Road Tripping in the USA!

[Royal Fleet]

Depending on how outdoors you are - more time in Yosemite. This place is Eden. We spent 3 days there and didn't really scratch the surface. Will be going back before I die. Conversely we did Vegas in two days and was done by the end of that. We are not gamblers, fans of musicals or shopping so it was worth seeing for the sights but 2 days was more than enough.

Death Valley can be a drive through - 1 night en route from Vegas to Yosemite.

Agree on Monument Valley. Looks great in the pics but very underwhelming actually being there.

 

[wolfie138]

Monument Valley, in my opinion, is nice to visit if you're a fan of the iconic landscapes you've seen in hundreds of films, however if you're heading the same way i did [from Vegas, mostly up the 15] i'd personally recommend seeing how many days you can assign to Zion National Park. i passed through there and it's some of the most stunning natural beauty i've seen, i'd literally stop and take a pic or two, go around a corner and have to stop again. would love to have a few days there, overnight in one of the cabins, i can imagine the night skies are incredible.

 

[Peerzy]

The problem with Monument Valley is that once you've seen a picture / postcard of it you've it's as good as being there. It doesn't blow your mind or scale particularly well like Yosemite / Grand Canyon and it's normally hundreds of miles out of the way for a normal road trip. Honestly, if you've Googled a picture you've appreciated 99% of it already.

 

[kinobestew123]

We're off to Florida. Whilst it's not a road trip as such, there is one day in particular when we're driving from Cape Canaveral to Rotonda West (east to west coast).

Using google maps shows it will take about 3hrs 15mins and is 209 miles using the quickest route. This route looks to use toll roads. We will have the full day to make the trip and are up for making stops along the way at anything interesting.

Anyone got any experience driving across Florida?
Is it best to take the tolls or avoid them?
Are there any particularly good things on the way that we should go and see.
Any other tips?

 

[geekman]

We're off to Florida. Whilst it's not a road trip as such, there is one day in particular when we're driving from Cape Canaveral to Rotonda West (east to west coast).

Using google maps shows it will take about 3hrs 15mins and is 209 miles using the quickest route. This route looks to use toll roads. We will have the full day to make the trip and are up for making stops along the way at anything interesting.

Anyone got any experience driving across Florida?
Is it best to take the tolls or avoid them?
Are there any particularly good things on the way that we should go and see.
Any other tips?

Driving in Florida is pretty easy really: when I last went there I used the tolls and found them to be excellent. I'm personally not a fan of Orlando / Tampa etc, which are the main cities near your route: I'd probably just do the drive pretty much in one go and then see if I could find a few nice bars / restaurants / beaches to relax in along the coast between Tampa and Rotonda West. If you're bringing kids of course, then that might not be the best option

 

[uncle_rufus]

In the very early stages of planning my 2020 West Coast road trip with the Mrs.

***snip***

Obviously thats an extremely rough outline at the moment from just a small bit of research - lot more time to be spent finalising the itinerary.

Any obvious pitfalls jumping out at this early stage before I start more detailed planning?

You're covering some of the same route that my wife and I are going on in September - I'll report back with anything relevant if I can... I've posted the route we're doing in full detail further up the thread but it's similar to yours if you cut out the most southern bit and start from Vegas (so Vegas -> DV -> Yosemite -> SF -> down the coast -> LA) we're not doing a loop because at the end we're flying to Jamaica before coming home.

As someone else above said we're much more into the nature side of things than the cities so all of our longest stops are in the national parks (e.g. 3 nights in Yosemite) whereas the cities we're not in very long (especially LA, in fact we may not even be staying a single night as our flight to Jamaica is a night-flight)

 

[kinobestew123]

Driving in Florida is pretty easy really: when I last went there I used the tolls and found them to be excellent. I'm personally not a fan of Orlando / Tampa etc, which are the main cities near your route: I'd probably just do the drive pretty much in one go and then see if I could find a few nice bars / restaurants / beaches to relax in along the coast between Tampa and Rotonda West. If you're bringing kids of course, then that might not be the best option

That's a good point. I should have probably said that we'll have a 2 year old with us.

We're OK giving the cities (Orlando and Tampa) a miss.

Glad to hear that the tolls and roads are fine. I wasn't sure if driving such a long way on the tolls will cost a fortune. Is it best to just pay for the tolls as you approach them rather than getting any kind of toll pass in advance?

We're staying in Rotonda West for about 2 weeks after the drive so we'll have a good chance to explore and go to beaches, etc. I wanted to make sure we wern't going to drive close to but miss something amazing (nice views/sights/touristy things) in the middle of Florida. Nothing jumps out on the map.

 

[geekman]

That's a good point. I should have probably said that we'll have a 2 year old with us.

We're OK giving the cities (Orlando and Tampa) a miss.

Glad to hear that the tolls and roads are fine. I wasn't sure if driving such a long way on the tolls will cost a fortune. Is it best to just pay for the tolls as you approach them rather than getting any kind of toll pass in advance?

We're staying in Rotonda West for about 2 weeks after the drive so we'll have a good chance to explore and go to beaches, etc. I wanted to make sure we wern't going to drive close to but miss something amazing (nice views/sights/touristy things) in the middle of Florida. Nothing jumps out on the map.

