Road Tripping in the USA!

Stay in Santa Barbara on Sunday 21st and then drive to LA late-afternoon/evening of the 22nd, much better to spend a day and a half in SB than LA and staying Sunday night means you'll only be partially sodomised for hotel prices. That gives you a full-day in LA plus the pre- and post-airport times which is plenty.

At the very least get the Mustang from San Fran to LA, change it at SFO if need be :)

Great trip though and excellent timing, California is brilliant in September.
 
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I'd probably sacrifice a day in Vegas to spend more time on the Zion/Bryce Canyon bit. Remember you can carry on exploring Vegas well in to the night, but you'll be limited by daylight hours in the national parks.
 
I would consider Grand Canyon North Rim, but it's time. It's 60 miles off the I15 iirc I would go with above, it's more fun exploring Vegas at night than during the day (Heat etc)

Actually, I would go from Bryce Canyon to Page, drive the Grand Canyon East Rim drive to South Rim then onwards to Vegas via the Hoover Dam, you can scrap the day trip then. Possibly see Lake Powell, Antelope Canyon, Glen Canyon Dam, and Horse Shoe bend. It depends how much you like packing it in. (9hrs apposed to 4hrs driving on your route but you free up a day)
 
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Very close route to part of ours !


We are camping at grand canyon, Bryce, Zion and Yosemite all booked apart from Yosemite ( this Friday ) I would no spent so much time in Vegas. Do not know about September but a lot of places recommended on trip advisor are fully booked in august. From the map above we changed lone pine to Bishop to get to Yosemite early in the day.
 
Thanks for the advice all. Looking at accommodation options for cutting a day from Vegas and stopping near Zion, along with cutting a day from LA and stopping at Santa Barbara.

Not sure about trying to pack any more in, this is just a sub trip within a larger 4 month trip so I'm keen to ensure we don't spend all of our time rushing around.

Getting quotes for SUV and luxury class to SF, then convertible after that.
 
Anyone used Dollar for car rental? They are coming in cheapest on CarHire3000 for my dates and it says 'Ford Mustang Cabrio or Similar' so I'm guessing they'll at least have some in their fleet (I've heard some companies won't have Mustangs this summer).

£673.03 for 21 nights (10/08/2014 -- 31/08/2014), pick up and drop off at LAX.
 
car hire

I was looking at convertibles but was worried the, or similar turning out to be a seebring and as we are landing in the evening wanted the process to be as smooth as possible. Places that specify a mustang only were much more expensive. Went with Alamo with a zero excess package that states on the rental agreement all insurance cover has been paid for.
 
Peerzy said:
Anyone used Dollar for car rental? They are coming in cheapest on CarHire3000 for my dates and it says 'Ford Mustang Cabrio or Similar' so I'm guessing they'll at least have some in their fleet (I've heard some companies won't have Mustangs this summer).

£673.03 for 21 nights (10/08/2014 -- 31/08/2014), pick up and drop off at LAX.
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Sometimes Hertz is the cheapest for me, sometimes Budget. Depends on the State, funnily enough.
Have you tried going on the sites directly?
 
Just because... I'm moving there next month :D woooooooo!

Possible Cadillac Deville already waiting when I get there, $1500, new transmission, fully loaded on 170k miles owned by an old lady who got it serviced every 3k miles.

Ultimate waft.

Also SixTy were cheapest for me renting in Florida, SLK350 for 7 days was £190.
 
"or similar" is the absolute worse!
Try calling them to see if they can reserve what you want......no chance!
So frustrating when you are spending good money.
 
acemastr said:
Also SixTy were cheapest for me renting in Florida, SLK350 for 7 days was £190.
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This has come up about 900 times in this thread now, and its misleading and gives people the impression they can rent Merc SLK's for 190 quid a week. They can't.

Sixt charge about that per week for a standard convertible - ie, Mustang or similar. Same as everyone else. You want a Merc convertible, right now for 1 week in low season it's circa £600.

