Road Tripping in the USA!

[timmeh]

That is a good price! I paid roughly £650/each to go from Atlanta > Manchester earlier this year. That was the absolute cheapest I could find with 1 6hr layover on the way out and 2 layovers on the way back. Virgin wanted £1k/each for direct flights which, after the complete nightmare we had with delays and connections, I'll be paying next time.

 

[Buffman]

Sounds good. Think I'll pay slightly more (£415 each) to go from Saturday to Monday 27th may (bank holiday ) and use less work holiday than a Monday to Wednesday trip

Edit: booked sat 11th may to monday 27th may Next year (LAX). Will need to get an itinerary sorted. What's the best time to book the car? (closer to the holiday? ). I'd like a mustang or similar equivalent

 

[mohawk]

Sounds good. Think I'll pay slightly more (£415 each) to go from Saturday to Monday 27th may (bank holiday ) and use less work holiday than a Monday to Wednesday trip

Edit: booked sat 11th may to monday 27th may Next year (LAX). Will need to get an itinerary sorted. What's the best time to book the car? (closer to the holiday? ). I'd like a mustang or similar equivalent

I phoned avis about 6 months before we went and they put through a rental agreement, pay when i get there but said to give them a call each month to see if they can get a better deal, which i did and the quote went down a bit as the exchange rate got better.

so worth calling in way in advance and see what they can offer.

 

[Buffman]

What are thoughts on this plan? (she sent it to me). Ive booked the flights to LA so thats fixed, everything else is open.

Arrive LA, stay Santa Monica 11/05 to 13/05 (1 full day)
Sequoia or Yosemite 13/05 to 15/05 (1 full day)
San Francisco 15/05 to 19/05 (3 full days)
Monterey/Carmel/Big Sur 19/05 to 22/05 (2 full days)
Santa Barbara 22/05 to 23/05 (overnight)
San Diego 23/05 to 26/05 (2 full days)
LA 26/05 to 27/05

 

[cm1179]

just returned from our trip. awesome. whoever said we wouldn't have time to do everything was talking nonsense.

re; above. 3 days in san francisco is 1 too many imo spend longer in yosemite or visit a town called maraposa.

 

[Robi]

What are thoughts on this plan? (she sent it to me). Ive booked the flights to LA so thats fixed, everything else is open.

Arrive LA, stay Santa Monica 11/05 to 13/05 (1 full day)
Sequoia or Yosemite 13/05 to 15/05 (1 full day)
San Francisco 15/05 to 19/05 (3 full days)
Monterey/Carmel/Big Sur 19/05 to 22/05 (2 full days)
Santa Barbara 22/05 to 23/05 (overnight)
San Diego 23/05 to 26/05 (2 full days)
LA 26/05 to 27/05

The route seems a bit odd to me as you're travelling excessively (i.e. driving past places you're going to visit later) - it's not a natural loop so to speak. It would surely make more sense to do something along the lines of:

Los Angeles
San Diego
Yosemite
San Francisco
Monterey/Pismo Beach
Los Angeles

Definitely spend more time in Yosemite than say Los Angeles, it's beautiful and you'll regret it otherwise. Also don't underestimate the driving, it's tiring and inevitably takes big chunks out of the days, especially when you're driving to a new place with only a short stay in mind.

 

[Roland Butter]

The route seems a bit odd to me as you're travelling excessively (i.e. driving past places you're going to visit later) - it's not a natural loop so to speak. It would surely make more sense to do something along the lines of:

Los Angeles
San Diego
Yosemite
San Francisco
Monterey/Pismo Beach
Los Angeles

.

Looks good, that was the exact circular route of my May 2017 trip except that the
Yosemite roads were still closed for winter [ drat !! ] and some of the Coast Highway was closed.

 

[Amp34]

In case people didn’t know, California Highway 1 has just reopened, so you can do the coast road again.

https://www.google.ca/amp/s/amp.usatoday.com/amp/825120002

 

[Buffman]

The route seems a bit odd to me as you're travelling excessively (i.e. driving past places you're going to visit later) - it's not a natural loop so to speak. It would surely make more sense to do something along the lines of:

Los Angeles
San Diego
Yosemite
San Francisco
Monterey/Pismo Beach
Los Angeles

Definitely spend more time in Yosemite than say Los Angeles, it's beautiful and you'll regret it otherwise. Also don't underestimate the driving, it's tiring and inevitably takes big chunks out of the days, especially when you're driving to a new place with only a short stay in mind.

