Road Tripping in the USA!

Peerzy said:
What a brilliant post! Thanks I'll have to add those places to my list and try and do as many as possible, I'm not sure our budgets are quite the same though so I may have to cheap out on the nice hotels slightly!

PS I once drove from Munich back to London in one 13 hour straight stint so I'll quite enjoy the long drives I think.
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No problem, it was good to reminisce on a very hungover day :D

Definitely get one nice hotel if you can afford it, I don't remember them being very expensive, bar The London in LA which was over £200 per night (I think).

Impressive driving length there, but after 6.5hrs from vegas, through Death Valley and heading to Mono Lake it really hit me, so we switched. Woke up a short while later aafter a nice kip nd the GF was happily sitting at 90mpg..... Women, gotta love them :p

When do you fly out next August?
 
Peerzy said:
It's one of those things, I want to own one so I will.

I completely understand my car is better in every way, the Mustang is a special car to me for reasons other than just how it handles and the interior.
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If you're talking about a classic Mustang I can understand, if it's the current or previous generation Mustang then it's a just a decent enough car rather than anything massively exciting. Unless you get one of the special editions, then that might change things somewhat. It is nice to have the option though of the convertible.
 
-Ad- said:
No problem, it was good to reminisce on a very hungover day :D

Definitely get one nice hotel if you can afford it, I don't remember them being very expensive, bar The London in LA which was over £200 per night (I think).

Impressive driving length there, but after 6.5hrs from vegas, through Death Valley and heading to Mono Lake it really hit me, so we switched. Woke up a short while later aafter a nice kip nd the GF was happily sitting at 90mpg..... Women, gotta love them :p

When do you fly out next August?
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Fly out on Sunday 10th August and fly back on Sunday 31st August.

I've set aside an average of £50.00 per night so that works out at £1050.00 for the entire trip for the hotels.

Unsure if I should work out a route and times and book all the hotels now or book the first week and then do the rest whilst I'm out there.

semi-pro waster said:
If you're talking about a classic Mustang I can understand, if it's the current or previous generation Mustang then it's a just a decent enough car rather than anything massively exciting. Unless you get one of the special editions, then that might change things somewhat. It is nice to have the option though of the convertible.
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Whatever Mustang I get (it won't be classic, 2005 onwards) will be a special edition or at least the V8 4.6l, as the non-GT cars would be too slow for me, it'll have to be a manual as well. Without going into detail which isn't really required my dad had a classic when he lived in the US and a modern one in the UK which unfortunately we had to sell when he suddenly died to pay for the funeral costs - I was only 18 at the time so never got chance to drive it.
 
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Average of £50 a night at that time of the year is a bit low from memory.

Marriott Gaslamp is $200 a night during that period and so is the Georgian in Santa Monica. Those are nice places, but we did get it closer to $100 for some places on our first trip out there. Don't skimp out on hotels in crappy locations, as if you're both drining, then taxi's and such will become a PITA.

Also looking at the timings and an itinerary from my big post, you'll be in Vegas around Sun-Thurs which is good, as during the week is cheaper! You can also try the $20 trick for a an upgrade (google that). Save money in Vegas to spend elsewhere on Hotels if possible.

I see you're looking for a nice Mustang, but a V8 will likely cost quite a lot and although it'll sound nice, it won't be that much better than a normal V6. Driving in the USA is all about being chilled, taking in the scenery and just having the wind through your hair. Paying extra for a V8 soundtrack is nice but if it's too much more then, for me, it really isn't worth it over staying in nicer places.
 
-Ad- said:
Average of £50 a night at that time of the year is a bit low from memory.

Marriott Gaslamp is $200 a night during that period and so is the Georgian in Santa Monica. Those are nice places, but we did get it closer to $100 for some places on our first trip out there. Don't skimp out on hotels in crappy locations, as if you're both drining, then taxi's and such will become a PITA.

Also looking at the timings and an itinerary from my big post, you'll be in Vegas around Sun-Thurs which is good, as during the week is cheaper! You can also try the $20 trick for a an upgrade (google that). Save money in Vegas to spend elsewhere on Hotels if possible.

I see you're looking for a nice Mustang, but a V8 will likely cost quite a lot and although it'll sound nice, it won't be that much better than a normal V6. Driving in the USA is all about being chilled, taking in the scenery and just having the wind through your hair. Paying extra for a V8 soundtrack is nice but if it's too much more then, for me, it really isn't worth it over staying in nicer places.
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The Mustang thing was in reference to me wanting to buy one in the UK. In the USA I'll take any Mustang they have, in the UK when I come to buy one I want a convertible V8 from 2005 onwards at a minimum.

I might have to up my hotel budget, it's all fine but I'm generally happy in Premier Inn type places and plan to spend very little time in the hotel room so as long as the location is good I won't mind.

I've seen that Monday - Thursday night is much cheaper than Friday - Sunday so will aim for those days in Vegas.
 
Just back from our USA road-trip. We decided to go off the beaten track (slightly) and tour some of the southern states.

The Route

Houston
Dallas (Gas Monkey Garage plus their Bar & Grill, Southfork Ranch)
Memphis (Graceland)
Nashville (Corvette plant (Kentucky), Country Music Hall of Fame)
Lynchburg (Jack Daniel’s Distillery)
New Orleans (French Quarter)
Houston

10 days, 2,200 miles, 7 states.

