Dr.No

We're thinking of doing an RV tour around California - probably starting in San Francisco, then going to Yosemite on to Las Vegas across to LA and then up the pacific coast highway back to San Francisco.

Has anyone done this that can offer any hints / tips or advice before we get too far down the booking stuff and checking stuff out route???

Thinking of going late Oct, early Nov - for a couple of weeks - just me and Mrs No...

DN

JackClark

Get a car and stay in Motels instead, RV's are an expensive pain in the butt the majority of the time.

Scoobychick

iTrader: (1)

We did a three week road trip in June starting from San Fran down the PCH to LA, out to Vegas, Grand Canyon West, Sedona, Grand Canyon South Rim, Monument Valley, Zion, Area 51, Extraterrestrial Highway, Sequoia, Kings, Yosemite and back to San Fran, we covered around 4k and did it all in a Mustang. Originally we planned to rent an RV but took advice and opted out of it. We're very glad we did! American RV's are HUGE, even the smallest ones are massive, not only that but they drink gallons of fuel. Although at around $4.50 a gallon it is a lot cheaper than ours here Some of the places we went to would've been a pain in an RV simply because of their size and sluggishness. We were able to get off the beaten track and do a fair bit of really good exploring because of the car. Next time we go though we will be hiring a pick-up as we decided that that is the best vehicle to do it in

Hotels and motels abound, the only one we booked a few weeks in advance was the San Francisco Golden Gateway Holiday Inn, everything else we booked en route. Some nights we just turned up but mostly I booked a day or two in advance, often in the morning of the day we wanted to arrive there.

Just about everywhere has WiFi and it's either free or very cheap. We stayed in a mixture of 2 star motels (Motel 6) to 3 and 4 star hotels. After San Fran we went budget (Motel 6 - clean and basic but fine for somewhere to lay your head, we paid between £25 to £35 a night for a twin Queen room) and used the savings we made on helicopter rides, clothes and shoes. Towards the end of the holiday we went for a little more comfort and stayed in Holiday Inn Express, Best Western and Comfort Inns which all have fridges, microwaves, irons and complementary brekkies. All of which cost around £40 to £60 a night.

In Vegas (which we hated) I pre-booked three nights at the Imperial Palace but we absolutely hated Vegas so left after just one night (and got our money back ).

In October you should have absolutely no problems should you decide to take the motel route, as long as you have a rough idea of how many miles you want to cover each day it's easy to book from day to day. I used Google Maps for my planning as Tom Tom's times were well out! I also bought maps along the way although I did get a couple of road atlases before we went. I got the Rand McNally (which I didn't like) and then the Michelin which I loved. US road maps are laid out state by state whereas the Michelin went in consecutive pages across the routes. State by state maps make for hard route planning as you have to keep flicking backwards and forwards through the book just to follow one road. This is particularly true at the GC where you are pretty much on the borders of three states.

We also travelled very light and ended up only using half of our luggage allowance on the way out so that we could buy stuff and bring it back, which we did in vast quantities. Everything is SOOOO cheap there We also flew Virgin Premium Economy which cost more but was a direct 10 hour flight with plenty of space and very comfy with a much larger luggage allowance, not as nice as Upper but good enough for a couple of peasants such as ourselves. It was well worth the extra - on the way home I slept for seven hours!

I thought that I'd hate moving from one hotel to the next every day but actually I LOVED it, it made every day a new adventure and once we got into the routine was totally enjoyable. Most of the motels have laundry rooms with washing machines and tumble driers so it's easy to keep clothes clean. We bought an iron in Walmart for £3 when we arrived there and due to buying so much new clothing only had to do a wash once. The indicator stalk of a Mustang parked in the sun makes a great place to dry socks

If you want more detailed stuff I'm hapy to help, we had the best holiday of our lives and can't wait to do it again

Sal

Scoobychick

iTrader: (1)

Some more info:

I bought a US sim card from these chaps and saved a fortune on texts and calls: USA SIM card from 0044