Thanks I'll send it on to the Mrs (my planner) I think we were considering skipping yosemite in favour of another park. A bad choice?

Also, flights got cancelled last night by Thomas Cook.. (theyre stopping the route)
Now flying 2 people return from Heathrow to LAX .. And saves us £100 (£720 ish all in).

 

[Robi]

I think we were considering skipping yosemite in favour of another park. A bad choice?

Yes - it's one of the most beautiful national parks in the world. You will definitely regret skipping it.

http://photographyblogger.net/15-beautiful-pictures-of-yosemite-national-park/

Book a house through Scenic Wonders, preferably with a hot tub + BBQ, then just spend the next couple of days walking, taking unbelievable pictures, watching wildlife, eating and drinking. I absolutely love the Lake District but Yosemite is something else entirely.

https://www.scenicwonders.com/

We initially booked Tree House Lodge but management emailed to say it was actually unavailable due to maintenance, so they upgraded us free of charge to Places in Paradise, which was even better!

https://www.scenicwonders.com/yosemite-rentals/treehouse

https://www.scenicwonders.com/yosemite-rentals/places-in-paradise

The one thing I regret from our trip is not spending more time in Yosemite.

 

[Chris1712]

Those that have just used motels and the like ad-hoc, what's an average rate? Is the below a fair guesstimate for a whole trip (1 person)? Taking much the same route as others but I definitely want Vegas, and probably a flight tour to Grand Canyon.

Flights £400-500
Car Rental £40-45/day (stang ofcourse)
Fuel £400
Accomodation ???
Food £20-£30 / day ? Not sure on this one, I know America is 'cheap' but eating out for every meal surely isn't. Also I don't want to gain 10kg while I'm there!

Has anyone considered an RV tour? I LOVE the idea of it, but not sure the accomodation savings would work out vs higher fuel and having to find campsites / friendly car parks cost.

 

[b0rn2sk8]

Are you going alone?

California is far from cheap IMO, the cost of living out there is insane and its quite noticeable in things like hotel prices and food. Unlike in the EU all locally quoted prices will not include tax, it will be added at the till/checkout.

I would budget for between £100 and £150 a night for a semi decent hotel but it ultimately depends on what standard you want. I think the prices we paid ranged from £60 to close to £200, you can certainly go cheaper but don't have high expectations put it that way.

Stuff like Motel 6 is utter garbage IMO and is best avoided, 5 minutes on Trip Adviser and you will see why. Some hotels can also be quite 'antiquated' which can put European's off as most of ours tend to be straight out the Ikea catalogue. Some hotels simply look like a crime scene from CSI from their own advertising photo's, all they are missing is a dead body...

Many hotels charge for parking, most charge around $10/night but they can be upwards of $50 in a 'down town' area. Make sure you check before booking.

I'm not saying they are all bad, there are loads of nice hotels but just expect to have to pay for it and expect to pay more in San Francisco for anything that resembles an adequate hotel. Just expect to pay £30-£50 for something equivalent to Premier Inn with free parking in California.

The food budget might be a little conservative if you need 3 meals a day and all of your drink. The best way to keep that low is to stock up on any snacks and bottled drinks at Walmart/Target, buying individually is crazy expensive, especially in tourist areas. Everyone expects a tip, and I mean everyone.

EDIT: I would drive to the canyon if your going to have a car, seems a bit silly paying to hire a car, paying to park it on the strip somewhere and flying to the canyon at expensive tourist prices. It's about 4 hours drive each way IIRC. You could drive out and spend some time at the Hoover Dam before heading to the Canyon. Spend the night there so you have sun set/sun rise and some time to explore.

 

[weringo]

For decent hotels which aren't fancy but you can be sure aren't a complete dive I would budget around £150 / night based on our trip last year when the exchange rates were at a similar level.

