Petem95

Toying with the idea of doing a roadtrip in the US this summer. Have done a few road trips around Europe in sports cars over the last 5 years which are great, but looking at something different.

Options seem to be either West-coast - Los Angeles, San Francisco, Las Vegas or East coast - Miami, New York, Boston.

Anyone done anything like this before, or recommend East or West coasts? Looking at car hire we can get 2 x Ford Mustang convertibles for about £280 for 10 days. Hotels and general food costs aren't too bad - only other sticking point is flights as we'd be flying out to one airpoint and returning from another.

Any obvious pro's/con's to the idea?

dpb

Doesnt seem a lot of time

BOB.T

I've done the West Coast and Route66, will waffle for days, what do you wanna know?

And as above, 10 days is sooooooo not enough!

n one

iTrader: (5)

I knew Bob wouldn`t be far away

Petem95

Could extend a bit over 10 days to be honest, but would be looking at 12-14 tops really.

What are the obvious attractions down the West coast then? Obviously some pretty nice national parks, Alcatraz, Golden gate bridge, Las Vegas? Any of the major cities offering decent night life?

Also any decent roads to drive, or it is only straight ahead 50 mph stuff?!

dpb

I Guess it depends how much you like being on the road

- im slightly regretting ( possibly) committing my and gfriend dropping off some appliances to my mam in Dijion , going via Carcasonne, in the same time frame , albeit im 10 minutes from ferry crossing here

Dr.No

We've done it as well, shortly after Bob in October/November 2008 - did the West coast San Fran / Yosemite / Route 1 (PCH) / LA / San Diego / Las Vegas trip... also in a Mustang convertible. We were in Vegas on the night Obama was elected... and in Santa Monica on Halloween - madness!

Note that you can only get the Mustang from Hertz - and if you want the real deal crazy ***** Shelby version you have to pick up (and probably drop off) at LA Airport... they don't do it from San Fran. We wanted to do the Pacific Coast Highway from North (San Fran) to South (LA / San Diego) so wanted to pick up in San Fran, so could only get a "normal" Mustang convertible... not bad, but not the real deal. The Shelby looks and sounds the business...

San Fran is fantastic - but the hotels are all comparatively expensive... much more so than anywhere else we stayed (well, except for the 5* suite in Santa Monica). Las Vegas was probably the cheapest and the flashiest room... With a $1.60:£1 exchange rate it's not as cheap as it once was - so budget for £100 per room per night and you should be OK... Some may be much less, some much more - but thats a reasonable average.

We made EXTENSIVE use of motels/hotels and all courtesy of a laptop/wifi and Reviews of vacations, hotels, resorts, vacation and travel packages - TripAdvisor - it was a saviour. Planning one hotel / stay from the previous, a day or so in advance... it's easy.

As BOB.T has offered, if you want to know anything - just ask.

Oh, and we spent about 16 nights over there - it felt like a month - but still wasnt really enough time!

DN

BOB.T

Yup, ordinary Mustang soft top, not the greatest car and the boot is tiny, nice enough though. Look out for the high costs of one way hire, it's less on a crappier car. You'll also save money at Hertz if you join their #1 club, you can save even more with your AA membership, summat to do with links to ARC Europe, not sure if this applies to RAC et al.

Highway 1 is miles better done Southbound as you're nearer the sea.

Alcatraz, bit dull and lacks atmosphere. I wouldn't rush to do it, that said I'm tempted to say if you did a dusk tour it might add something... but not a lot!

Golden Gate Bridge is a must see and whilst you're there head up into the Marin headlands and have a look at the disused gun batteries, well cool!

Sequoia, Kings, Yosemite are all lovely, the giant Redwoods have to be seen. If you're gonna do a few national parks it works out cheaper to get an annual pass.

Vegas, sh!te but you have to go anyway just to say you've been! Whilst there make sure you go to the Hoover dam, there's a helicopter nearby that does cheap flights too.

Grand Canyon, amazing, get a helicopter tour from Maverick.

Get a hotdog from a pavement stall thing.

Don't try crack a joke with customs! The green form they give you needs to be filled out on both sides

Motels are cheap and you don't have to book in advance. When I did Route 66 I just drove till I wanted to stop and then just rocked up at the first Motel I came too, didn't have any probs. Motel 6 is for nowt but don't expect luxury!

Pay close attention to the scale on maps, The US is fecking huge!! I'd reckon on 200 miles a day if you want to stop and see stuff. I got a bit of string and calibrated it for working out how far I could expect to go.

The roads in the Sierra Nevadas are the least straight roads I've EVER driven and I live in the Dales! Absolutely awesome fun to drive and utterly knackering... it's literally 90 left, 90 right with a few hairpins chucked in for hours on end!

Leslie

Generally Route 66 is as good as any. The Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Diego, the National parks are all well worth seeing as well as many more attractions.

You have to study a road atlas with a list of things to do and work out a good trip that way.

Have a great time anyway-you will love it.

Les

john_s

iTrader: (1)

We did east cost (New York) to west coast (Los Angeles) in about 17 days a few years back. We could have done it in about 10 days, but we used some days for looking around rather than driving.

The one way charge on the car hire was a bit of a shafting, but it was definitely worth it.

We (mostly) stayed in motels (mainly Super 8's and all except one were very clean and tidy), except in NY and Washington DC, where we stayed in proper hotels. We didn't bother booking any of the motels, just drove until we got bored and pulled in at the next one we came to.

Our route took us through NY, Washington DC, Chicago, Minneapolis, Rapid City, Cheyenne, Denver, Salt Lake City, Bonneville (minor detour - about 3 hours each way! ), Salt Lake City (again), Las Vegas, and Los Angeles.

