechecking). Ideally, if you can clear your destination airport by mid afternoon, you're laughing - get ready for your children to fall asleep as soon as they hit the road in the car !
If possible, for your return trip, arrange your return trip for as late as possible in the day, to give yourself the best chance of sleeping on the return flight - & don't forget, jetlag is awful coming back !

But being stuck in an economy class seat you might be exhausted and unable to sleep.... Don't worry too much about IFE, if it's there it's nice, but it if it costs more, use the savings to buy the kids a Nintendo DS.....

Booking the car.
Book the largest and most comfortable car that you can get your hands on, that fits your purpose. A car with a massive boot that will swallow all of your travel luggage, hand luggage, holiday collected stiff, shopping & nick nacks without constant repacking and faffing about makes a big difference. Having a car with a cavernous interior, that gives all of your plenty of room will be appreciated by all of you, on every trip that you take.

True enough, petrol is cheap and parking spaces are ginormous. I think kayak does good car rental price comparison. Generally 'full-size' is a sweet-spot in terms of price vs. size.

Buy a Sat Nav system that has up to date American mapping on it BEFORE you start properly planning your trip.

Or you could just buy maps for your existing satnav. The satnav won't be much use for trip planning though, google maps is better.

Now input ALL of the things into your SAT NAV device. It'll be a lot of work, but it'll be worth it.

I don't particularly see that it's necessary to plan to that extent. You have a list of places you want to see, so you just put them into the satnav when you want to go there no big deal.

My preference is to prebook all of your accomodation several months in advance. Its going to cost you more doing it this way, but your not going to turn up into one of your destinations to find that tehre is noi room at the inn, or you are staying in a part of town/city that you would prefer not to be in.

Priceline name your own price has very good coverage for the US. You can save some $$$ by booking the same hotels for less than the direct rate. You can find the hotels listed online and for small towns it's often easy to work out which hotel is on offer.

We found Homewood Suite & Embassy Suites to be perfect for us. Plus you get a full breakfast from them to start the day and an evening cooked meal (including beer/wine, dpending on State) at Homewood Mon-Thur, & a Managers nightly reception at Embassy. If it suits your purposes, stick to one Hotel brand/chain and enrol into their loyalty card. If at all possible, make sure that your hotel has a pool. Your children will love you for it. Get your hotels into the SAT NAV.

There are quite a few 3* hotels designed for long-stay with kitchen and such like. Residence Inn is pretty good..

Start your itinerary.
America is huge, truly massive and it is so easy to plan on doing way, way to many miles per day. If it can't be avoided, then try and do one, or maybe two long drives in your entire trip, but be aware that your children will be bored stiff while you you do a 300/400 mile stretch. Also, don't underestimate the amount of 'running around' that you will so. The total 'round trip' mileage of our trip was 800 miles, but our total mileage covered was over 1700 miles, and the way that we did it made the trip really enjoyable for all of us.

You can usually find roadside attractions on the way, so you can break up the miles with the world's largest ball of twine or whatever...

ferf1223

soil wrote: »

I don't particularly see that it's necessary to plan to that extent. You have a list of places you want to see, so you just put them into the satnav when you want to go there no big deal..

Have to agree with Murphy on this one...while it may not be necessary, personally we find it far more convenient to have everything pre-loaded and know that's sorted...we may of course add to it - but it's a bit of a PITA to sit there entering everything, and there's a sense of accomplishment when it's done...we just loaded ours for a road trip within the UK.

We also like the suites at Country Inn...ok, they are a bit naff with the exterior and the rocking chairs, but we've found them to be clean and comfortable and very friendly staff.

Murphy_The_Cat

soil wrote: »

This is certainly true, especially if you eat out. You can spend $120 on breakfast for 4 in a 4* hotel for example! Then lunch, dinner, admission fees, and you are looking at a few hundred per day on top of your accommodation, car rental and flights. Even with more basic choices it's never cheap



Not necessarily, but last time we flew to the US we flew BA Club World to Atlanta, we got economy plus (WT+) tickets in the sale for £600 each, upgraded to business class with miles (doesn't take many at all), and it was great.