Travel Guide: Travel Tips - USA Travel and Tourism Guide

A useful resource and a helpful forum Road Trip Planning: Tips, Resources & Advice

A long, long thread but one where I picked up the most useful info from those with lots of road trip experience: Touring holiday to Nevada, California & Arizona - MoneySavingExpert.com Forums

Scoobychick

iTrader: (1)

Oops one other thing to consider, if you drive the PCH north you will be on the right hand side of the road which won't afford you the best views, we did it north to south as recommended by others Also San Fran is bloody cold, the fog comes in and the wind blows and it's worse than Yorkshire When you drive south each time you stop and get out of the car you warm up a little bit It's OK inland, it's just the coast which is cold, it was somewhere in the Big Sur region before we took our long sleeves off Big Sur is beautiful BTW

Freak

Dont get an RV

Fly into San Fran- > yosemite > back to the CA1 via san fran-> south on the CA1 to LA, then across to vegas would be a better route.
Then drive east from vegas via the hoover dam, into Arizona, then to to the grand canyon.
Fly out of Phoenix which is right by the canyon.
Much more sensible if you open jaw the flight.
One way rentals are not much-if any- more expensive. Get some sort of car- mustang, drop top, shelby- take your pick really...plenty to choose from.

Dr.No

Oohhhhhhh.... Thanks for that huge amount of info Scoobychick... that's made us think!

Now looking at cars, and the route suggested by Freak... including southbound on CA1 - which I hadn't thought about...

Just weighing up the drive to Phoenix - and debating whether we'd be better just flying out of Las Vegas (with a quick road-trip to the Hoover Dam, and probably a helicopter to the Grand Canyon).... Unless the Las Vegas - Phoenix trip is spectacular or otherwise worth doing in its own right???????????????

Any more advice very freely received!

Thanks very much so far...

DN

kbsub

We just spent a week in the Canadian Rockies in an RV, had a great time but there was six of us and hotels are expensive so an RV was the way to go. Plus you cant cook T-Bone Steak on a wood burning fire pit in an hotel Likewise breakfast consisted of Toasted Bacon Sandwiches cooked on the fire pit. Most campgrounds have these fire pits in the states as well .
Having said that if there are only two of you Motels are probably the way to go and cheaper its just that RV's are so much fun if you're into camping in the outback

Scoobychick

iTrader: (1)

We didn't have a fixed plan, just an idea of what we wanted to see and roughly how long it would take to get to each place. The distances in America are HUUUUGE! We were doing a fair few hundred miles most days but my other half spends his life driving so is very used to it

The hardest thing I found in America was eating healthily on the road but eating out is very cheap and the good food is there if you look hard enough for it. Each night I'd google for restaurants in whatever town we were in, check out the reviews and pick the best one. We also had takeaways delivered to our hotel rooms

Car hire is extremely cheap in the States so you can afford to go for something that you wouldn't normally consider You may need to purchase one of these like we did Car Rental Insurance Europe Excess Worldwide

DCI Gene Hunt

..... Really?


At least it sounds like you "tried" to eat healthily

JackClark

It's boring, then so is Phoenix when you get there.

Scoobychick

iTrader: (1)

And I succeeded

Apart from the takeaways, Margaritas, pizzas and ice cream

BOB.T

If (when) we go again, I wouldn't bother with a soft top. The Mustang we had only had a small boot, well it's an ok volume but a difficult space to fill effectively. We ended up putting stuff on the back seat which then means you can't have to top down in case stuff gets nicked when you stop to take pics, which you'll take 000s of If you're an AA member you can get discount with Hertz and Avis...if you're not a member and want to be let me know! We also took out insurance that would cover the excess on the hire company insurance in the event of a claim.

In San Fran', don't bother with Alcatraz! It's really dull, has no atmosphere and is cold and windy. Do get a hot dog from a stand on the street. Drive over the Golden Gate and then nobber off to the left, there's a disused missile bunker thing, we didn't have time to explore it properly but it looked really good, had far more character the Alcatraz. Sausalito is nice too. USS Hornet, an old aircraft carrier is well worth a look.

