Road trip USA - Hotel prices

GIRLPOWER_2

Kevin,

Have you found other sites that are good for info on a roadtrip with children?


Thanks,


Nikki.

greatbigkev

Hi Nikki,

I haven't found much info about roadtrips with children I'm afraid, though in all honesty I haven't looked too much!

I guess most people would say: 'Don't do it!' I say fortune favours the brave!

Some of it depends on your children. If they're good travellers, you've got nothing to worry about. The hotels/motels all seem to have a decent variety of TV channels to entertain them if you're all back at the room. The food is varied and plentiful - plus most restaurants are well set up to cope with kids.

In many ways, I'd treat it the same way as you would if you went on a roadtrip over here, with the bonus being that while things are familiar enough to make you and the children feel comfortable, they're different enough that smart children will be constantly on the look-out for something new and interesting.

My little boy enjoyed it at two and I think he'd love it even more at seven because he has so much greater an understanding of what's 'normal' (to him) and what's not. It turns even going to the shopping mall into an adventure!

Kevin

Flummaxed

Hi All,

I love this site. Have been lurking for years and saving mucho dosh but decided to pluck up courage to post! Hope I am doing this correctly.

I am going to Seattle and California in August this year - found incredible cheap flights with BA - couldn't believe I can finally do my dream trip - never thought it would be possible during school hols, but flight out to Seattle and then back to London from Los Angeles (with a week's car hire included) Cost £489 per person!!! How amazing is that. I booked it through Trailfinders. BA are having a sale so GIRLPOWER you might want to check it out.

I went to California in 1990 and loved it. Always planned to return.

I am now an impoverished single mum to a 13 yr old daughter, but would love to take her to let her experience just how amazing it is out there, so I'm thrilled to be able to go (at very short notice) in August. We are really pushing to boat out, and don't have much money to splash about.

My questions to anyone who has been recently are re cost of hotels really. We are flying to Seattle cos we're going straight up to stay with family in Vancouver for a week (Seattle flight cheaper than Vancouver flight).

We spend one night in Seattle on arrival - does anyone know of a decent, but not pricey hotel we could stay at there? Next day we are taking the bus Seattle to Vancouver - any ideas from anyone about this?

Week in Vancouver - no worries as we have someone there who lives there. But then we are going to make our own way down from Vancouver to San Francisco. Anyone have any suggestions as to which route through Washington and Oregon and N. California. Train? Buses? Etc? would like to see as much scenery as possible rather than fly down. Any suggestions from anyone who's been.

Would like to spend a couple of days in San Fran (brilliant City) before picking up our hire car on Sat 6 Sept then doing a driving tour south through Carmel, Monterey, Santa Barbara finally to get to LA for our flight home on 13th Sept. I have done this route before (1990), so am a bit familiar with the route. However, I'd also like to get to Yosemite for a night or two - does anyone think this is possible due to time. We really will only have a week from picking up the car in San Fran on the Saturday, before our flight home the following Saturday from LA.

Sorry for long post. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated from you great folks in Moneysaving Land.

Thanks to everyone on this fantastic website.

Bob63

Flummaxed wrote: »

However, I'd also like to get to Yosemite for a night or two - does anyone think this is possible due to time. We really will only have a week from picking up the car in San Fran on the Saturday, before our flight home the following Saturday from LA.

Yosemite is only a few hours drive from San Francisco. I've done it lots of times and it's never taken longer than 4 hours (including a breakfast stop). Assuming you're going on to Monterey afterwards then you can head cross country on Route 152 (then 156) which is a great road. If you do go on 152/156 then consider a short detour by turning north when you hit 101 and go to Gilroy where there is a fantastic outlet mall.

bafty_crastard

We're just back from a road trip. We had our car for 8 days and managed to drive 2000 miles in that time.
We started in San Francisco(3 nights), Yosemite(1 night), Independence(2 nights), Death Valley(1 night), Kanab(1 night), Monument Valley(1 night), Grand Canyon(1 night) and Las Vegas(4 nights)
Yosemite is well worth seeing - I found the scenery stunning but it is 4-5 hours from San Francisco and if you are not staying in Yosemite itself it can be a long drive to get back out the park.
We decided to go inland rather than heading along the coast to LA and San Diego this trip. We'll keep that for another trip!!
Fuel prices seem to be going up steadily. We paid nearly $5 a gallon in some places. California was most expensive for fuel. Las Vegas cheapest at around $4 a gallon.

Flummaxed

Thanks so much for the replies. At least petrol ("gas") is still far cheaper in US than it is here! I will make a note of the route 152/156 to get back down to Monterey if we do get to Yosemite, rather than backtrack to San Fran.

Are you able to pass on info about costs of overnight stops in hotels or motels along your routes? I'm budgeting for around $50 per night for accommodation. Do you think that's realistic?

GreatbigKev - have you got your flights sorted out yet? I couldn't believe we found flights as cheap as we have, especially in peak season. BA are still doing some good deals - especially to Los Angeles.

bafty crastard - your username is brilliant. Another very funny user name I saw the other day on another thread is "Moneysavingpornstar" - how funny is that.

Thanks again for all tips.

Bob63

$50/night sounds low. Motel 6 or similar should give you rooms closer to $75/night. I generally pay around $160/night but that's with my company picking up the bill.

bafty_crastard

We averaged about $100 a night for hotels. We are a family of 4 with 2 teenagers and a few places charged per person rather than per room so that pushed up prices.
Our dearest night was at the Grand Canyon-about $170, our cheapest was a motel in Kanab-about $65.

torbrex

As I said in the first post, my average was less than $60, it all depends on what you are looking for. If you are willing to put up with basic accomodation and share the room you could pick up a coupon book and get some good deals along the way.
All motels will give you coffee in the room and all have showers and tv's, some will have a breakfast bar of some kind included, that is when the prices start to rise.
Roadside motels tend to be cheaper with Econolodge, Motel 6 and Super 8 at the lower end but keep an eye out for 'non-chain' motels as they are usually family run and have a frienlier feel to them as well as some really low prices, I was in a couple for under $35 and I would rate them with the best.

Yosemite is well worth the detour as is Sequoia/Kingscanyon National park, I have been to both twice and will never tire of their beauty.

Murphy_The_Cat

Hmmm, hotel prices. On our last trip we paid a 'lot' for each nights stay (nearer $150 per night), but we were very specific in the type of accomodation that we wanted (2 bedroomed room and or seperate living room) because we were travelling with little'uns and we had the itinerary planned out in adavance --- for us, we didn't want any time wasting on the trip by looking for a (budget) place to stay once we got into town.

Previously, we have taken the coupon route and we have stayed in some nice places for very little money - however, we have also spent an awful lot of time driving from place to place looking for a vacancy and then been disappointed at the quality/price of the place taht we have ended up in. If you are travelling at peak times, at the weekend, at popular hoilday place, then CONSIDER pre booking for those nights. But if you're the adventurous, free spirit type, then by all means, take the chance & 'go for it'.

If you'd like a guide as to what prices you could be paying with the coupons, then click here. Just be aware that the prices are isually without tax and the other assorted (upto 6) taxes that can be charged for hotel accomodation.



p.s. whichever option a traveller takes, they'll have a great time in America.:beer: