USA Road trip

peanuthead

Hi

Planning a USA road trip, if we can buy a car in states, hopefully it wont be too much hassle!!!!

Anyhow, was wondering if anyone could help me. I bought a travel book, Eyewitness travel was the name i think!! But just havent gotten around to reading it yet!!

We are flying into San Francisco, will do alcatraz, golden gate bridge, wine tasting.

We are flying home from New York 90-days after getting to San fran. Obviously we are going to hit Vegas, and we will make a trip to Florida too. However it was a total spur of the moment thing so we havent much of an itinerary. Was wondering if some people would like to help us set one up!!

Any recommendations on accomodation would be appreciated too. This is a budget trip in terms of accomodation (even in Vegas ) so the names of cheap motels, hostels, campsites that are also safe/good value/clean would be appreciated!!

So heres our itinerary so far (how lame is it!! haha)
San Francisco - alcatraz, golden gate bridge, wine tasting, china town
Vegas - casinos, grand canyon
Florida - DISNEYLAND!! (Im a child!!)

I must point out that i never had much of a desire to go to america until recently, and im only going because I cannot yet commit to longer term travel in australia. Its kind of my second choice (no offence meant!!! ) so forgive me if my small list of things to do is really crap, but im not that familiar with america at all!!!

Thanks a million for any help

PeanutHead.

peanuthead

i should mention that although our trip is a budget one in terms of accommodation, i would still like to find a nice hotel in Vegas, maybe some off the strip??

Ponster

I'm very sorry but for a 3-month trip you don't seem to have anyting planned

I think you should first read through all the other 'road trip' threads in here first. Next get yourself a large driving map of the USA and lay it on the ground and figure out where you wanna go and what you wanna see.
Asking for accommodation tips when you won't know where you want to go just seems strange.... I know you want help but "Help us to help you"

If you place the map on the ground and stare over it you'll see loads of places that you've heard of all your life and stick a pin or a sticker on the map and then come back here and ask people what they think of your choices. Without knowing your likes/dislikes it's impossible for any of us to tell you where you should go

Benedict XVI

peanuthead wrote: »

Hi

Planning a USA road trip, if we can buy a car in states, hopefully it wont be too much hassle!!!!

Anyhow, was wondering if anyone could help me. I bought a travel book, Eyewitness travel was the name i think!! But just havent gotten around to reading it yet!!

We are flying into San Francisco, will do alcatraz, golden gate bridge, wine tasting.

We are flying home from New York 90-days after getting to San fran. Obviously we are going to hit Vegas, and we will make a trip to Florida too. However it was a total spur of the moment thing so we havent much of an itinerary. Was wondering if some people would like to help us set one up!!

Any recommendations on accomodation would be appreciated too. This is a budget trip in terms of accomodation (even in Vegas ) so the names of cheap motels, hostels, campsites that are also safe/good value/clean would be appreciated!!

So heres our itinerary so far (how lame is it!! haha)
San Francisco - alcatraz, golden gate bridge, wine tasting, china town
Vegas - casinos, grand canyon
Florida - DISNEYLAND!! (Im a child!!)

I must point out that i never had much of a desire to go to america until recently, and im only going because I cannot yet commit to longer term travel in australia. Its kind of my second choice (no offence meant!!! ) so forgive me if my small list of things to do is really crap, but im not that familiar with america at all!!!

Thanks a million for any help

PeanutHead.

Buying a car in America may not be as simple as you think.

You will have to buy the car, register it and get insurance.

In America a cars registration belongs to the owner, not the car. Therefore when you buy a car it will not have license plates, so you will have to sort the registration out. It may require a permanent US address.

Google buying and registering a car in California.

homah_7ft

I don't know anything about the buying a car side but I'm just back from a road trip though mine way shorter (two weeks)! I would look into an AAA membership for both breakdowns and a slice off accomodation in selected hotels/motels. There is lots to see in the middle of America - though there are also vast open spaces. I saw Mount Rushmore which is in South Dakota and well worth a visit. I went to Yellowstone National park to see Old Faithful, the park itself is huge. I drove over the Bighorn mountains and the Teton mountains. Amazing scenery and wildlife that has to be seen to be believed. If you are into fishing Wyoming has some great spots. For cheap accomodation on the road you will find the smaller towns best. I think the cheapest I paid was $50 dollars a night in a super 8 motel in Valentine Nebraska. The place even had a pool for that price. Enjoy your trip and I'll try not to be too jealous.

Benedict XVI

homah_7ft wrote: »

For cheap accomodation on the road you will find the smaller towns best. I think the cheapest I paid was $50 dollars a night in a super 8 motel in Valentine Nebraska. The place even had a pool for that price. Enjoy your trip and I'll try not to be too jealous.

I agree

Places like Motel 6 have booklets listing all their hotels in the US and their location.