When you're on the road, don't be put off by Motel6's low star rating. They're all really clean and comfy enough. All you'll want to do is wash and get your head down, you don't need to pay for a sauna room, gym and all that, you won't use it! Domino's delivery pizza is awesome! Watch out for chocolate cake, I had a near death experience with a slce the size of a house!

Enjoy it and send us pics!

PS, don't forget than Stanley Steemer gets carpet cleaner! YouTube - Stanley Steemer Toby's New Trick

Dr.No

This is great, Bob & Sal - thanks for all the help - it's really really useful and very much appreciated. Mrs No is currently in stitches reading through your blog!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now thinking that we'll get a 'tang convertible from SF, to go to Yosemite (and will stay outside the park to try and avoid bears ripping the roof off) and then back to CA1 down to LA... where we'll dump the Mustang and grab something more mundane for the run across to Las Vegas (as we can drop the Mustang at major airports, like LAX, but not Vegas).

Car insurance excess thing is useful - thanks... I'm always at a loss as to what car insurance option and product to take at US car rentals, and normally (when on business) just take the lot! Any advice as to what I need - from Hertz (and, yup, am an AA member so thanks for that tip Bob!) - and from the excess place that Sal linked to would be useful.

More investigating required.... (currently tasked with finding the exact dimensions of Mustang Conv boot so she can work out what suitcases to take!)

Will update later....

Ta very much again!

DN

Scoobychick

iTrader: (1)

We took two cheap & squashy but suprisingly sturdy holdalls on wheels that we got for the princely sum of £24.99 each from Argos, we managed to fit both of them plus two small rucksacks with cameras, lappy etc in. We also managed to cram various pairs of my shoes in all the gaps The problems arose because we bought so much clobber out there but like Bob says, it's an awkward shaped space to fill.

I got most of my info on car hire insurance here

Scoobychick

iTrader: (1)

PS. We can be hired as tour guides should you wish

Dr.No

Can you fit in one of these ????

Thanks muchly!

GU5

Have you checked the snow fall levels in Yosemite in November? Some roads may be shut causing lengthy diversions.

j4ckos mate

Hae you seen that film RV its dead funny

Scoobychick

iTrader: (1)

That's a good point about the Tioga and Glacier Point Roads - info here: Yosemite National Park - Tioga Road Opening & Closing Dates (U.S. National Park Service) and here: Yosemite National Park - Visiting in Fall (U.S. National Park Service)

If you plan to visit four or more National Parks it is worth buying an annual pass, Yosemite is $20 per car, or you can buy an annual pass for all National Parks that costs $80 which is what we did

BOB.T

Snot fair, I'm all excited about someone else's holiday!

Dr.No

Mustang Convertible - £250ish quid for a week... what a bargain!!!

Coming together nicely now, and I think Mrs No has just about got it all planned in her head (and lots of bits of paper), greatly helped by Bob, Sal and the blog!

I was also wondering what the **** Stanley Steemer was, but a few pages later and I (sort of) get it... well, at least I understand!

Freak

Try the shelby hertz mustang although it is a bit more cash..

little-ginge

Dr.No

If I'd had the option I would go for it.... though I can't find any details for it anywhere on the Hertz site.

Currently I've gone for a Mustang from Hertz, but it's the only one listed - straight forward Convertible.

Oh well, may get an upgrade option when it comes to pickup day....

BOB.T

I spoke to someone recently who got a V8 Stang, he wasn't greatly impressed by it...to be fair I'm not sure he knew what he was on about, it could even have been the V6 and he just didn't notice

You'd need to book the Shelby, we tried the upgrade trick and failed miserably

little-ginge

Just bad luck on your part, Bob

we hired a intermediate car when we went to florida... but were upgraded to the 'stang

little-ginge

Sal/Bob - did you do the hoover dam??

Tam the bam

little-ginge