USA Road Trip - Reccomendations

[[TW]Fox]

Yea the trouble is I'm just not even sure where you'd stay? I don't remember seeing anything of note there when I drove through it. Lack of choice when it comes to accomodation = lolstupid prices. You dont want to be paying $100+ for a crappy place just because its the only place in town.

Jealous though - I really want to do a month there but the GF can't get a full month off work

 

[McDaniel]

Yea the trouble is I'm just not even sure where you'd stay? I don't remember seeing anything of note there when I drove through it. Lack of choice when it comes to accomodation = lolstupid prices. You dont want to be paying $100+ for a crappy place just because its the only place in town.

Jealous though - I really want to do a month there but the GF can't get a full month off work

Fair Shout.

Yea, I actually got 6 off with a plan to go up in to Canada but my friends couldn't - so went with 4 weeks.

To be honest, in some respects it doesn't matter where we go - between the 4 of us we are going to have so much fun!

 

[kwerk]

I'm glad to see Gatlinburg on the list. White trash heaven. Pigeon forge is even better/worse. Mind blown.

 

[Capt Doufos]

Driving into Gatlinburg from Bryson City is crazy you wind your way up the Mountains and down the other side, then the trees start to clear and BAM! Gatlinburg. I think the effect is probably doubled in the dark.

Another alternative to San Simeon is Cambria. I think most coach tours stop in san simeon, it is just like a big rest stop. Cambria was nice, we stayed in cambria pines lodge. Only thing was our rear number plate was pinched, which was a little odd.

 

[timebomb26]

Driving in the US is seriously easy, even in the cities. All you have to prepare is a map which shows you the one ways in the city centre. After that you're golden. Another tip I will give though is don't wait until you're nearly empty on fuel before you fill up. Sometimes it's easy to think "oh I'll just wait until the next gas station", but you could easily find that suddenly there are none and you don't want to be stuck in the middle of nowhere, especially driving across the States. You may think this is obvious advice, but you'd be surprised the amount of people who have nearly been caught out (me included).

I did a road trip down the West Coast so can't comment on the East at all, but in Las Vegas you should do the buffet (be it lunch or dinner) at the Bellagio hotel. It's seriously incredible and only $20-25, which is an absolute steal. Make sure you're hungry though.

San Francisco is the best place though. Make sure you go to Alcatraz and do the audio tour. It's a little bit pricey but seriously worth it. The island is beautiful and the audio tour is genuinely very interesting. Chinatown is also a cool place.

Don't plan on spending loads of time in LA though. I seriously didn't get it at all. Downtown is all a financial district, so nothing to do. Beverly Hills/Hollywood were both lost on me as I don't follow celebrity culture at all. Apart from that there's not a lot else to see. There are some nice areas surrounding LA though (especially by the beach), so they're worth checking out.

If you want any other info on Vegas/LA/San Fran just let me know.

 

[toshj]

So,
So, I know a few of you have done this before (Fox I believe did similar?) so wondering what tips you have, what sights you recommend, etc...

Our proposed route is something like this:

04/04/2012 London Flight > New York - NYC
05/04/2012 New York - NYC
06/04/2012 New York > Philadelphia
07/04/2012 Philadelphia > Washington D.C.
08/04/2012 Washington D.C.
09/04/2012 Washington D.C. > Colonial Williamsburg > Roanoke
10/04/2012 Roanoke > Smokey & Blue Ridge Mnts > Ashville
11/04/2012 Ashville > Charleston
12/04/2012 Charleston
13/04/2012 Charleston > Atlanta
14/04/2012 Atlanta > Cherokee Indian Res > Smokey Mnt > Gatlinburg
15/04/2012 Gatlinburg > Nashville
16/04/2012 Nashville
17/04/2012 Nashville > Memphis
18/04/2012 Memphis > Little Rock
19/04/2012 Little Rock > Tulsa
20/04/2012 Tulsa
21/04/2012 Tusla > Oaklahoma City
22/04/2012 Oaklahoma City > Shamrock > Amarillo
23/04/2012 Amarillo > Tucumcari > Santa Rosa > Alburquerque
24/04/2012 Alburquerque > Santa Fe > Alburquerque
25/04/2012 Alburquerque > Gallup > Holbrook
26/04/2012 Holbrook > Winslow > Grand Canyon NP > Flagstaff
27/04/2012 Flagstaff > Las Vegas
28/04/2012 Las Vegas
29/04/2012 Las Vegas > Barstow > Los Angeles
30/04/2012 Los Angeles
01/05/2012 Los Angeles > San Simeon
02/05/2012 San Simeon > San Fransisco
03/05/2012 San Fran
04/05/2012 San Fran > London Flight

I did a similar route almost three years ago. we spent four months on the road, but a lot of that was sat around doing sod all and upon "The Great Falling Out" my mate and I made it back from LA to NY in a very short amount of time...