What happened was that you got very lucky presumably because they didnt have anything else to give you and could hardly upgrade you to a mini-van, so you got a great deal.

It doesn't mean that £190 is the going rate for an SLK and all it does when you continually bring it up is mislead people :p
 
[TW]Fox;26004925 said:
This has come up about 900 times in this thread now, and its misleading and gives people the impression they can rent Merc SLK's for 190 quid a week. They can't.

Sixt charge about that per week for a standard convertible - ie, Mustang or similar. Same as everyone else. You want a Merc convertible, right now for 1 week in low season it's circa £600.

What happened was that you got very lucky presumably because they didnt have anything else to give you and could hardly upgrade you to a mini-van, so you got a great deal.

It doesn't mean that £190 is the going rate for an SLK and all it does when you continually bring it up is mislead people :p
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I initially went for a Chevy Aveo (oh yea) and simply asked how much it'd be to go for the bright red SLK outside, "An extra $20 a day sir"... "Sold!"

Who knows whether she simply couldn't be bothered that day, but it was the same price for the nasty silver convertible Camaro or the SLK350, I must have gotten lucky.
 
Sometimes the best deals can be had by upgrading on the day, its a bit of a risk, though. You could have ended up with that Aveo easily had the upgrade prices been higher.
 
I had every intention of taking the Aveo because it was cheap and cheerful, but the SLK really did make the holiday. If only I could have another on a permanent basis next month!
 
Just getting round to booking some hotels - what's peoples advice on doing this? Generally for the UK and Europe I just use Bookings.com and Hotels.com, find something decent and cheap and then book.

Looking at the MGM Grand for Vegas for 4 nights for £186 - any tips for where to stay in San Diego or San Fran? Not looking for anything flashy - we'd be happy with Premier Inn level of quality and i've set a maximum of £100 a night, ideally closer to £50 though!
 
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Went ahead and booked the MGM Grand, I'm looking at San Diego at the moment and staying near Little Italy which looks nice (La Pensione Hotel). I'm leaving SD and arriving in LV on the same day, the drive looks to be about 5 hours which is perfectly fine (I quite enjoy long drives) but want to make sure I'm not missing anything inbetween that's worth stopping for?
 
If you use tripadvisor they tend to give you rates from all the different sites and sometimes one will show up substantially cheaper.

@Peerzy no, it's just desert the whole way. interesting looking desert but still desert. Baker is the last town on the way so good to stop to get gas if you are low, plus if you do stop you may as well go by Alien Fresh Jerky and try their Premium Colon Cleaner Hot Jerky :D.

Barstow is a good halfway stop and has a gas station and Starbucks right off the freeway and easy to get back on. It also has a railway museum! There's also Calico ghost town and an early man archaological dig site but you may want to just press on :p

Otherwise I suppose you could set off early doors and get breakfast in Old Town Temecula as you drive right through it. It's a nice little town with a walkable town centre and some decent restaurants (there's a root beer brewery, they make their own and sell about 1,000 different varieties from around the country)


Completely OT but saw a CTS-V Wagon earlier today, I WANT - only $65k as well :p

admXNbx.jpg

556hp 6.2L V8 engine and almost as much cargo space as a Grand Cherokee :D :D :D There's one available down in L.A. to take over the last 18 months of a lease for $880 a month and 28k miles left...I feel like Gandalf "DO NOT TEMPT ME!"
 
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We stopped at some huge mall between San Diego and Vegas, on the outskirts of LA. Ontario Mills I think?

Also, the CTS is a totally horrible car inside. I spend the weeks approaching my trips nervously worrying the only car left in my class at the rental lot will be a CTS :D
 
Yup Ontario Mills *shudder*. Still, it is one of the rare Abercrombie and Hollister outlets so great for filling up on that stuff.

Tbf if it was a CTS-V I think you'd be lolling too much to worry about the interior :p I did see my local Enterprise has just got a couple of the new ATS Caddys in, reckon next time I take an extended trip I might hire one to see what all the fuss is about.
 
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