Road trip ~ USA

Sandollar_2

Hi all,

I'm after some general advice, hints and tips for a road trip I'm taking in September.

Basically the last 5 years have been fairly cr*p. I lost my dad and sister to cancer within 6 months of each other, then 6 months after my sister died I had to go and have mastectomy and all the lovely fun stuff that comes after that. This year has been fairly good one for me but I am probably going to have to have more surgery later in the year. 4 of my friends in the USA have gotten together and paid for a flight for me to visit them in September. I have to pay for my carhire and of course spending money but in a 28 day stay I only have 4 days accommodation to pay for. I am flying into Atlanta and my route is:-
Memphis - sharing accommodation with a friend who is driving up from Houston
Nashville - need overnight accommodation
Chattanooga - staying with friends
Knoxville - staying with friends
next stop will be somewhere between Knoxville and Raleigh - need accommodation
Raleigh - staying with friends
Charleston - need accommodation
Back to Atlanta.

So my questions....
Anyone able to recommend hotels/motels in Memphis, Nashville Charleston and somewhere between Knoxville and Raleigh?

It is 22 years since I last drove in North America. I had just passed my driving test and was young and full of confidence in my abilities. Now I'm older and frankly quite terrified at the thoughts of driving. My route has been carefully planned so that I can drive in 3 hour time spans with either a few hours break or an overnight stop. Anyone able to tell me how easy/difficult the drving is likely to be?

Is it worthwhile booking the car now or should I wait another few weeks and book closer to the time? Am I likely to get a cheapie car deal by leaving it as late as possible?

What is the best way to take dollars? Travellers cheques or cash? I will be taking a credit card with me.

Any must see's/do's on the route?

That's all the questions for now, no doubt I'll think of more!

Thanks for any help.

N9eav

Wow thats a lot of questions.

The cheap part is that you are staying with friends. Use https://www.mapquest.com to plan your route easily.

Hire a car from here asap, Try https://www.airlinenetwork.com, they are pretty good. Hire the car of your dreams and enjoy the ride. I had a Chrysler Sebring convertable from Atlanta last year. Fantastic. V6 power, open roof all electric Cool or what!
Go for the full tank of gas option, it's cheaper in the long run.

Always hire the car from the UK suppliers such as above https://www.holidayautos.co.uk is also another idea. The following is debatable though. I have always rented a basic car from this end. When I get there I look at the cars available and then negotiate an upgrade. Now some would say it's cheaper to do that before you go, but personally I have worked some great deals over there. Last time I rented a basic 2 door economy model. When you get to Atlanta you will see that each category of cars are grouped in lots, so you can choose any car in each category. However I fancied a convertable which should have been £110 week more. I spoke with the sales rep at the counter and got it for $15 a day extra. £60 ish. So it's up to you. There are plenty of cars so there is plenty of choice.

Use a credit card for most things. Get some dollars though as a lot of fast food places liek Mc D's take cash only.

You can usually find a cheap but good motel en-route as you go, they advertise their prices on those big signs on the highway. No need to book

Driving is fine, keep with the flow. Know where you are going though, the juntions and sign posts seem to creep up on you unawares. I had a terrible job finding the car returns in Atlanta because the signs were crap. They also drive on the wrong side of the road. But the golden rule is... Keep the sterring wheel side of the car on the yellow line in the middle of the road. Most people crash because they forget that they drive on the right.

Driving in the mountains around Chatanooga is great. There is so much to see there it's hard to say what's best, Check out a baseball game. Always good fun.

Any more specifics please re-post. happy to help

Cardew

N9eav wrote:

Wow thats a lot of questions.


Hire a car from here asap, Try https://www.airlinenetwork.com, they are pretty good. Hire the car of your dreams and enjoy the ride. I had a Chrysler Sebring convertable from Atlanta last year. Fantastic. V6 power, open roof all electric Cool or what!
Go for the full tank of gas option, it's cheaper in the long run.

Always hire the car from the UK suppliers such as above https://www.holidayautos.co.uk is also another idea. The following is debatable though. I have always rented a basic car from this end. When I get there I look at the cars available and then negotiate an upgrade. Now some would say it's cheaper to do that before you go, but personally I have worked some great deals over there. Last time I rented a basic 2 door economy model. When you get to Atlanta you will see that each category of cars are grouped in lots, so you can choose any car in each category. However I fancied a convertable which should have been £110 week more. I spoke with the sales rep at the counter and got it for $15 a day extra. £60 ish. So it's up to you. There are plenty of cars so there is plenty of choice.

Agree with most of what you say, but a couple of comments on car hire.

On the site you gave the difference betwen the cheapest 2 door economy and a convertible is £78 a week(not £110) and I know some places where the differential is less. Now if you can get an upgrade for $15 a day(plus Tax etc??) it is slightly cheaper. However in my experience, and I go to USA several times a year, $15 is much lower than they will normally charge and I wouldn't bank on getting it at that price. That said the desk clerks will always try to get you to upgrade(it helps their bonus) and it is always open to negotiation! Even so I generally find it cheaper to upgrade in UK.

The full tank of gas option(normally termed Gold) makes sense for a short stay, but not for longer stays - unless you have several drivers.

By the way you say: "each category of cars are grouped in lots, so you can choose any car in each category" That is only for Alamo rental cars, I don't think the other rental firms offer that choice - certainly not Dollar(up to May this year anyway)

N9eav

Cardew wrote:

The full tank of gas option(normally termed Gold) makes sense for a short stay, but not for longer stays - unless you have several drivers.


By the way you say: "each category of cars are grouped in lots, so you can choose any car in each category" That is only for Alamo rental cars, I don't think the other rental firms offer that choice - certainly not Dollar(up to May this year anyway)

I did'nt know that, I liked to choose my car, some MPV's are larger than others. Grand Voyager is far nicer than a Chevy for example.

A lot depends on how much you pay for the option. A full tank of gas can cost $40 Plus on a larger car, and only £10 extra here, so a saver? I know they front load it when you arrive if you don't choose that option, and depending on the state the gas prices can be rather high. It was $59 for my convertable last year when prices were cheaper. I actually got the gold option free on promotion here, so a winner

Baz-Bee

I have driven around 30,000 miles across the whole of the US during the past 10 years.

During that time I have stayed in most of the major and other hotels. However, if you want a good, clean, reasonably cheap place to stay that is safe and has decent rooms and with a free breakfast thrown in, then I would recommend Hampton Inns. They do have some city centre hotels but generally they are on the outskirts and close to major highways. The good thing is you can book them online over here. You can cancel up to 6pm on the day of arrival (unless you take one of their really cheap special offers they sometimes have going) without incurring any penalty so if you have a change of plan just call the freephone central reservation number, give them your booking reference and get the cancellation reference and you're sorted.

And they guarantee the rate on line is the best you will find. But, if you like to make sure that yuou do get the best deal keep checking their site frequently and put your dates in and see what comes up as often the prices do fall. If they do just cancel the original (you can do this on line if you booked on line) and re-book at the cheaper price. Book first before cancelling though to be on the safe side.

http://hamptoninn.hilton.com/en/hp/index.jhtml;jsessionid=DCIBHGSVD2N2CCSGBIU2VCQKIYFC3UUC
Their web site will also let you put the name of a place in and search for their hotels within a given radius.