20/04/2012 Tulsa
21/04/2012 Tusla > Oaklahoma City - this is possibly the most boring place on earth... really. It's like driving through Northern France. Flat and uninteresting. Drive through, as quickly as possible.

Little Rock is a nice place, and if you get some time (an afternoon) I'd take to the Buffalo River in a canoe. You can get away from it all for a bit, drift past wild turkies, turtles and other real wild life.

Upon leaving Washington and heading further down, I'd recommend spending a night in a log cabin in Shenandoah NP. A relaxing moment in what will likely be a hectic few weeks.

Other than that, I'd echo a point someone else made in this thread - Savannah, GA is a great place to go out. Had the best night out in the States here.

 

[KatanaDV20]

I'll also jump in and say that LA aint anythin special. I lived in the San Fran Bay Area for a number of years and if youre headed down to SoCal then San Diego is definetly MUCH nicer than LA. Specially the nice harbour and all that. LA is ok for a day but IMHO theres nothing there unless you are a celebrity junkie

Police tip
This is obvious stuff - but for Brits who've never been to the US before it can be a bit scary (I know I was when it first happened to me!)

If you are ever pulled over listen to their instructions carefully and just obey. Sometimes when you are pulled over they holler @ you through a loudspeaker ("Driver, place both hands on wheel palms forward fingers open..") This happened to me twice cuz of a illegal U-turn I did and speeding @ night (states like Texas have different day and night speed limits). Just be REALLY respectful and honest...American cops appreciate that. I was never ever fined and once they realize youre not some nutball they are very pleasant. In fact after all my years living in the US I prefer their cops to ours. Try not to argue or get lippy...just dont go there. The cops there have a LOT of power. Ive seen friends get uselessly lippy with them and they end up with needless fines - or a ride in the back of a Crown Vic Also when they hear you speak and see UK license they usually get all smiles and chatty and it all ends with a gentle warning not to speed & a nod of the State Trooper hat: "Welcome to the Uuuuuuu-nited States!"

If you do have time I would suggest a trip out to Catalina Island, its a just a boat ride across. You might even luck out and see whales although chances are higher for than in the San Diego area. Also think twice before scooting across to Tijuana...at one time it was reasonably safe but I wouldnt advise it today.

I dunno how much time you have in CA but I STRONGLY recommend seeing one of Natures (scary) wonders: the San Andreas Fault. Quite a sight to see this line in the ground where one continental plate is headed north and the other south.

Several gazillion centuries from now it will result in LA ending up where Alaska is!

 

[kwerk]

Yep doing that much driving you are bound to get pulled over a few times simply for having out of state plates. They like to fish for drug runners and the like.

How not to get shot/tazed:

When you see flashing lights in the rear mirror, indicate your going to pull over and pull over in the nearest spot where the cop will be most protected from passing traffic. Getting hit by cars kills more cops than being shot if I remember right.

Turn off ignition.
If it's night time turn on your inside light.
Wind down window
Keep your hands at the top of steering wheel at all times.
When going for your wallet/registration tell him first what your reaching for and do it slow.
Don't argue
Don't make jokes
Do what they say

Also you can turn right on a red light in most places.

 

[qqg3]

On the subject of cops, be glad you're not going to be up in WA, never seen so many traffic cops on patrol. Same goes for Ohio off the top of my head, every damn mile there was another car waiting to pounce.

 

[D.P.]

In some states you can turn left on a red light onto a 1 way street, not many Americans even know this but it is true. Turning right on a red light is more or less country wide.


The flip side is that almost everywhere u turns are illegal on any kind of road, you need to pullover properly to do it. Where u turns are allowed they will normally be indicated.


If a cop pulls you over don't jump to get your papers from the glove box, wait until asked and do it slowly. A friend had a gun aimed at him after he was pulled over (for doing a u turn) and as the police walked up to him he thought he would help by getting registration papers out.

 

[KatanaDV20]

If a cop pulls you over don't jump to get your papers from the glove box, wait until asked and do it slowly.

This is true, I reached for the glove box and was told to do it REAAAL slow! In the meantime two big Maglites were lighting things up - in addition to two spots from the cop car + its headlights. You would think an airplane was comin in to land. They must have two batteries to power all that!

 

[McDaniel]

We have revised our trip by the way - cutting out the longer stay in Tulsa and Holbrook; this gives us an extended stay in Vegas where we have got a penthouse suit in New York New York for a night (for the LOLS).

