Road trip USA - Hotel prices

torbrex

Back from my holiday in Mid-West USA and thought I would post this to give anyone planning a road trip an idea of current prices.

I stayed a total of 14 nights in 14 different motels at an average price of $54.66/room/night with the highest being $75.77 for a room in Baxter, Minnesota and the lowest being $33.59 in Sioux City, Iowa. These prices include State and City taxes which the Americans do not include in the headline prices and prices are for the room not per person, 2 sharing is not extra and for some of the room the price was for up to 4 sharing. Normally I would have a couple of nights in the same place in a higher standard hotel somewhere about the middle of my trip but my itinerary did not allow for it this time so I tended to pick middle to lower class places for the entire trip.

Petrol (gas) prices varied from state to state because of the differing taxes with the lowest being $3.54/gallon in Missouri and the highest was $4.19 in Minnesota. I think the average works out at about $3.98 but the prices are rising just as quick if not quicker than they are here and the yanks are complaining about it more than we are.

Food prices for most things are a good bit cheaper than here but bread and milk are about on a par. Eating out is ridiculously cheap whether you go to a fast food chain or a proper restaurant, grilled chicken with all the trimmings and a soft drink was $8.95, A Mexican meal (cant remember what the name was) was so big I got a ‘doggy bag’ and again got change from $10. I went to ‘Subway’ for lunch one day and got a 12” sub for $5 that took me about an hour to finish.

Anything else just ask.

asandwhen

cool thanks for the update - im going to New England (connecticut and massatusetts) at the end of June - petrol is still a fair bit cheaper than here although the cars are abit more juicy so will still have to be carefull.

we have most of our hotels booked - we are staying at 2 redroofs (millford ct and enfield ct) also staying at Hyatt (Medford ma) - these were very resonable $65 per night at the redroof (for family of 4)

torbrex

MPG is a big problem with the cars over there, they seem to think they are doing well if their car gets over 30 mpg when freeway driving, when I told some people that I was getting double that at home the look of shock on their faces was amazing.

I did New England last year, it is a lovely place. Boston is one of the few Cities that I have liked, there is lots to see and do there and be sure to do it on foot as it is not suitable for driving, public transport is good and there are planty of above ground tours that you can hop on and off. If you get a chance check out some whale watching trips, most of the costal towns have them and there is even a couple that run from Boston.

Good luck with your tour.

Bob63

torbrex wrote: »

MPG is a big problem with the cars over there, they seem to think they are doing well if their car gets over 30 mpg when freeway driving, when I told some people that I was getting double that at home the look of shock on their faces was amazing.

30 mpg in the US is 37.5 mpg in the UK as the US gallon is smaller than an imperial gallon.

Outside California, where prices are higher, petrol is averaging just under $4 per US gallon at the moment. Check prices by typing the zip code into this page - http://autos.msn.com/everyday/gasstations.aspx?zip=&src=Netx

GIRLPOWER_2

Thanks for posting.

I am really interested in this sort of holiday. Can I ask you the route you took and if you would have done anything different,

Thanks

Nikki

torbrex

I arrived in Chicago on the Monday afternoon and immediatly headed north-west, I have little or no interest in cities, my journey followed the course of the Mississippi river until I reached St Paul then north towards Grand Rapids and into 'the land of 10,000 lakes'. I turned south again through 'Paul Bunyon' country which to be honest was a disapointment. I cut south-west to Pipestone to see where native peace pipes are made. South through Iowa following the Missouri river to St Joseph and the pony express museum. East from there to Mark Twain country, also a dissapointment, then south to Meramec caverns, one of the highlights of the trip. I took a day off Saturday and went to 6 flags park in St Louis, I am a sucker for a rollercoaster. Gateway Arch in St Louis was another highlight then south east to Shawnee forest and the Garden of the Gods which is a spectacular outcrop of rocks. North east to Cleveland and the rock and roll hall of fame where I realised that I could only look at just so many guitars and stage outfits, I got bored.
East to Auburn and a museum that I spent most of the day in, home town of the Duesenburg, Auburn and Cord motor cars. North from there and basically drove round lake Michigan on the coast road until I got back to Chicago for the flight home, total miles 4320.
As for doing things differently, I would not have gone as far north into Minnesota and although I was disappointed in a couple of places, I would have kicked myself if I had not gone to them.
My road trips are never planned as such, I just like to look at the map in the morning or ask at an information centre to see what's good locally then off I go not knowing where I will be spending the next night.

