Renting an RV and travelling around America

Andybtsn · 22 Jan 2013 at 01:09

Hi all,

I am currently looking into hiring an RV to do some travelling around the west coast of America with my wife and 22 month old toddler (at the time of travel).

We are looking to go in September and were planning on spending around 2 weeks on the road and a further week of relaxation.

Has anyone done anything like this across the west coast? If you have can you let me know where you travelled to, who you booked with and the costs involved etc.

Thanks in advance.

Lord-Jaffa · 22 Jan 2013 at 01:27

Cant get the image of the Hills have eyes out of my head when I think about RV's around America

ElliorR · 22 Jan 2013 at 01:28

Or some wise cracking alien.

kthula666 · 22 Jan 2013 at 01:38

Rv just makes me think of trailer parks and the wonderful Faith No More

toshj · 22 Jan 2013 at 02:00

Didn't use an RV, but did a 4 month road trip round the states and my opinions of the west coast differ from most others. Obviously there are some great places in California (particularly SF and SD), but I wasn't a fan of Los Angeles at all.

My personal recommendation would be to go as far north as possible. Oregon and Washington are beautiful, and Vancouver is a great place.

D.P. · 22 Jan 2013 at 02:01

Skip the RV, just pack a tent and some sleeping bags.

D.P. · 22 Jan 2013 at 02:03

toshj said:
Didn't use an RV, but did a 4 month road trip round the states and my opinions of the west coast differ from most others. Obviously there are some great places in California (particularly SF and SD), but I wasn't a fan of Los Angeles at all.

My personal recommendation would be to go as far north as possible. Oregon and Washington are beautiful, and Vancouver is a great place.

I think most of the planet hates LA!

In California you got to travel ip highway 395, Sierra east side, bode ghost town, Alabama hills, mono lake, into Yosemite, Lake Tahoe, then head Northrop lassen national park and mount Shasta, across to the coast, redwood national park, down highway 1/101 to sfo.

thedoc46 · 22 Jan 2013 at 04:55

toshj said:
Didn't use an RV, but did a 4 month road trip round the states and my opinions of the west coast differ from most others. Obviously there are some great places in California (particularly SF and SD), but I wasn't a fan of Los Angeles at all.

My personal recommendation would be to go as far north as possible. Oregon and Washington are beautiful, and Vancouver is a great place.

How did you pull that off? Your visa waiver was only for 90days.

thedoc46 · 22 Jan 2013 at 05:00

Ask away, not only do i live here, but i've traveled to many parts of the place.

Namely

California
Nevada
Arizona
Florida
New Jersey
Pennsylvania
Massachusetts
Michigan
Indiana
Illinois
Arkansas
Mississippi
Georgia
Tennessee
Alabama

Prob missing some.

Lethal` · 22 Jan 2013 at 05:04

Why an RV?

Gammawolf · 22 Jan 2013 at 07:00

thedoc46 said:
How did you pull that off? Your visa waiver was only for 90days.

Maybe he didn't need a visa?

I know i wouldn't if i went there

[TW]Fox · 22 Jan 2013 at 07:37

Skip the RV. They are expensive and huge whereas hire cars are cheap and hotels are also cheap and everywhere.

Rich_L · 22 Jan 2013 at 08:44

From working in the State Parks, CruiseAmerica RVs are hugely popular although looking at their prices it does seem expensive - especially as bear in mind you'll be paying $25-50 a night on top of RV rental to stay at any of the CA State Parks, the alternative being you set-up shop in the car park of a Staples/Home Depot/insert big box vendor here which normally allows overnight parking. Plus gas on top is a factor as the mpg isn't great.

It's something which doesn't make a huge amount of logical sense in many ways but then it is undoubtedly an experience in itself - it depends if the benefits of doing the RV thing outweighs the financial consideration of doing the drive-motel option.

*edit*

Also bear in mind most State Parks in popular areas open for bookings 7 months in advance and promptly sell out - make sure you plan ahead to avoid being one of the people driving around frantically at 11pm desperately trying to find a campsite, lol

toshj · 22 Jan 2013 at 09:45

thedoc46 said:
How did you pull that off? Your visa waiver was only for 90days.

My friend and I applied for a 6 month visa each. Had a very weird experience going back to the states last month, whereby upon passing through passport control I had to fill in a different form, and the friendly man behind the desk informed me I was allowed to come back in for further 6 month periods at any point during the duration of the visa (ten years!) but I assumed he'd got it wrong.

Back to the OP, as others have pointed out, the RV option isn't necessarily the least expensive one. Also it can leave you without certain flexibilities when visiting certain places and cities, going out for dinner, etc.

Hank_Marvin · 22 Jan 2013 at 10:21

I toured Europe in a motorhome for 4months, cracking!!! But I like camping and out of season camping is cheap, 12 euros a night, I'm sure the states has less busy seasons too where camping will be cheaper, also I'm sure you don't have to stay on nation park sites only which will no doubt be more costly then an independent.