Road Tripping in the USA!

nam · 16 Jun 2022 at 15:09

Going to be in Miami for work in mid October. Plan to take a trip after work activities complete for 3 days to explore and go to universal studios. Would like to try a mustang GT (not eco boost :cry:

) or Camaro SS. Has anyone got any recommendations on who to use and where to start from?

found a recent YT showing some examples in Miami airport

mjt · 16 Jun 2022 at 21:19

nam said:
Going to be in Miami for work in mid October. Plan to take a trip after work activities complete for 3 days to explore and go to universal studios. Would like to try a mustang GT (not eco boost ) or Camaro SS. Has anyone got any recommendations on who to use and where to start from?

found a recent YT showing some examples in Miami airport

Am I the only one who thinks it's weird this random dude is just going through all the cars on the lot, opening doors, going inside etc? I'd be a bit weirded out if this dude was nosing through the car I had rented, like the lady at 2m...

Ryan-3 · 24 Jun 2022 at 13:13

What does everyone suggest for booking? I've seen in here that a fortnight before seems to be the cheapest time, reckon it's worth waiting until then? It's 8 weeks away today for when I need the car.

Prices shot up over £100 over the past two weeks but have returned to what I originally saw today.

nam · 24 Jun 2022 at 13:39

Ryan-3 said:
What does everyone suggest for booking? I've seen in here that a fortnight before seems to be the cheapest time, reckon it's worth waiting until then? It's 8 weeks away today for when I need the car.

Prices shot up over £100 over the past two weeks but have returned to what I originally saw today.

depends what you are after , normal or luxury ? peak season demand will be greater than off-peak. Insurance you can purchase from the UK rather than the extra cost of buying local when you are there

Ryan-3 · 24 Jun 2022 at 14:20

nam said:
depends what you are after , normal or luxury ? peak season demand will be greater than off-peak. Insurance you can purchase from the UK rather than the extra cost of buying local when you are there

I'm just after something normal, looking towards a full-size saloon for a bit of space and bags.

Scougar · 2 Jul 2022 at 17:38

Just got back from a week vacation in Maine in Acadia National Park. Absolutely beautiful. Even the very rough seas of the whale watching trip were awesome. Restaurant prices are pretty high though compared to mainland prices IMO. (A third to double the normal price).

Friends rented a Highlander XLE with third row (I drove the entire time). Was very comfortable. V6 but still got very good gas mileage given it is a bit of a boat. 11+ hour journey back to PA. Certain parts of NYC area were just awful to negotiate with google maps though.

Noxia · 21 Jul 2022 at 13:06

Had this Camaro SS in April when I was bumming around South Carolina. Didn't want a Mustang.

It was quite fun I guess and cheap.

FerretBoy · 30 Jul 2022 at 00:38

Currently in California ordered premium large sedan (Buick Regal) and got a Dodge Challenger. Looks the part, makes all the noise and dead slow compared to my M3P. 3.6L V6

But kinda fun

timmothy · 24 Aug 2022 at 16:28

Well it's getting close to the end of our time in Canada.

Last year we had an awesome roadtrip from Vancouver to as far east as you can go in Newfoundland and then back again.

This year we went up to the north of British Columbia into the Yukon. We then spent a month travelling around Alaska.

Now we are hoping to head south into the USA and travel to the warmer parts over the winter. Plan is to head south along the West coast from Vancouver Island onto Seattle then down to San Diego. From there we will hug the south into Florida and hopefully start north again when the weather starts to warm up.

Will have to see how finances go and weather it's actually feasible to do it. We freedom camp everywhere usually so I am not sure how easy this will be in the southern states. Also safety is a concern sleeping in a car. Will update how it goes.

timmothy · 24 Aug 2022 at 16:30

Ryan-3 said:
I'm just after something normal, looking towards a full-size saloon for a bit of space and bags.

We had a Malibu a few years back, super cheap to rent and very comfortable

geekman · 24 Aug 2022 at 17:58

timmothy said:
Well it's getting close to the end of our time in Canada.

Last year we had an awesome roadtrip from Vancouver to as far east as you can go in Newfoundland and then back again.

This year we went up to the north of British Columbia into the Yukon. We then spent a month travelling around Alaska.

Now we are hoping to head south into the USA and travel to the warmer parts over the winter. Plan is to head south along the West coast from Vancouver Island onto Seattle then down to San Diego. From there we will hug the south into Florida and hopefully start north again when the weather starts to warm up.

Will have to see how finances go and weather it's actually feasible to do it. We freedom camp everywhere usually so I am not sure how easy this will be in the southern states. Also safety is a concern sleeping in a car. Will update how it goes.

I read somewhere recently that Walmart allows people to sleep in the cars in their parking lots, and this video seems to confirm that.

Won't be very glamorous, but if you're determined not to pay for a proper campsite type place I'd feel a lot safer sleeping outside Walmart than I would at the side of some random road in the middle of nowhere. I've driven along the south coast of the US quite a few times and while a lot of it is lovely there are also some really dodgy places, particularly around Baton Rouge, Lafayette etc.

timmothy · 24 Aug 2022 at 20:51

geekman said:
I read somewhere recently that Walmart allows people to sleep in the cars in their parking lots, and this video seems to confirm that.

Won't be very glamorous, but if you're determined not to pay for a proper campsite type place I'd feel a lot safer sleeping outside Walmart than I would at the side of some random road in the middle of nowhere. I've driven along the south coast of the US quite a few times and while a lot of it is lovely there are also some really dodgy places, particularly around Baton Rouge, Lafayette etc.

Thanks for the suggestion. Walmart do indeed usually allow overnight. We try not to do it as you don't get a good night's sleep and it does attract dodgy people sometimes. Also going for a wee is difficult if not a 24 hour store.

Staying on a random street we also never do as you don't know who you might annoy, in the USA they have guns as well which isn't good haha.

Will have to keep out wits about us in those places. Might just have to drive right through

Quartz · 9 Oct 2022 at 22:00

Any recommendations for cheap car hire for inter-state travel? I'm looking to go to the USA in 2024, with a road trip from Texas to Georgia, possibly Florida, and rental rates from the likes of Avis seem huge once you start crossing state boundaries.

b0rn2sk8 · 9 Oct 2022 at 22:25

No such thing as far as I am aware, the one way fees on that kind of trip will be mega.

Particularly as car hire is very expensive at the moment due to the lack of new cars on the market, rental stocks are really low.

Quartz · 9 Oct 2022 at 22:39

b0rn2sk8 said:
No such thing as far as I am aware, the one way fees on that kind of trip will be mega.

Oh well. I suppose the alternative will be to fly in big hops and rent at each hop.

mjt · 9 Oct 2022 at 22:45

Quartz said:
Oh well. I suppose the alternative will be to fly in big hops and rent at each hop.

If you're not dropping off at the same location, this could well work out cheaper, depending on how many people you're travelling with.

Quartz · 9 Oct 2022 at 23:00

mjt said:
If you're not dropping off at the same location, this could well work out cheaper, depending on how many people you're travelling with.

It will just be me.

timmothy · 14 Oct 2022 at 22:02

Wondering if someone here could help me decide on best route from Portland Oregon to Houston but including Death Valley, Joshua tree, Death Valley, Las Vegas, grand canyon and most parks in Utah and Arizona. Don't want to waste fuel backtracking and also weather is getting colder.

Wondering whether to head south to Joshua tree and then zig zag up and back down. Or head through Idaho and salt Lake city into Utah.

Very hard to visualize it and also don't have the best of connections thanks to reduced speeds on o2.

lee1101 · 29 Dec 2022 at 20:48

Evening! In the process of planning our honeymoon for September next year. We plan on doing the standard west cost route, however we aren’t too keen on vegas or Death Valley as we have been there before. We plan on starting in San Fran, then heading down all the way to San Diego. We were thinking of flying from San Diego to Fresno, then on to Sequoia and Yosemite etc. back round back to San Fran. would this be a good option or would we be missing out not driving the Vegas/Death Valley route up to Yosemite?

b0rn2sk8 · 30 Dec 2022 at 09:32

If you have been before and don’t want to do it again then flying is a good option and should have a lot of time.

San Diego > Vegas > Death Valley > Yosemite is a good 10 hours driving without stopping to look at anything.In reality, it’s 2-3 day’s minimum as you are not going to drive there and not stop to do anything.

It’s a lot of time of doing stuff you don’t want to do just to do the drive Death Valley to Yosemite.