GIRLPOWER_2

Thanks for the info,

Have just been on a google maps tour your of post!!!

I purchased Road trip USA (Jamie Jensen) which has been a good read. I fancy starting at Chicago and ending at New Orleans. I would also like to try the West coast starting at San Diego.

Did you find any good web sites before you went which helped in the planning?

Thanks again for sharing.

Nikki.

torbrex

Other than which states I hope to visit on my trip, I do no planning at all, I like to see the sights and apart from rollercoasters the only other thing I 'do' is whitewater rafting.

Chicago to NO in a straight line would be quite dull, even if you zig-zag'd about a bit it still would not be a trip I would do and you would have to take the weather into consideration, it is straight through tornado alley and you end up in hurricaine country so timing would have to be spot on.

From San Diego heading north there is far more to see provided you are willing to go sideways as well. I have covered that area extensivly in the past, took 3 trips, spread over 18 years but is one area I would be quite willing to go back to.

GIRLPOWER_2

Thanks for the tip. I don't know how you do it... I'm all about the planning. I would be happy to book hotels as I went but I would have to know what was around / to do / to see in case I missed anything!!

I was reading a really interesting website last week of a couple who took a gap year and took their 2 children to travel the world. They went to the Pacific coast area as part of that which gave me some good ideas.

http://www.rfleming.net/USindex.htm

The route in my book goes from top to bottom. (Mississippi Headwaters to NO, I thought of breaking it down to fit in a cruise.

Travelling with a 6 and 7 year old so trying to have the best of both worlds for them. Maybe 11 days road trip and 5/7 night cruise.

Lots of cruises go from the west coast so that may well be a better option. I have just been looking at MTC's trip anad will be interested to see how the children enjoyed the trip when he's able to post again.

Nikki

torbrex

You can plan to your hearts content but you will always miss something, I take great delight in just bumping into places.
I dont do children so booking ahead might be a better option for you and I would say that with all the national parks plus beaches, zoo, disneyland and the off-shore islands it looks like west coast might be more suitable for you. I have not done any cruising so cant help you with that.

I am waiting on Murphy's report as well, he has been very quiet since his return.

greatbigkev

I did a road trip in April 2003 with my wife and our two-year-old son.

We started in Seattle (I was already there, having just finished touring with a choir!) where they met me and we spent a couple of days there before heading south and flying home from Los Angeles two weeks later, having been right down to San Diego.

It was the most incredible trip (though I wouldn't entirely recommend it with a two-year-old ...). We made VERY rough plans. We knew we wanted to go to Yosemite (well worth it in spring cos the waterfalls are still in full flow) and Disneyland but left the rest depending on how we felt. The Pacific Coast Highway through Carmel and Monterrey then south towards LA is particularly memorable.

We sorted our accommodation by using the discount books available in most McDonald's or Burger Kings (incidentally, when we did the same thing in Florida a few years earlier the books were in the gas stations). These included maps to the hotels and you invariably got a much better price than that which was advertised when you just turned up. One or two problems getting in (when the 'voucher rooms' were gone, they were gone!) but nothing significant.

I'd agree with the earlier poster - once you're there the costs are much cheaper than here. There's a relaxed atmosphere to much of rural America too and we found people hugely friendly, especially off the usual tourist routes.

We want to go back this summer (though not as far north as before), flying into San Diego/LAX/Las Vegas and touring the area, going to the Grand Canyon and Vegas and maybe up as far as San Francisco. We'll do a couple of the theme parks (Disney and Sea World) for the boys (7 and 3) but the rest will be taking in the sights and following the road.

Currently looking out for reasonable flights, though I'm not holding my breath as this part of the 'American Dream' seems to have sky-rocketed since 2003. Sadly, this may have to go onto the 'perhaps next year' list!

Kevin