road trip usa

kay41_2

East to west coast does seem a bit ambitious in 2 weeks. We did 2000 miles round Arizona, Nevada and California in April/May last year and a lot of the time was spent driving, and a lot of the States can be quite 'samey'. It is fantastically easy to drive over there compared to the UK, as the cars are bigger, the roads wider and less traffic on the road.

We got some books out of the library and there was one (AA I think) which listed 25 road trips round California and it was great. All the usual guides will be good, Rough Guide, Let's Go, Baedekers etc. We booked a place in San Francisco for 2 nights and a lodge in Yosemite for 2 nights (and stayed an extra night as we loved it) and then winged it the rest of the way.

One thing which might be quite fun and moneysaving is to buy a tent and sleeping bags while you are out there and camp. We did this in Arizona last year and it was great. KOA are national campgrounds which are cheap, very well equipped, clean and everywhere. They often have pools etc and you get a fire ring or barbecue with your pitch. Camping equipment is very cheap (we brought ours back and didn't pay any excess). The other option is to get a winnebago/RV. We did this 4 years ago in North Carolina and it is seriously good fun. We had a 30 footer for 4 adults and one toddler and it was pure luxury. As this would be your transport as well as your home it could work out well. There are loads of places to 'hook up' everywhere. The only downside is that they do 5-10 mpg, but of course gas is cheaper over there, but not as cheap as it used to be. Cruiseamerica is the company we used and they were great! Have fun planning it, but don't plan TOO much.

jaymac_2

Article in one of todays newspapers mentions flying into Chicago and driving to the west coast from there.

LesD

jaymac wrote:

Article in one of todays newspapers mentions flying into Chicago and driving to the west coast from there.

...which, of course, is what used to be Route 66!

http://www.historic66.com/

JoanneC_2

My friend and I drove Route 66 in September last year, it was meant to be 2500 miles but we took a few detours (Vegas and Grand Canyon) so ended up doing 3500 which took us just over two weeks. Lonely Planet has a great Route 66 guide including reverse directions if you're planning to do it east to west. I completely agree with the previous posts about picking up the discount booklets in roadside cafes they saved us a fortune and they have directions to each motel. My big tip is to hire a convertable, it'll only cost a about 100 dollars more but it's more than worth it!!! If you're going to drive 1000's of miles and hence be stuck in the car at least you can enjoy the sunshine (although you'll end up with brown knees and white calves!!). And on a moneysaving note you never have to use the air-con thus saving more on petrol!!
Sign up for a trip rewards card (not sure of the website address, you'll have to Google it) and you can earn points for staying in motels (most big chains are included) and you can use your points to earn free nights.
Most motels in America have pools, free internet access and breakfast. So take your handbag with you and pop a couple of the free chocolate muffins in it - great for a mid morning snack on the road.
Only half fill your suitcase (lets face it, on most holidays you only use half the stuff you take with you anyway! Plus you'll be in a different place every day so no one will know (apart from who you're with) if you wear the same outfit twice, we just took a few outfits and used the motel laundries which only cost a couple of dollars) you'll need the other half of your suitcase to fill up on bargains like clothes, trainers and aftershave/perfume (great for presents) which are half the price!! Just make sure you take off any tags and dump the receipts to avoid import duty if you're stopped at customs.
Hope you have a great time, we did, holiday of a lifetime!!!

beachlou

we're doing a coast to coast (west to east) drive at the end of a RWT for our honeymoon. can't wait to get on the road!! Thanks for all the tips here, a great read and some great links

vwman_3

My wife to be (getting married in Las Vegas in May) are in the middle of planing a drive from Las Vegas to Toronto Canada, I had a few problems with organising one leg of the journey between Buffalo New York state and Toronto (we were not allowed to take a hire car into Canada from the States).

I made a few enquiries with Hertz in Las Vegas and fair play they phoned me at home yesterday morning (at would you believe 4am our time) and they organised a car at Toronto Airport and train times for the Buffalo to Toronto leg, they even arranged to get me a Canadian hire car not with them but an independant company who was a few dollars cheaper, about $35 dollars in fact, I have used this company before and they are good, Hertz even got Amtrak to e-mail me with discount prices and that saved me another $50 dollars.

So everything has now been done, and a big thanks for all the advice and tips.