We've now got:

Tickets for Book of Mormon
Tickets for David Copperfield @ MGM
Tickets for a Kayaking trip in Charleston area
Tickets for a trip on the General Jackson Paddleboat
Tickets for Atlanta Braves Vs Milwaukee Brewers baseball match also

I am a bit nervous about the drive - but only will brush up on some of the USA Road things like turning right on a red etc... (any good resources) - i think i'll be ok though.

Won't give no lip to the PO PO though; i'm to much of a wuss!!

 

[timebomb26]

As I said driving in the US is easy. The only real thing to remember as you said is you can turn right on a red light, obviously with crossing pedestrians having right of way.

 

[Curio]

The thing that took me a while when I started driving over here was flashing the headlights, or lack thereof. In Britain you know how you give somebody a friendly flash of the lights to say "go ahead"? Doesn't mean anything over here - people just look confused

Don't worry about the whole turning right on red thing - it's always clearly posted if you can't, and often it's just week days.

4-way stops can be tricky, especially when everybody arrives at the same time and nobody knows who should be going first

 

[tuckenator]

Places you must go:

New Orleans (Get a Huge Ass Beer)

Yosemite

Austin, Texas - You can rent kayaks and go down the river through the city and under the famous Bat bridge, def worth it! Great nightlife too.

Vegas (obviously),

Huntington Beach (California)

Grand Canyon

I found San Fran slightly overrated (Apart from Alcatraz and the Twin Peaks which is a must in San Fran).

You must drive down/up the Californian Coast Line, Malibu - San Fran.

Anyways, i basically went for 10 weeks with friends and did a mahooosive u shape, starting in San Fran and Ending in NY, any questions give me a shout.

Tucks

 

[KatanaDV20]

Lol @ the Huge Ass Beer

 

[Metalface Mark]

I'll also jump in and say that LA aint anythin special. I lived in the San Fran Bay Area for a number of years and if youre headed down to SoCal then San Diego is definetly MUCH nicer than LA. Specially the nice harbour and all that. LA is ok for a day but IMHO theres nothing there unless you are a celebrity junkie

Police tip
This is obvious stuff - but for Brits who've never been to the US before it can be a bit scary (I know I was when it first happened to me!)

If you are ever pulled over listen to their instructions carefully and just obey. Sometimes when you are pulled over they holler @ you through a loudspeaker ("Driver, place both hands on wheel palms forward fingers open..") This happened to me twice cuz of a illegal U-turn I did and speeding @ night (states like Texas have different day and night speed limits). Just be REALLY respectful and honest...American cops appreciate that. I was never ever fined and once they realize youre not some nutball they are very pleasant. In fact after all my years living in the US I prefer their cops to ours. Try not to argue or get lippy...just dont go there. The cops there have a LOT of power. Ive seen friends get uselessly lippy with them and they end up with needless fines - or a ride in the back of a Crown Vic Also when they hear you speak and see UK license they usually get all smiles and chatty and it all ends with a gentle warning not to speed & a nod of the State Trooper hat: "Welcome to the Uuuuuuu-nited States!"

If you do have time I would suggest a trip out to Catalina Island, its a just a boat ride across. You might even luck out and see whales although chances are higher for than in the San Diego area. Also think twice before scooting across to Tijuana...at one time it was reasonably safe but I wouldnt advise it today.

I dunno how much time you have in CA but I STRONGLY recommend seeing one of Natures (scary) wonders: the San Andreas Fault. Quite a sight to see this line in the ground where one continental plate is headed north and the other south.

Several gazillion centuries from now it will result in LA ending up where Alaska is!

Is that where they do the ******* catalina wine mixer?

 

[McDaniel]

Ooooh getting very excited now - I fly on Wednesday

Here is a bit of a revised itinery - with some of what we would like to do (not suggesting we will do every single thing here... but for some ideas) (Est drive time is just taken from Googlemaps - obviously with traffic and getting lost it could (will) take longer)

Day 1 (4th April) - Arrival:
- Dallas BBQ?
- Broadway – Book of Mormon

Day 2 (5th April):
- Empire State Building
- Central Park
- Staten Island
- Rockefeller Centre
- 9/11 Memorial
- Times Square
- Madison Garden
- Statue of Liberty / Ellis Island
- Sports Bar (Hockey Game, 7pm Start)
- Potential Comedy Night – Broadway Comedy Club

Day 3 (6th April):
- Pick Up Car
- ~2 Hour Drive To Next Hotel (Evening Based)
- New York Clean Up
- Philadelphia Art Museum


Day 4 (7th April):
- Liberty Bell / Independence Hall
- Independence Hall
- Philadelphia Zoo (Possibly)
- Drive To Washington (~4 Hour)

Day 5 (8th April):
- White House
- Memorials/Monuments (Around White House)
- Smithsonian
- Capitol Hill / Supreme Court

Day 6 (9th April):
- ~2.5 Hours Drive to Colonial Williamsburg
- ~4.5 Hours drive to Roanoke

Day 7 (10th April):
- ~4 Hours Drive to Ashville
- Blue Ridge Mountains – Outdoor Adventures!

