Driving across the U.S for 45 days.

shoutman

Hey,
I have always thought of doing something like this and am finally trying to put my arse in gear and give it a go. So myself and a friend (both fully licensed drivers) are planning to drive across america, or at least go to America and get a car and go onwards from there.

So far we have no real plans set in stone with regards to where we want to go etc, and that is the way we want it for the most part. The only thing is we want is to be in Vegas by the 4th of July. It doesn't matter when we leave Ireland but due to personal reasons I can only be out of the country for 45 days give or take.

So what I am asking for is, 1) advice on where to fly to (cheaper the better tbh.) 2) How to get a car, is it possible for a 21 year old, with a full license to get a car over there? I was thinking of possibly buying a car once I get there, or buy one beforehand through ebay and then hopefully just sell it off at the end of the trip? Is this stupid :rolleyes:?
What would be the insurance implications for the time we're over there, would I get a short term insurance deal over there, would I arrange it with the insurance company i;m with over here?
3) Any other suggestions/hints/tips/opinions would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers

biZrb

I went on a road trip around America this summer, my friends I went with are American so we used their car and they drove (I don't have a license) so I can't give you any advice about cars and insurance. But I can tell of some cool places to go.

Ok so you want to be in Vegas for the 4th of July, we were thinking of going to Hoover Dam (which is very close to Vegas) for that day as they apparently have a brilliant fireworks display but we didn't make it close to there at all. So maybe you might want to go there instead? The Hoover Dam is defiantly worth a visit its pretty cool.
The only thing wrong with Vegas is the heat, we were there at the end of July and it was super hot, about 43 degrees with very high humidity. And it stays that way all day and night. But its a great place to go to spend some money and loose track of time and see some Elvis impersonators! Theres a casino called Slots'O'Fun, they have foot long hot dogs for only $1.50!
As the south can get very hot, again the humidity is high and pretty unbearable at times, I'd recommend you go south in the cooler months.

And speaking of heat make sure you get a car with air con, its really really worth it. Driving for hours along a highway melting with the heat is not a good way to travel.

Don’t speed on the highway, you will get pulled over! We were lucky we got off when it happened to us, but its best to keep within the speed limit. The highways can be a little scary, three lanes of fast moving traffic, but just keep up with it best as you can and indicate when you need to change lanes. Highways are the fastest way to get around so I’d recommend getting used to traveling on them. Although they can get a little boring, except around the bible belt. We saw loads of Jesus signs. Some of them are so bizarre.

Where are you planning on sleeping? To keep costs down we camped. It worked out really well. Motels can be expensive. Campsites can be as low as $10 per tent rising to $30. Make sure you get a camping directory; you can buy these in bookshops over there. We completely winged it on our trip, waking up in the morning never knowing where we'd be at night, camping worked out fine as most sites still had places at night and you didn't need to pre-book. Except in California, we spent about 3 hours finding a place to camp that was pretty bad. If there are only 2 of you, you could sleep in the car. At the end of the trip there was only me and my friend (we lost two along the trip), so we'd pull into a motel carpark, pull down the seats and sleep in the car for the night, then get up about 8:30 and head into the motel for breakfast! They never ask you for your room key. So if money is tight, you should do this, make sure you bring a bag so you can steal bagels to eat later! From our experience the Holiday Inn had the best breakfast!

For fun stuff check out www.roadsideamerica.com they have a list of weird stuff that’s cool to check out on the way to somewhere.

We stopped off in an old Route 66 town called Holbrook, there loads of stuff on that site about it. But its a crazy weird place, defiantly worth a visit.

We went to a lot of National Parks too, Yellowstone, Bryce Canyon and Rocky Mountains were my favorite. We also went to the Grand Canyon, it was impressive but I got much more from the other parks.

Go to Memphis it’s a great place. Go to Sun Studios, check out Graceland too! Look on the net for some Memphis dive bars, met some great people in these places. We loved Memphis so much we went twice, the second time for the 30th anniversary of the Elvis’ death. Tons of old fat guys with quiffs walking around Graceland and old women with Elvis wearing t-shirts and bags. That was pretty amazing to see. Pre-booking accommodation would be essential for that.

Savannah and Charleston are pretty southern towns great for a stroll around. Very friendly people here too. Atlanta was horrible – didn’t like it there at all.

Austin was a pretty cool place, great if you like going to gigs, tons of music bars there.

Tuscon in Arizona was a really great place to go out in. But very hot down there. If you go there make sure you check out the Saguaro cacti. You could also go to a Mexican boarder town. There’ll be no trouble getting into Mexico but make sure you bring your passport to get back in to the US!

Americans in general are pretty friendly. They're pretty good at striking up conversation with you.

I bought a Lonely Planet guide which was useful if only for the maps of smaller towns in it. Every large town has a tourist information place, most of them are in rest stops off the highway. They have tons of local info, free maps, friendly staff etc.

If you get as far as California, try to drive up the Californian and Oregon coast, its spectacular. The roads can be a little scary, it gets a little to close to the cliff!

I seen so much over the summer, it was really great, you’ll have such a brilliant time
Just remember America is big and it can take a whole day of driving just to get somewhere. As for pre planning things, I personally think it best to have a general idea of what route to take but to leave most of it up to chance its more fun that way!

shoutman

Cheers for the reply, thats great stuff.