No idea how much the toll costs as I just drive through the express lanes: they’re not able to send the invoices to me as I’ve got Mexican plates so I never pay anything. I don’t remember anything extortionate written on the price list signs I saw though. You can get a pass in advance: I think it’s called the Sun Pass or something like that.

The beaches and coastal roads / bars / restaurants are the best things about Florida IMO, I’m sure you’ll enjoy it.

 

[timmeh]

I’ve always used the tolls. We ended up buying a SunPass sticker for in the windscreen so we could just drive through them all and just topped it up through the app whenever we needed to. From what I can remember you only pay when you're getting on/off the toll roads, they don't charge along the way so it only gets expensive if you're getting off/on the road all the time.

 

[Cirrusflyer150]

Any Suggestions on best place to hire a vehicle when going to and from Orlando (mco) going to be there for 13 days, cheapest acceptable car seems to be a Ford Fusion around £450 and mustangs seem to start around £1000.

 

[acemastr]

We're off to Florida. Whilst it's not a road trip as such, there is one day in particular when we're driving from Cape Canaveral to Rotonda West (east to west coast).

Using google maps shows it will take about 3hrs 15mins and is 209 miles using the quickest route. This route looks to use toll roads. We will have the full day to make the trip and are up for making stops along the way at anything interesting.

Anyone got any experience driving across Florida?
Is it best to take the tolls or avoid them?
Are there any particularly good things on the way that we should go and see.
Any other tips?

Yes

Tolls are difficult to avoid, we have many of them. You can buy a sunpass from the rental company for cheap.
You have all of Disney/Universal/Seaworld in between. (Disney Springs is free and has great shopping if you want to stop by there.) Olde Town is a nice stop too.

Drivers are morons, traffic is bad during rush hour wherever you are. If it rains put your lights on

That's a good point. I should have probably said that we'll have a 2 year old with us.

We're OK giving the cities (Orlando and Tampa) a miss..

Why? These are the best bits, literally.. the rest of central Florida is barren and rednecky.

Go to Clearwater beach, or St Pete beach, best in the US.

 

[acemastr]

Any Suggestions on best place to hire a vehicle when going to and from Orlando (mco) going to be there for 13 days, cheapest acceptable car seems to be a Ford Fusion around £450 and mustangs seem to start around £1000.

Try SixT, they don't have as many fees. Mustangs and Camaros really aren't anything special here so shouldn't be much more expensive than the Fusion, definitely check Enterprise, Hertz, SixT etc.

 

[InvaderGIR]

Tempted to book a trip in July (nothing like basically last min...) and wondering what sort of ideas are sensible for a week on the West coast, thinking something along the lines of LAX - SFO for a rental for a week and doing PCH, although that looks to be easily doable within a week? I'm not at all fussed about LA it just seems an easy option of airport, I could switch LA and SFO for flying into/out of if that makes for a better trip?

E: Also I don't care about Mustangs, they aren't a special car (sorry everyone) so would get something more reasonable.

 

[[TW]Fox]

July is probably the worst possible time to go - flights will be a ripoff as will cars etc. Go September.

Could probably do a 2 week trip in September for the price of a week in July!

 

[InvaderGIR]

Probably sensible to be honest.

It's tying in with another trip / being tacked onto the end of it as I'll probably be in America at the start of July anyway. It works out about the same / less for flights if I do a multi stop trip then a hire car for the week (mid week to mid week) looked to be £350 for a Taurus which didn't really seem bad at all (via Avis UK).

I realise it will be meltingly hot and isn't the ideal time to visit usually but for various reasons June-July is an ideal time for me to travel this year. I'm not set on doing a road trip and can just not bother with a West coast visit, just figured it could be a sensible addition if I'm spending some time visiting friends in MN.

 

[Peerzy]

We've been to the west coast in June, July, Aug and Sept and it was fine in all of them to be honest. Places like Phoenix were super hot in late June / early July (40+) but aside from that it didn't put us off doing anything.

 

[Eatchipz]

Doing a small drive (Compared to American Standards) in 2 weeks SFO to South Lake Tahoe (205 Miles/4 Hours).

Anyone have any experience on them roads? Scenery in parts look stunning.

Also what websites do you use to get car hire?

 

[InvaderGIR]

Also what websites do you use to get car hire?

I've been looking at: Hertz, Budget, SixT and Avis...I'm sure there are others I've forgotten about too. So far for whatever trip I decide to do (also thinking about doing a North East coast drive instead of West coast) I've been finding Avis to be roughly £100 cheaper for a week than all of the others, not saying they are the best, just so far the cheapest for me in July.

 

[b0rn2sk8]

Try looking at a few 3rd parties. They tend to come up cheaper than direct, don’t forget Quidco etc too.

Virgin holidays and US car hire come up a lot on here.

 

[Gaygle]

Got our trip next month and looking into data roaming etc. Data roaming with EE is pretty much a no go from what I can see, however Three does "Roam Like at Home". You can get a 12GB PAYG SIM for £20 with 12GB of data added on. This sounded magnificent, but I've also heard people say that the speeds were awful in places like the USA, especially if streaming music was required. Does anyone have any experience with using their Three phone/SIM card in the USA?

I've also looked into getting a USA SIM with H2O which is on AT&T but prices for data in the US seem to be bonkers compared with the UK (10cents/MB)? Meaning you get 250mb from £20 - might as well turn roaming on on EE for that kind of price!

Am I missing anything?