Day 8 (11th April):
- ~7 Hour Drive to Charlseton
- Griffon Pub / Roof Top Bar In evening

Day 9 (12th April):
- Aquarium
- Water Taxi Somewhere
- 14:00-16:00 Kayak Trip (Leave 1 hour before)
- Evening with live music

Day 10 (13th April):
- ~6 Hour Drive to Atlanta
- World Of Coca Cola
- Stone Park (time permitting)
- Martin Luther King Stuff
- Baseball Game – 19:35 Atlanta Braves vs. Milwaukee Brewers (booked)

Day 11 (14th April):
- ~4 Hour Drive to Gatlinburg
- Skylift in Gatlinburg (9am-9pm opening)
- Ripleys

Day 12 (15th April):
- ~ 4 Hour Drive to Nashville
- Leave Early = JD Distillery
- Explore Downtown / District

Day 13 (16th April):
- General Jackson Paddleboat Show (18:15 boarding)
- Parthenon / Centennial Park
- Country Music Hall Of Fame
- Exploring!
-

Day 14 (17th April):
- ~4 Hour Drive to Memphis
- Graceland
- Sun Stuido

Day 15 (18th April):
- ~6 Hour Drive to Little Rock
- Eat some chicken and sticky fingers chicken shack
- Bill Clinton Library
- River Market District

Day 16 (19th April):
- ~4/5 Hour Drive to Tulsa
- Uni Tour
- Chill Day

Day 17 (20th April):
LIKELY TO DRIVE TO OAKLAHOMA CITY 1 DAY EARLY (2/3Hour Drive)
- Bricktown Canal in evening
- Oaklahoma City Memorial & Museum

Day 18 (21st April):
- Oaklahoma – TBC
- Coyote Ugly Saloon
- Michael Murphy’s Duelling Piano Bar

Day 19 (22nd April):
- ~4/5 Hour Drive To Amarilo
- Shamrock Stop Off – Drop Inn
- Cadillac Ranch
- 72oz Steak at Big Texan
- Drive In Theatre (Tascosa)

Day 20 (23rd April):
- ~4/5 Drive To Albuquerque
- Sandia Peak Tramway

Day 21 (24th April):
- Santa Fe – The Plaza (1-1.5 Hour Drive)

Day 22 (25th April):
SKIP HOLBROOK – STRAIGHT TO FLAGSTAFF; NEED EXTRA NIGHT
- ~5/6 Hour Drive to Grand Canyon
- 2 Hour Drive To Flagstaff Hotel
- 25cent Drink Night

Day 23 (26th April):
SKIP FLAGSTAFF AS DONE DAY BEFORE – STRAIGHT TO VEGAS
- 4/5Hour Drive to Las Vegas; Via Hoover Dam
- Arrival at NYNY Penthouse Suite (Booked)


Day 24 (27th April):
- VEGAS!!
- Guitar shaped Margheritas!
- David Copperfield 21:30 – MGM Grand (Booked)

Day 25 (28th April):
- VEGAS!!
- The Gun Store
- Sky Dive?
- Outlet Malls
- Top of the World Restaurant @ Stratosphere

Day 26 (29th April):
- ~5/6Hour Drive To L.A
- Hollywood Boulevard
- Sunset Boulevard
- Hollywood Hall of Fame
- Rodeo Drive
- Various studio tours

Day 27 (30th April):
- Universal Studios
- Go to Bel Air and look at stuff
- Griffin Observatory
- Beverly Hills

Day 28 (1st May)
- Muscle Beach
- San Dimas
- 7/8 hour drive to San Francisco

Day 29 (2nd May)
- Walk across Golden Gate Bridge
- Golden Gate Park / Trams
- Coit Tower
- Union Square / Chinatown

Day 30 (3rd May)
- Piers / Aquarium
- San Francisco Giants
- Alcatraz Night Tour 6.45pm (Booked)
- Outlet Malls

Day 31 (4th May)
- Drop off car
- Fly

 

[Scuzi]

That's one hell of a trip. Some people might see a lot of those places as a bit boring, and they are if you are a regular visitor, but for a trip like this they will be awesome if you're in the right frame of mind.

Enjoy! Don't come back with a wife

 

[Metalface Mark]

Looks a great trip! Id spend an extra day in Vegas and a day less in LA though. Id love to do a similar length of trip at some point in my life, 2 weeks was great, a month would be amazing. We need pics of the 72 oz steak!