Road Tripping in the USA!

[TW]Fox;29282608 said:
That's quite the Northern route - it's one side to the other, and 70% of it will be spent driving through nothing! Far better to pick a side and focus on it.

I've done both Northern corners - the Pacific Northwest and also New England. Both are a good opportunity to also cover the Canadian portions, too.
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I have to do cross country really (friends in the North East and in the North West) I have four weeks to do the trip. I understand it's a bit bleak :D I guess I could do a "U" shape trip and head South towards San Fran and skip through the Southern states (but again family dotted around the US / Can border so prefer to do an albeit boring but more relevant road trip lol).
 
ultralaser said:
I have to do cross country really (friends in the North East and in the North West) I have four weeks to do the trip. I understand it's a bit bleak :D I guess I could do a "U" shape trip and head South towards San Fran and skip through the Southern states (but again family dotted around the US / Can border so prefer to do an albeit boring but more relevant road trip lol).
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Just fly from one side to the other. It'll take a few hours and leave you open to focus on the good bits rather than spending most of your time driving through nothing.

Plus you'll get totally screwed one-waying a car from Seattle to Maine!
 
Why not fly? Internal flights are fairly cheap and run like buses - I wouldn't want to drive from here to Seattle!
 
Currently have this planned for our trip (this is after 3 days in New York)

Day 1 - San Francisco
Day 2 - San Francisco
Day 3 - Drive to Napa
Day 4 - Napa tours
Day 5 - Drive down from Napa through to Santa Cruz
Day 6 - Drive from Santa Cruz, down to Monterey and Big Sur (have booked some kind of cabin in the woods style thing for this... ridiculous price but you pay for the location :o)
Day 7 - Carry on down through to Morro Bay
Day 8 - Drive from Morro Bay to either Malibu or Santa Barbara - not sure which of these to stay at?
Day 9 - Drive to LA
Day 10 - More LA stuff, might drive to Vegas either late in the evening on this day or the next morning.
Day 11/12 Vegas
Day 13 - Flying home

Any thoughts appreciated. Will read through the thread from the beginning a bit more for some recommendations on car hire and so on. :)
 
daz said:
Day 8 - Drive from Morro Bay to either Malibu or Santa Barbara - not sure which of these to stay at?
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I've not been to Santa Barbara yet but would think there's probably a bit more to do there than in Malibu, I was there for one night a few years back and there didn't seem much to it plus you can almost see LA city limits from the edge of Malibu anyway.
 
Cheers, I'll do some more Googling for those places. I've barely even scratched the surface looking at the first part of the trip yet! :D
 
Struggling to find a really good deal; Any ideas where to look?

Looking from the 18th June, from LA, to the 22nd June in LV. Would rather have a mustang, but nothing "similar".

Can't find anything which is guaranteed for less than £500 :(
 
hilly said:
Struggling to find a really good deal; Any ideas where to look?

Looking from the 18th June, from LA, to the 22nd June in LV. Would rather have a mustang, but nothing "similar".

Can't find anything which is guaranteed for less than £500 :(
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Every time I've booked 'Mustang or similar' (Alamo) I've either been able to pick a Mustang straight away, or just asked and they've grabbed one from round the back.

Don't pay extra for the specific model as you'll get one anyway.

I've got a Mustang or similar booked with Alamo from the 17th June for 3 weeks for about £600.
 
hilly said:
Struggling to find a really good deal; Any ideas where to look?

Looking from the 18th June, from LA, to the 22nd June in LV. Would rather have a mustang, but nothing "similar".

Can't find anything which is guaranteed for less than £500 :(
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That's because guaranteed Mustang hire is just a way of ripping off tourists who don't realise that a Mustang is a cheap and common car and is literally all over the rental fleets. They think it's some sort of rare exotic and pay huge sums of money to 'guarantee' something they'd likely have got anyway.

Booking direct at http://www.alamo.co.uk it's £189 for that period including all required insurance. If you want to save money it's 10% cheaper through http://www.alamo.co.uk/brits but technically you need a copy of the Brits Guide book to get that rate so it's up to you what your attitude to risk is. I bought one on Ebay for 2 quid as a backup but nobody has ever asked to see it.

Yes, it says 'Mustang or similar'. The 'or similar' is a Camaro so hardly the end of the world but honestly I'd be absolutely staggered if LAX had no Mustangs to give you. Every time I've been there you can't move for them - they are the ultimate pile em high rent em cheap convertible. There is no point the rental firms buying anything less than a Mustang really. The Alamo/National facility at LAX is enormous - the stock turnover is huge so there are cars being returned constantly.
 
Cheers guys :)

edit:

Booking Summary
Pick up
Los Angeles, International Airport
18 Jun 2016 15:00
Drop off
Las Vegas, International Airport
22 Jun 2016 17:00
Rental Period
5 Days
Each new day counts as a new rental period.
Vehicle
Ford Mustang or similar
Package
Show package inclusions
Additional charges
One Way Charge One Way Charge $150.00
Airport Tax 11.11 pct $16.66
Sales Tax $15.84
Subtotal $182.50
approx. £126.07
Extras
Not yet chosen
Package Price
(Pay now)
£242.42
Estimated amount to be paid at the counter £126.07
Estimated Total £368.49


Must be doing something wrong, as I can't get near your price Fox! This is standard Alamo and not the 10% guidebook price. Any ideas?
 
hilly said:
Must be doing something wrong, as I can't get near your price Fox! This is standard Alamo and not the 10% guidebook price. Any ideas?
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I'm not certain but I suspect it's because you're selecting for four days + two hours e.g. try 18/06/16 @15:00 to 22/06/16 @15:00 rather than 22/06/16 @17:00. I don't think it can or will charge you for portions of a day, the system is charging you for the five days that you've chosen. For what it is worth when I tried just now and selected only four days I also got quotes of £189.XX - the variation seems to be a few pence depending on the time of day but that's all.
 
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