The economy fare was only about £50 cheaper.

If you can get the deal that works for you, then go for it -- on our last trip, BA wanted £300 pp each way for a WT seat, (Business Class seats were in another league altogether)

Atlanta airport is however horrible. I think they wanted $4 for a luggage cart, which I refused to pay out of principle.

In the past, we've transferred via Chicago O Hare airport - most people don't have a good word to say about the place, but it has a childrens playground onsite, which my trouble have previously loved playing in.



But being stuck in an economy class seat you might be exhausted and unable to sleep.... Don't worry too much about IFE, if it's there it's nice, but it if it costs more, use the savings to buy the kids a Nintendo DS.....

Shockingly, I found BA Cattle Class to fit the bill for us perfectly and we all managed a restful and relaxing flight. As for the IFE, the BA choices for IFE was excellant and wide ranging. It kept the children (& us) very happy. In the past we've taken portable DVD players, with a selection of DVD's (& then all of the assorted palava) with us, which has worked OK. All things being equal, I agree with you, go for the seat abck IFE.


True enough, petrol is cheap and parking spaces are ginormous. I think kayak does good car rental price comparison. Generally 'full-size' is a sweet-spot in terms of price vs. size.

We got a Lincoln Town (luxury class) car, an absolutely superb highway barge. I've found full size/premium cars not to do what we need, not large enough, not comfy enough, not specced high enough.


Or you could just buy maps for your existing satnav. The satnav won't be much use for trip planning though, google maps is better.

I disagree . Not all Sat Navs are 'upgradeable' and my American sat nav was perfect for map/route planning. (I also used google maps for preplanning as well !). As a bonus, try to get an Amerian Sat Nav that has text to speech on it, its a great help.


I don't particularly see that it's necessary to plan to that extent. You have a list of places you want to see, so you just put them into the satnav when you want to go there no big deal.

I prefer to do it all while I'm still in the UK so its less stuff to cart around, so that when I'm on the road, its a simple job to click on 'favourites' and Bib is indeed your Uncle.



Priceline name your own price has very good coverage for the US. You can save some $$$ by booking the same hotels for less than the direct rate. You can find the hotels listed online and for small towns it's often easy to work out which hotel is on offer.

I'll have to bow to your knowledge on that, as I've never used Priceline. For us, the requirement to have a bedroom that is sperated by a solid door is non-negotiable. I wouldn't chance getting a suite with a partioned area, rather than a seperated bedroom.

There are quite a few 3* hotels designed for long-stay with kitchen and such like. Residence Inn is pretty good..
When I researched Residence Inn locations, they wouldn't GUARANTEE seperated bedrooms - Homewood & Embassy do.



You can usually find roadside attractions on the way, so you can break up the miles with the world's largest ball of twine or whatever...
Agreed, but if you've planned a huge leg between locations, then stopping off will make a loooooonnnnnnnnnggggg trip even longer.

Cheers Soil:beer:

Murphy_The_Cat

ferf1223 wrote: »

We also like the suites at Country Inn...ok, they are a bit naff with the exterior and the rocking chairs, but we've found them to be clean and comfortable and very friendly staff.

Nowt wrong with rocking chairs -- throw in a complimentary Hot Chocolate flask and free cookies and I'd be in happy Cat heaven !

The nice people at Embassy Suites made a point of seeing us at our table to tell us that the Managers Reception was about to finish and would we all like additional free drinks before the 'free tab' was closed.
Top Service.

ferf1223

they have cookies!!!

Also, we had a Lincoln Town Car once...in Dallas...I had not booked it but got a free upgrade and was too excited about 'free upgrade' to actually think about how large of a car it was and whether I should really be driving it...I swear that that thing had the turning radius of an air craft carrier and I couldn't get out of a parking space without 2 people guiding me...but we had 6 adults and luggage in it at one point, no problem..and it was sooo comfy.

soil_2

Murphy_The_Cat wrote: »

Cheers Soil:beer:

bit difficult to reply to your post when you quote it like that. Our last hotel room had a curtain for the kiddie area, good enough for kids of our age so we can shag after dark in privacy.

