Road Tripping in the USA!

Going in August sucks for the money reason, it would just annoy the hell out of me paying 900 quid for an economy flight to LA! You've done very well on the car hire though, £520 for 3 weeks on a speciality with Hertz is bonkers, you sure you've got all the insurance etc included?

Also consider doing it the other way round only for the reason that when you do the Pacific Coast Highway if you go up rather than down all the scenery is the other side of the road!

Careful also with the Grand Canyon - helicopters are banned from the Canyon so if your trip offers that you are going to the rubbishy 'West Rim' instead. Avoid that!
 
I only got a convertible with Hertz in August for £600 for 3 weeks so no idea how you've managed to get a Mustang!

Is gas really only going to cost £120 for the entire trip? I've not worked mine out yet but assumed it would be like 2-3 times that?
 
Oh. Ouch, he's been caught by the British-tourist-con that is the 'Guaranteed Mustang'. I just booked a 'Standard Convertible' and guess what, they were all Mustangs anyway! The guaranteed Mustang thing is just money for nothing, Hertz must love it.

There is no way a Mustang is worth over a grand to rent anyway, to be honest.
 
Will I just be able to pitch up and get tickets for the things I want or should I book in advance? I'd like to do a show in Vegas and a baseball match in LA at the least.
 
Can anyone offer some help?
I am going to Orlando for 10 days then driving to Siesta Key for 5 days, i want something interesting to rent but I have a wife and 2 small kids. I was thinking Camaro? anything else worth looking at?
 
[TW]Fox;26492163 said:
Oh. Ouch, he's been caught by the British-tourist-con that is the 'Guaranteed Mustang'. I just booked a 'Standard Convertible' and guess what, they were all Mustangs anyway! The guaranteed Mustang thing is just money for nothing, Hertz must love it.

There is no way a Mustang is worth over a grand to rent anyway, to be honest.
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Bingo. £1040 for the two of us with the guarantee. I couldn't imagine booking 'mustang or similar' and turning up to a bunch of Chryslers - especially in August as it's peak tourist time for California.. so i'm getting shafted but with a smile on my face ha!

Peerzy said:
Will I just be able to pitch up and get tickets for the things I want or should I book in advance? I'd like to do a show in Vegas and a baseball match in LA at the least.
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For vegas shows you can rock up and get tickets on the day. I did with 'O' and plan to do again for another Cirque show or Absinthe. You can usually pick up a flyer for a 5-10% discount from the chaps on the strip too.

Peerzy said:
Is gas really only going to cost £120 for the entire trip? I've not worked mine out yet but assumed it would be like 2-3 times that?
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x2 so £240. We've over-estimated to be on the safe side. Imagine your trip is ~1500 miles but all the random bits to/from restaurants/malls/whatever you do can hike that up.. average of maybe 20mpg at $4 a gallon in Cali. 1500 miles should cost you $300 (£180).
 
ergonomics said:
Bingo. £1040 for the two of us with the guarantee. I couldn't imagine booking 'mustang or similar' and turning up to a bunch of Chryslers - especially in August as it's peak tourist time for California.. so i'm getting shafted but with a smile on my face ha!
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Yea, I couldn't imagine that either, but because I've never visited a rental centre that didn't have Mustangs :p

If you were the worlds most unlucky person you can just pitstop at the next city and swap it out anyway.
 
Less than a month till I go!

ESTA done so I'm just left with sorting our routing and maps.

Is the best option still just to buy a US map pack for my current Sat Nav (£55)? We won't be using our phones on anything other than hotel WiFi out there so using a phone app is out of the question.

Any last minute tips or things people would recommend taking / buying / doing?
 
A phone app would be much better, i just use Tom Tom on an old HTC Sensation as it's totally offline but failing that your idea is best.

1 month 3 weeks to go for me :D
 
Any reason for using old phones and not current ones?

Could I pay the £27~ for the TomTom app on my Nexus 5, and use it with data turned off (I assume GPS is free) without any trouble? The reviews for the TomTom app seem to suggest it needs to check a license every time you run the app so it does require data to be turned on?

We were just going to use our phones for Whatsapp and Skype when at hotels to avoid any big bills.
 
Nope tomtom app works totally offline, as i say i use it on an old jailbroken iphone while over there with data turned off.

And course you can use it on a new device, just remember to switch the data off.
 
Peerzy said:
Any reason for using old phones and not current ones?

Could I pay the £27~ for the TomTom app on my Nexus 5, and use it with data turned off (I assume GPS is free) without any trouble? The reviews for the TomTom app seem to suggest it needs to check a license every time you run the app so it does require data to be turned on?

We were just going to use our phones for Whatsapp and Skype when at hotels to avoid any big bills.
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Only reason for using an old phone is that I prefer to use a dedicated device rather than my main handset.

With 3 now having the USA as an at home destination though data worries are no longer an issue. Though last year my sat nav phone stayed offline the entire time.
 
Cheers guys, I have an old iPhone 3GS somewhere but I guess that would be pretty slow and rubbish so I'll just use my Nexus 5.

I assume it's just THIS app (lots of reviews saying you now need to use data to open the app though)?

I'm with Orange, had considered getting a 3 PAYG SIM but no real need.
 
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Could just look up where you're going on Google Maps and check directions before you set off, its near enough impossible to get lost in California and most directions are 6-7 steps (turn turn freeway, exit turn turn destination) :p

Though I did think at one point that picking up a Lumia 520 for 60 quid was a decent option as I think Drive Maps works fully offline and you can cache whole states etc
 
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Peerzy said:
Cheers guys, I have an old iPhone 3GS somewhere but I guess that would be pretty slow and rubbish so I'll just use my Nexus 5.

I assume it's just THIS app (lots of reviews saying you now need to use data to open the app though)?

I'm with Orange, had considered getting a 3 PAYG SIM but no real need.
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I can tell you, i've been lost before because my GPS was rendered useless on my iPhone, with no data. I was in the middle of nowhere, and ended up having to buy a 'paper' map..... just to get me going in the right direction, til I was able to receive data again.

I'd pick up a Tom Tom from somewhere like Target. They're not all that expensive. Less than what you'd pay for the US map itself on your UK tomtom, then take it back to England with you, and sell it.. Plenty of people needing a US one. Heck you could probably sell it in this thread alone !
 
I don't really like the idea of using a phone as the SatNav. But I guess I'm lucky in that I already own a SatNav anyway.

I've got a Garmin that I bought in 2007 on holiday in the states... still use it these days whenever I'm in a hire car, or going on a long trip here in my poverty spec Clio.
I once, after having it about a year, bought lifetime maps updates and they've been true to their name. Garmin send me an email whenever there's new maps available (usually six to twelve months IIRC), and then I just plug it into the computer and download them for free .
Only downside with it is that you have to chose between installing the North America maps or the Europe maps - the license covers both but the unit hasn't got enough storage to fit them both unless I stick an SD card in. So when I'm in the UK I load the Europe maps onto it, and when I'm going away I load the US maps onto it.

Can't remember how much I paid for the unit back in 2007 (actually, weren't they the days of £1:$2 ?) or how much the map updates cost, but it must have paid for itself by now.
 
Westyfield2 said:
I don't really like the idea of using a phone as the SatNav.
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Why not? How is it any different, by using my old HTC as a Nav device I effectively have a portable navigation device that's thinner, has a better screen and a higher resolution than a dedicated device. Can't see why you wouldn't like that. It basically is a standalone Nav unit, but better.
 
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