 

[Amp34]

How long is a piece of string is going to be a realistic answer.

Outside of cities and certain tourist traps a reasonable motel will cost you $60-100. People dislike some chains, but honestly I've never had an issue staying in the "lower end" motels (i.e. the big chains), but at the same time they're usually in small towns rather than cities - check reviews of the specific place you're going to rather than just the chain in general. Would I stay in a Super 8 or Motel 6 in a dodgy part of Vegas? Probably not...

Expect to spend around $20-30 for an evening meal (more if you like to drink), again depending on where you plan on going. You'll probably be able to save some for lunch the next day (getting leftovers to take away is normal, they usually ask anyway if there's food left on the plate). Breakfast is ridiculously expensive for what it ends up being (usually $15-20 but again dependent on where and what) so just buy breakfast stuff at a supermarket, or get a motel/hotel with breakfast included (their version of continental breakfast is pancakes, cereal, yogurt and an apple or two).

As for whether to get an RV, it depends on what you want from your trip. An RV trip will be very different to staying in hotels and motels. With an RV you'll be able to stay in more places out of town, but have more hassle in towns - want more nature then an RV tour will be better (especially if you go truck camper over a "proper" RV), want to tour towns and cities then normal car and motels/hotels would be better. Again it depends where you go but there are a lot of free places to stay if you have a camper, from Walmart carparks (if you're transiting through or just desperate) to wilderness areas. Want campfires ever night or want to sit down in a nice restaurant and sample nice food? Lots of things to consider.

 

[Peerzy]

We average about £125 a night over the last few years with hotels in California. We typically book relatively new and modern chain hotels where possible as the quality is pretty much guaranteed with the odd splash of a nicer spa hotel.

When we first went to CA in 2014 I managed to average under £100 but with the exchange rate it's about £125 now. LA I picked a newish Hampton Inn near the airport as you have to drive everywhere anyway, San Diego we stayed in Renaissance in Downtown so we could walk everywhere (£440 for 5 nights in 2016). Las Vegas is always somewhere decent on the strip (Mirage is good value for money and location).

 

[tlrBeta]

For all thinking about it,

I've seen some good prices for direct flights Manchester to Houston return, Singapore Airlines - not a codeshare (which I was surprised by) and on a relatively new Airbus A350 - £350. Travel Dates: October - May 2019 (excluding December, but including Easter)

Excellent hub for some deep south touring

Admittedly, email is 5 days old but sign-up to Jack's Flight Club.

 

[Roland Butter]

A £35 Motel 6 room is fine for seasoned road trip junkies, excellent for a shower and crashing out, no point
in paying £125 for a room you only spend 12 hours occupying.

I find the money saved on budget motels can be ploughed into a better hire car, the difference between
a compact Nissan Versa [ eeuch ] and a premium Chrysler 300 [ lovely ].

 

[SoliD]

For all thinking about it,

I've seen some good prices for direct flights Manchester to Houston return, Singapore Airlines - not a codeshare (which I was surprised by) and on a relatively new Airbus A350 - £350. Travel Dates: October - May 2019 (excluding December, but including Easter)

Excellent hub for some deep south touring

Admittedly, email is 5 days old but sign-up to Jack's Flight Club.

Deep south definitely has a lot of treasures! Smoky Mountain NP alone was worth the trip.

 

[timmeh]

Deep south definitely has a lot of treasures! Smoky Mountain NP alone was worth the trip.

I love the Smokies, they're only 6hrs away but I don't get chance to over there enough.

Its a hell of a drive from Houston but you can stop at some great places along the way - New Orleans, Memphis, Nashville, Bowling Green (National Corvette Museum), Smokies, Asheville and then back via Atlanta.

 

[SoliD]

I've never written up my trip but we did

Houston - Austin (F1 GP) - Dallas - Little Rock - Memphis - Nashville - Chatanooga - Pigeon Forge (Great Smoky Mountains) - Atlanta - Pensacola - New Orleans - Houston

Plus loads of other stops along the way including Bowling Green, Jack Daniels.

Proper mix of people. scenery and things to see/do along the way.

Highlight of the Smokeys was this little family whilst out on a hike. - There was no zoom used on this picture....