We had no plan, except wanting to spend a couple of days each in NY and DC, the time and date we had to be at LAX to fly home. Each night, we just had a quick look at the map to see where we were and decide roughly what way we were going the following day. If we were passing anywhere interesting, we'd work in a detour to see it (Badlands NP, Mount Rushmore, Rocky Mountain NP, Grand Canyon, Death Valley).

What would I do differently if (or should I say when?) I go again? Go for longer, see more places, and not bother going back to LA.

Midlife......

iTrader: (2)

Have you thought about the Blue Ridge Parkway ?

Welcome to the Blue Ridge Parkway

I started in Washington and worked my way down

Shaun

Nimbus

Agree with the above. We drove down from SF via Highway 1 about 10 years ago. It's a very nice route and had a good stop off at Big Sur.

The parks you mention are definitely worth a visit but do need some time dedicated to them.

Dave1980

west coast has nicer sights and better weather .

liking the idea, just need a full time job now.

windyboy

Last year we did Sanford to Orlando, usually it only takes an hour but we were given duff directions and a duff tourist type map, Windygirlfriend is a carp navigator an didn't relay the exit number so we got lost and it felt like a road trip round Miami taking us 5 1/2 hours to get to International drive... of course it was all my fault

windyboy

Timwinner

iTrader: (3)

I have done it a few times, Its one of the greatest experiences you will have, We always book the flights ourselves, Its really easy to do, As you say motels are cheap enough and food is next to nothing.
California(via vegas) is the most fun I have had, SF to vegas, down to SD and then up along the 101 through ventura, santa barbara until you get back to SF is a way of getting the return flight a bit cheaper.

Make sure you locate the bits you want to see, I would advise buying a pay as you go when you land so you can make domestic calls for hotels etc, also buy a sat nav when you get there.

I would highly recommend it. You wont regret it.

Oh and make sure you have the first hotel booked and use that as your visa waver address!!!! It saves questions at customs.

salsa-king

For our Honeymoon in 2006....we flew into
San Francisco (3nights) picked a car up.. a v6 Buick.. very nice car.. everthing electric..


drove via the coastal roads to
Monterey
then to
Carmel (1night)
then to
Cambrea Pines (1night)
then to
Santa Baraba (3nights)
then to
San Dieago (2nights)
then flew to
Vegas (5nights)



Last year we...
flew to
VEGAS, picked car up... Red v6 Mustang..

drove to
Zion National Park (2nights)
then drove to
Lake Powel (2nights)
then to
South Rim of GrandCanyon (2nights)
then drove back to Vegas (via Hoover Dam) for 7nights.


all booked through Trailfinders, can't tell you how good they are!!!

The Zohan

Have done a few trips in the states, Mustangs convertables look great but have little leg room in the back and also a tiny boot so if you have luggage it is likely to end up on the back seat.

I would suggest a SUV and the Mustang, SUV (Grand Cherokee is a great one) for all you stuff and just swap about between that and the poseurs car

Make sure you get collision damage waiver insurance incase you do get shunted - if you do get rear ended or such then drive off, you are covered. The scumbags sometimes do this to rentals/tourists and you can end up getting robbed or worse.

I love driving in the states and make sure you take plenty of tunes with you.

Petem95

Thanks for all the info guys, some really good tips and suggestions already, so this will all come in handy

I'm surprised so many people have done this sort of trip to be honest, but certainly sounds worthwhile!

West-coast sounds like it's probably the way forward then as well.

jods

Either cut the mileage down by 50% or make it 21 days - Otherwise you'll spend all your time driving, seeing nowt, stopping to sleep only. On Balance, I'd say do West Coast. Try and fit Yosemite into your plans - There be great driving there (if a little scary to start with)

Leslie

Thats good advice too.

Les

Scoobychick

iTrader: (1)

I bought a USA sim card here before I went and just stuck it in my phone when I got there for nice cheap calls USA SIM card from 0044

I also bought a Hire Car Excess Insurance policy before I went as the car hire insurance only normally includes cover for CDW (Collision Damage Waiver) & theft and the hirer is still liable for the excess. You can buy it from the hire company at the desk or get it cheaper here before you leave Car Hire Excess Insurance | Car Rental Excess Insurance

Here's a useful forum for US road trippers: The Great American RoadTrip Forum

I can't wait to do another one, I LOVED it

Dan Gleebits

Going in as couple of months, Vegas Bellagio, then on to the Grand canyon, then over to Santa Monica, up to Monterrey, across to Yosemite then finally on to San Fran.
just shy of 3 weeks all in.

really looking forward to it.

DCI Gene Hunt

Chris Hanson - San Fran resident "I ****ing hate San Francisco. What a ****-hole of a city".

Enjoy

Jamie

One way ticket

Allan

iTrader: (1)

Hackberry general store is worth a visit, Route 66 from Kingman to Grand Canyon. Amazing place.

Dan Gleebits

Dan Gleebits- Birmingham resident "I ****ing hate Birmingham, what a ****-hole of a city".

No, Jamie.. the only one way ticket I have is straight to hell once I leave this god -forsaken **** hole of a world we live in .

HTH

Jamie

Oh i thought you might stay for a while.

I would

Dan Gleebits

I can think of much better places than the USA to stay long term

BOB.T

Hackberry General Store is great, I've been twice now, if you go look out for my No. plate on the wall

Just up the road in Seligman there is...



The 'Too Slow Doe' is lovely!

If you're doing that you have to do Flagstaff and 89A down to Sedona, you can loop right round and back to 66 or I40, it's a nice run over the mountains

Steve_PPP

iTrader: (3)

Good advice

I did San Fran - LA - Vegas - Hoover Dam - Grand Canyon - Albuquerque - Oklahoma City a few years ago and ended up having to do over 500 miles in one day because we weren't making the progress we had intended to