Re the car you can usually find the particular agency's car fleet details, the problem is sometimes they have 'typical' vehicles which you don't then get. That said it's worth doing research, for instance we rented with Avis for $35/day for 'full-size' and had a list of possible vehicles. 'Luxury' would have cost double, and then extra petrol probably too. Might be worth it if you are doing a lot of driving, it depends on your exact plans.

I think Avis has the Chrysler 300 in 'Premium' but it's honestly no better than many of the 'Full-size' vehicles.

There's not really such a thing as an 'American' satnav. Tomtom and Garmin are the two global brands they use the same OS and hardware, you just need the right maps if you already have such a device.

Text-to-speech is a function of the software/hardware on your satnav, not of the map. So if you have a Garmin (for example) that does text-to-speech, £45 will give you US maps and the same text-to-speech that you have in the UK. £35 does the same for a TomTom

ferf1223

soil - has priceline changed from double occupancy only? last time we used it that was the case, and they could not guarantee one bed or two...so may be a bit of a challenge with a family?

gem75

Remember cars in the US are much bigger than any where else so if it describes the car as medium, it will probably be what we would describe as large. We booked a small car and were given the smallest car they had which was a Chrysler Neon which was more than adequate for two of us and all our luggage.

Vikki_74

soil wrote: »

Re the car you can usually find the particular agency's car fleet details, the problem is sometimes they have 'typical' vehicles which you don't then get. That said it's worth doing research, for instance we rented with Avis for $35/day for 'full-size' and had a list of possible vehicles. 'Luxury' would have cost double, and then extra petrol probably too. Might be worth it if you are doing a lot of driving, it depends on your exact plans.

I think Avis has the Chrysler 300 in 'Premium' but it's honestly no better than many of the 'Full-size' vehicles.

Soil do you happen to know anywhere in paricular to find the fleet details for each rental company? I found a great list on Flyertalk for Avis last year but for our next trip we'll likely be using someone else and I can't find the same kind of info anywhere. We're trying to make our minds up between the full size / premium / luxury options and it would be helpful to have an idea of what each company tends to give out in each.

Murphy_The_Cat

soil wrote: »

bit difficult to reply to your post when you quote it like that. Aye, its very difficult to make quotes from quates, especially when it is from such a long post.
Our last hotel room had a curtain for the kiddie area, good enough for kids of our age so we can shag after dark in privacy.

Re the car you can usually find the particular agency's car fleet details, the problem is sometimes they have 'typical' vehicles which you don't then get. That said it's worth doing research, for instance we rented with Avis for $35/day for 'full-size' and had a list of possible vehicles. 'Luxury' would have cost double, and then extra petrol probably too. Might be worth it if you are doing a lot of driving, it depends on your exact plans.

I think Avis has the Chrysler 300 in 'Premium' but it's honestly no better than many of the 'Full-size' vehicles.

There's not really such a thing as an 'American' satnav. Tomtom and Garmin are the two global brands they use the same OS and hardware, you just need the right maps if you already have such a device.

Text-to-speech is a function of the software/hardware on your satnav, not of the map. So if you have a Garmin (for example) that does text-to-speech, £45 will give you US maps and the same text-to-speech that you have in the UK. £35 does the same for a TomTom

We prefer to get the seperated beddroom so that we can retain some sort of regulated (by us ) sleep pattern for the children.

As you say, the rental companies only display 'typical' vehicles, but you can contact the rental depot that you are using and they'll happily tell you what they actually hire - from that point, at least you can make an imformed descision. The Chrysler 300 that the rental companies use really isn't a nice car at all and for me, it would detract from my holiday, rather than add to it. I realise that a luxury class car costs more (in my case the luxury class car cost £50 more than the Premium Class car and I was more than happy with the smnall increase) and the fuel may cost a touch more, but in all honesty, taking the overall cost of the holiday, its relatively peanuts.

Regarding the SAT NAV's, I'll make my original post clearer :beer: