Help for booking a (family) US Road Trip.

jackieblack

murphy_the_cat wrote: »

its not just me that was (nosey ) curious then ?;)

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jackieblack

Murphy_The_Cat wrote: »

Jackie

I'm a recent convert to SATNAV. Previously, I'd always relied on maps/preprinted routes, but SATNAVS are so much easier to use, so much more user friendly and so much more efficient than paper maps than you would ever believe.

At work,I've just gone through the process of equipping each of my vehicles & staff with a SATNAV, as I considered the benefits to be so good --- but all of my staff were like you. They'd always used maps and always managed, Within 2 days of getting the TomToms, they're converts.

Perhaps because on holiday I plan to do/see a lot, I want to make the most of my time and for me the benefit of picking up my car (with the location of the nearest Walmart in it, for booster seats) and having my prebooked hotel waiting for me and my road by road directions set out for me, is enormous.
Likewise, when we check out and hit the road, having the TomTom makes everything seamless (especially if I'm the only one in the car who is awake :rotfl::beer:), as we gofrom place to place to pre booked accomodation for the night.

No fuss, no drama, just straightforward holidaying and motoring.;)

Murphy
I totally understand that plenty of people think SatNav is great and I do understand the advantage if you're both navigating and driving alone (or the only one awake ) but it's just not for me.
I can't even work modern mobile 'phones (can just about cope with my ancient Nokia 3330 )

Also, I spend all day, every work day, doing battle with unco-operative computers. I don't intend to spend my holiday being told what to do and where to go by one
Maybe I'm just a bit of a control freak, but I'm much happier making my own decision about which roads to take

Murphy_The_Cat

jackieblack wrote: »

Murphy
I totally understand that plenty of people think SatNav is great and I do understand the advantage if you're both navigating and driving alone (or the only one awake ) but it's just not for me.
I can't even work modern mobile 'phones (can just about cope with my ancient Nokia 3330 )

Also, I spend all day, every work day, doing battle with unco-operative computers. I don't intend to spend my holiday being told what to do and where to go by one
Maybe I'm just a bit of a control freak, but I'm much happier making my own decision about which roads to take

I'm with you on that. I wasn't even aware that my phone had a text function until recently :rotfl:(& I still haven't used it)

To me, all a SATNAV is, is a tool to help me perform a desired function. On my recent trip, on several occassions around the Washington Beltway it was worth its weight in gold - the junctions for North/South, East/West were so, so close together and on both sides of the road, but TomTom dealt with it absolutely flawlessly, in a way that a map reader wouldn't have been able to (especially when the map reader was asleep and often confuses her left with her right :eek:)

tingtong

The main benefit for me with Satnav is it makes the driving so much more relaxed. I was driving recently in LA and it would have been so easy to take the wrong turn and get lost but it takes away that worry (although I always carry a map as backup).

I also find it safer than maps as I can prepare better for turning off the freeways etc, as I know the distance to the exit.

jackieblack

Murphy_The_Cat wrote: »

I'm with you on that. I wasn't even aware that my phone had a text function until recently :rotfl:(& I still haven't used it)

To me, all a SATNAV is, is a tool to help me perform a desired function. On my recent trip, on several occassions around the Washington Beltway it was worth its weight in gold - the junctions for North/South, East/West were so, so close together and on both sides of the road, but TomTom dealt with it absolutely flawlessly, in a way that a map reader wouldn't have been able to (especially when the map reader was asleep and often confuses her left with her right :eek:)

I've heard horror stories about the Beltway! :eek:

I'm sure there are lots of occasions when SatNav is very useful and that certainly sounds like one of them.
Fortunately we've never had a problem like that.
Only time I can think of that it possibly might have been useful was crossing LA a couple of years ago (but we managed fine without ).

Life would be boring if we were all the same and all liked the same things.
(BTW I'm our map reader, I don't sleep in cars and am fine with my left & right )

Are you going to be doing a trip report Murphy? (in due course, once the 'just back from holiday' madness has settled of course )

duchy

soil wrote: »

We saved about $200 (per night) over the best available rate when we stayed in the W in Atlanta from Priceline. Rather more than a few dollars.

Sure it is but if you want a two roomed suite -which is what were talking about -and end up with one room with two beds -then it isn't the best deal.......If you don't really mind either way then yep PL works for you. I use priceline a lot when I just want to be in a general area -and am happy to make a call to the hotel and chat them up to get the room type I need but if I want a specific hotel then (despite the fact my PL guess before I book rate is about 80%) if it's THAT important to me I'lll find another way to get a deal (BRG etc). Just this week I wanted a specific hotel and a Concierge level room- bit of digging and got the room type I wanted at less than I could get a standard room for anywhere on-line by using BRG .


Pre-SatNav I was always getting lost in LA (I'm rubbish with maps) the last few trips with it have made such a difference.

Murphy_The_Cat

jackieblack wrote: »

Are you going to be doing a trip report Murphy? (in due course, once the 'just back from holiday' madness has settled of course )

I wasn't going to, as this last trip was a real mixture of family time, things for the children,. things for the grown ups and things for the pure damn it all pleasure of doing something different. (one of our nicest things was going around a botanical garden in Norfolk ) -- not the sexiest thing to talk about.

eslick

jackieblack wrote: »

Care to elaborate?

we have done lots of the east coast from Washington to Miami, havent gone west that much. We prefer South Caroline and Georgia for chilling, especially with the kids. Hilton Head is great, quite quiet, has great places to eat, you can cycle or walk to the beach and has the likes of Charleston and Savannah close by for those nice days out. jekyll Island is a place we normally dont talk about its a small barrier island but if you are lucky you might see 10 people on the beach if you walk around it, its got a bit of history to it as the old millionaires paradise before florida was drained.

Fly into Atlanta and a 4 hours drive to pure relaxation which is important as we get older

Before we had the kids we did Washington to Hilton Head, with stops off in historic towns and places including Yorktown.

ferf1223

tingtong wrote: »

I also find it safer than maps as I can prepare better for turning off the freeways etc, as I know the distance to the exit.

Totally agree - and the satnav tells you which side the exit is on- avoiding the potential tragedy of those nasty left exits...I grew up driving in the US, and even I hate those stupid left exits...

Though when driving in the US, you can normally tell how far to your exit as exits are generally numbered based miles from the start of that particular motorway...and mile markers generally appear at least one every mile alongside the road...so if you are looking for exit 123, and you have just passed marker 120...you're about 3 miles away from your exit.

Nobjocki

Re Satnavs V maps

Satnavs are fine for getting you from a to B as quickly as possible but are less useful for sniffing out interesting places off the beaten track while barrelling along the interstate.

I find pouring over a map at the end of a day's driving planning the next day to be exteremly relaxing.

Plus a SatNav also rules out any pleasure to be gained from shouting at the missus for not reading the effing map properly.