The Car

We booked a “Reserve this exact model” Camaro SS with Hertz. On arrival they tried to upsell us to a convertible with GPS for an extra $30 a day. We said no. Then we find out that they didn’t have a coupe available so would we like the convertible for no extra charge. They pointed us to a convertible but it was clearly not an SS. So they tried another, still not an SS. Finally they found us an SS – white convertible with GPS. We only managed around 10 minutes with the roof down as most of the time we had luggage in the boot which prevented the roof from being lowered. I haven’t done all the sums but I think we managed around 25mpg (Imperial). It was reasonably comfortable for the long drives; although on the Texas concrete roads the steering was a little skittish, other roads were fine. The HUD is very useful as it saves having to refocus your eyes on the dashboard. The GPS was a good-send and probably meant we explored further than we might have otherwise.
We paid the 2nd driver fee, breakdown cover and fuel top-up. We did not go for the medical cover. Total rental cost £835 (inc c.£40 of fuel).

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poor iphone pic sorry, better photos later

Hotels
We stayed in a variety of places from Comfort Suites (cheap and actually pretty good if all you need is the room), to downtown hotels (The Lafayette) to B&Bs.

Any questions please ask. :)
 
JoeT, similar places to where I'm looking to go next year, but adding in Florida, I've heard that Houston isn't great though? Also what sort of speed could you cruise at in that area, as we're looking to do a few more miles and take in Florida, but over a week, but don't want to be spending most of the time driving between places.
 
Unless you have to go because your other half really wants to, I'd skip Florida. It was the most 'meh' of my roadtrips. Some of it is nice but most of it is just generic really. There are many better places in the USA to go.

Doing all that AND Florida in a WEEK sounds completely pointless though. You'll see nothing and bore yourself to death. You can't really cruise at much over 75mph because there are constant highway patrols IME. Do not rely on being able to break speed limits to cover ground - if you can manage it then well done but it shouldn't be part of your planning.
 
[TW]Fox;25155644 said:
Unless you have to go because your other half really wants to, I'd skip Florida. It was the most 'meh' of my roadtrips. Some of it is nice but most of it is just generic really. There are many better places in the USA to go.

Doing all that AND Florida in a WEEK sounds completely pointless though. You'll see nothing and bore yourself to death. You can't really cruise at much over 75mph because there are constant highway patrols IME. Do not rely on being able to break speed limits to cover ground - if you can manage it then well done but it shouldn't be part of your planning.
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Going with mates, so will be partying in Miami, which is the reason for going down to Florida, meant to be over a week extra not 7 days total.
 
SoliD said:
JoeT, similar places to where I'm looking to go next year, but adding in Florida, I've heard that Houston isn't great though? Also what sort of speed could you cruise at in that area, as we're looking to do a few more miles and take in Florida, but over a week, but don't want to be spending most of the time driving between places.
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Yeah Houston wasn't that great but we only used it to overnight on way in and way out. Even more spread out than most US cities! Texas Interstates are mostly 80, but 65-70 elsewhere. We maxed 500 miles in a single day: I wouldn't do any more than that! I was wiped... Around 200-250 miles plus one attraction is another way to look at it.
 
Youstolemyname said:
Fox, what was this Pacific NW route mate?
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I really need to get it written up, sorry. In the meantime...

Flew to Vancouver. Straight down to Seattle in a one-way rental. Picked up my Cadillac ATS from Seattle. Few days in Seattle, went to the San Juan islands, etc.

Then back to Vancouver via Mount Baker. Few days in Vancouver. Amazing city.

Then across the mountains to Banff via Revelstoke. Used a place down the road from Banff as a base, did Icefields Parkway etc. Then round the outside of Calgary down into Montana to do Glacier National Park which has to be the best kept secret of any USA NP. Better than Yosemite.

Down to Missoula Montana for an overnight stop, next day through Montana and Idaho to Spokane, Washington. Then down to Portland Oregon. Then back up to Seattle via the Olympic Peninsula and also Mount St Helens National Volcanic Monument. Also amazing.

Then another one-way to Vancouver for the flight home.

Why Vancouver and the one-ways? Car hire in Canada absolutely sucks - expensive, crap cars, limited mileage for cross border. The US rental market is massively cheaper and loads better. But flights into Vancouver are easier and cheaper than Seattle.
 
Anyone stayed in Santa Barbara? OH mentioned about staying there and I reckon we can fit a day and night in on our way back to LA, doesn't look like much there but I can see a lake not far away so maybe some decent scenery?
 
The town itself is beautiful, its well worth a stop. We didn't stay there because the accomodation there is very expensive. I stayed down the road in Oxnard I think (Just a Holiday Inn type place off the interstate).
 
[TW]Fox;25162289 said:
The town itself is beautiful, its well worth a stop. We didn't stay there because the accomodation there is very expensive. I stayed down the road in Oxnard I think (Just a Holiday Inn type place off the interstate).
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Sounds ideal, I'm getting the impression that parking isn't much of a problem so for 1 night stays like this we can stay a few miles outside and travel in.
 
[TW]Fox;25162332 said:
The only place where Parking is a problem is San Francisco. Though it's free to park on the street on Sundays.
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Cheers, worth knowing.

So in LA, SD, LV and the odd small town you'd say parking is fine and to use a car to get around (instead of say public transport in LA for example).
 
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