Still need to sort out stuff regardsing a car so if anyone has any info it would be great.

broadwaybaby

Yes 25 is usually the age , however some companies will rent to over 21 . There are a good few in L.A . Get a brochure from American Holidays they have itineries in the back that might be useful. You could also drive route 66 Chicago- LA - Vegas is on the route and then go from L.A up to San Francisco.

Mellor

it's not 25. Thats the age they put up.
All companys will rent below this, down to 21. They charge extra for this. When last summer its was $20-25 extra per day.
They act as if they can't do it, then say wait, then say ok, ill try get you through. Its an act to get the extra cash. The companies all have guidlines and prices that they stick to. This is another standard one, the extras they lump on are unreal.
There are a few extra conditions for drivers under 25 (apart from the extra charge) such as they the only accept credit cards from those drivers (over 25 they take laser/maestro too). and the credit card has to be in the drivers name and not a passenger, and they only allow single drivers (nothing to do with martial status) so only one person is allowed to drive the car. This has insurance implications, but I doubt everyone sticks to this.

As for insurance, there are three kinds, liability - which covers damage to other cars, and damage waiver - which covers damage to the car (it normally says you can bring it back on a truck and your covered, but the small print says that you can't be at fault)
the third covers contents i think. The insurance for the first two per day came to $15-$25

You can get discounts for week long rentals, maybe for $500-800, this times 9 weeks is going to get expensive. If I was going for that long i'd consider buying and selling

Don't forget extras, fuel being an obvious one, but parking can get expensive too.

Luke, if it was me, i'd fly to save time and money, and take a week or so to do a road trip.
Maybe Sandiego to Vegas and arrange to drop-off the car in vegas

paulanthony

Yeah I agree that renting a car could be very expensive for you, it works out almost double the price if you are aged between 21 and 24. If you went for a second hand car it could end up being a piece of junk and you will have no fall back like you would with a rental company. It will also be pretty hard to resell, you might just have to cut your losses and give it away.

Internal flights in America can be very cheap with airlines like Southwest www.southwest.com or jetblue: www.jetblue.com
Maybe you could do a few flights and then drive from Vegas to somewhere in California taking in the California coast from San Francisco to San Diego or something.

I would definitely reccommend going to Las Vegas, it is very hot and dry in the summer but all the buildings have a/c and there is so much to do. I drove to Vegas from San Francisco taking in Yosemite National Park and Death Valley. You could do this in reverse and then continue on past SF?

broadwaybaby

I drove past SF and its Oregon and Washington state where Seattle is and then the Canadian border and if you want to include Canada continue to Vancouver - its gorgeous . Otherwise there's not much north of SF , Seattle doesn't have a lot of character.

arcade1

we spent 2 weeks driving around califorina, it was amazing, yosmite park is worth at least a day or two if you are in that area, and the drive from yosmite to vegas has some of the most sunning sights i have ever seen.

it does get hot!! air con is a must, especially because you will be in the desert if you are going to vegas, at one point we saw 148 fahrenheit which is about 60C.

renting is expencive, between 8 of us we had two SUV's and including petrol it cost us atleast 460 - 500 dollars each. money well spent.
if you buy and the car stops or something doesn't work you'll be in ****, and 45 days sounds like a long time but if you want to spend a day or two in each place you visit you will get stuck for time, i know we did, i cound do the same trip again and take a month doing it, if you spent too much time driving it wont be the trip you thought it would be.

and san francisco is amazing, if you want to relax somewhere forget the beach, san fran has the most relaxed atmosphere anywhere, you will not find a cooler city in america. (it actually gets pretty cold)

shoutman

Cheers for all the info and advice.

ghostdancer

i've been looking into the same sort of thing over the last few months (going california - new york over 3 weeks), and a great site i've found is www.roadtripamerica.com , the forums there have lots of really good advice and tips, and everyone's very helpful.

one quick question while i'm here, does anyone know if a provisional licenceis ok with the rental companies? i'm not sure i'll have my full licence by the time we are planning to go over, and though the other 2 i'm planning on going with have full licences, it'd be nice to actually be able to drive it myself every now and again to let them relax.

arcade1

ghostdancer wrote: »

i've been looking into the same sort of thing over the last few months (going california - new york over 3 weeks), and a great site i've found is www.roadtripamerica.com , the forums there have lots of really good advice and tips, and everyone's very helpful.

one quick question while i'm here, does anyone know if a provisional licenceis ok with the rental companies? i'm not sure i'll have my full licence by the time we are planning to go over, and though the other 2 i'm planning on going with have full licences, it'd be nice to actually be able to drive it myself every now and again to let them relax.

no its not, they wont insure you.
to rent a car you need a credit card (even if you are paying cash) and a full licence.

blobert

Fly to New York (cheapest place to fly to) and go down to New Jersey and rent from http://www.autoteamusa.com/. They are cheap and friendly (picked us up from the nearest train station).

Minimum age is 21, I rented from them when I was 23 and though they tried charging me extra I argued with them and they backed down (I had gone with them as they had originally told me they would not charge extra).

I dropped the car back to L.A at the end of a months driving, make sure more than one of you has a licence as after 3,000+ miles of being the only driver I didn't remember that much of the trip.

Have fun, it'll be a great adventure.

Oh, and on the provisional licence front, you should probably make sure you have a full one.

That said a friend of mine went into the DMV with a provisional licence and because they didn't know what the work provisional meant, they gave him a full US licence on the spot:)

chris11

Does anyone have any more advice about driving around the us?thinkin of buying a car and driving from new york to california.a=blobbert,how did your mat e manage to get a full license????