It's very handy to see if there is one in or near where you plan to stop overnight each night. And the ones in small towns are very reasonable.

rossie1977

as the previous guys mentioned you are not giving a whole load of info.

when you mean budget can you be more specific
in terms of vegas you can get $40-$50 rooms Sunday through Thursday (two large double beds or a huge king bed) at the gold coast hotel about half a mile off strip (free shuttle bus to the strip every 20 minutes included) http://www.goldcoastcasino.com/

you can easily spend 7 days or more in the San Francisco area (yosemite national park is a must see), redwood national park, napa wine country would each take a day to see

i would recommend a lazy drive down california coastal route 1 from san fran to LA, spending a night in places like monteray, big sur and Santa Barbara http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_State_Route_1

after that and arriving in vegas you could check out all the amazing national parks in the southwest such as death valley, bryce canyon, zion, canyonlands, capitol reef, monument valley, arches, grand canyon (each of those deserves a day)

after the parks you have a big choice to make if you are going cross country, do you head north and explore the majestic rockies or do you keep going east (south) and explore texas and the southern states

try hostelworld for accommodation http://www.hostelworld.com

paulanthony

For Vegas, have a look at Hotels.com, you will get rooms in the Imperial Palace on the strip for about €40 a night now as the dollar is so weak.

seldoon

I'm so jealous! Did a road trip last year but only for 2 1/2 weeks would love to have had 3 months..
Would recommed you see as much of California while you are there (not necessarily LA though).
Alcatraz was one of the hightlights of my trip, book your tickets on line before you go it's handy.
Other highlights: South Dakota - The Badlands, Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse(amazing),
Wyoming - Yellowstone Park.
Chicago - Great city
I hope you enjoy Vegas as much as I did!! Loved it and cannot wait to go back. We stayed in the Bellagio (quite expensive but worth every penny)

Vorsprung

For Vegas, try to book a fair bit in advance, you'll good deals for some of the best places close to the centre of the strip. There'll be a few surprise charges at the end (environmental charges I think the were called) but it should hit too hard.

San Fran - try the Green Tortoise hostel, had a blast there.

peanuthead

seldoon wrote: »

I'm so jealous! Did a road trip last year but only for 2 1/2 weeks would love to have had 3 months..

how much travel did you get done in 2 and a half weeks

I know I havent been specific about where i want to go, but thats because I dont know where is worth going!!

I begin in San Fran, and have 3months i hope (it may be 2 now due to a family situation) to get to New York. I know i want to do vegas and florida, but ignorant as it may be, i dont really know what else to do. But I want to stop off in as many places as I can

peanuthead

rossie1977 wrote: »

when you mean budget can you be more specific

When I say budget, myself and my boyfriend are going together, for 3 months, and we have €6500 each.

We also want to rent/buy a car (renting seeming to be the easier option) for this time, and combine that with just having a good time, ie: seeing the sights, paying entrance fees into certain places and theres not much room for extravagance when it comes to where we lay our heads!!

However, we will splash out when it comes to Vegas, by splashing out I mean €150 a room, but all along the rest of the way id be looking for the cheapest places possible.

On another note, Ive since heard about hostels which offer free accommodation in exchange for 2 hours work in the morning. Anyone know anything about this??

thanks!!

seldoon

We hired a car in Chicago and dove up towards South Dakota and then onto Wyoming. We then went into Reno in Nevada on on to San Francisco. From there we drove down the coast taking Highway 1 which was amazing. Stopped off in Malibu then we went on to Vegas through Las Angeles. We did an awful lot of driving but it was worth it..
If you end up having to hire a car be careful because they will charge you if you leave it back in another state.

Ponster

seldoon wrote: »

If you end up having to hire a car be careful because they will charge you if you leave it back in another state.

True. The one-way drop-off fee is usually between $50 and $300, based on miles between rental points and doesn't normally apply between AZ, NV and CA.

peanuthead

Great info, thanks

Can anyone recommend any good, cheap rental companies?

seldoon

peanuthead wrote: »

Great info, thanks

Can anyone recommend any good, cheap rental companies?

We used Hertz and had it all set up bfore we left Ireland. Think it was just about 660 euro for 13 nights. But we had a mustang convertible (smaller would be cheaper)

Ponster

peanuthead wrote: »

Great info, thanks

Can anyone recommend any good, cheap rental companies?

Best to search this forum for either 'car hire' or 'car rental' as there are a lot of threads on the matter.

Try looking here too : http://www.travelsupermarket.com/

PADDYCL

im currently living in san francisco and from dundalk.its totally possible to buy a decent car for about a grand.you register under your name and insure under your irish license.most insurance companies will have no problems insuring you.alternatively,once you land in san fran you apply to do your driving test.usually takes a week at most.you get a 3 month california license.just make sure you bring your passport to the department of motor vehicles.it is on fell street in the city.get there at 9am because it gets busy.you rent a car for the test(all cars have automatic transmission)so you will have no problem passing.with a california license your insurance will be much cheaper.you then rent a car and you can travel anywhere in the states and return it to any rental dealership anywhere in the states,e.g. hertz,national,.i personally have used national a number of times with an irish license and ive had no problems.hope this helps!

PADDYCL

by the way,someone mentioned your car wont come with plates.if you buy a car in california it will come with plates.certain states such as new york wont come with plates.ive been in the states 8 years and been in 30 states and i can honestly say california is probably the most leniant.as long as you wear seatbelts,indicate when changing lanes etc,you should not have a problem.also as from july 1st you cannot use your mobile while driving.either use a bluetooth or dont answer it.there is total zero tolerance by california highway patrol.hope you have a great vacation!