Road Trip - US or Canada? Costs?

[somnv]

I'm thinking about does a road trip in either Canada or the US next year. Has anyone does similar trips?

Any advice regarding routes and costs? I suppose I want to try and keep the costs down a fair bit.

In terms of time I would have between 2-4 weeks.

Thanks

[Plotloss]

I've gone almost all the way across West to East and down a good chunk of the West Coast from Seattle to San Fran.

This was about 10 years ago so petrol very cheap $1 a gallon or so and accomodation can be as cheap or expensive as you like.

The Idaho desert and Montana are interesting as there is no one around, for miles and miles and miles.

[Strangely Brown]

If you have that amount of time then I would go all the way across NY to LA and stay off the interstates. Use the small roads and soak up the country.

I have been all the way across (NY to LA) and all the way down (Seattle to San Diego) but did each in a week. I fully intend to go back do them again but with more time.

A big loop out from LA to The Rockies would be worthwhile with that amount of time too.

[BigAlinEmbra]

This is also something I'm interested in. How much are you looking for accommodation that doesn't have fleas?
200 odd quid each way on flights and about 500 quid for a fortnight with a mustang has me tempted...

[Strangely Brown]

BigAlinEmbra said:

This is also something I'm interested in. How much are you looking for accommodation that doesn't have fleas?
200 odd quid each way on flights and about 500 quid for a fortnight with a mustang has me tempted...

Staying in "no surprises" accommodation like Holiday Inns and Best Westerns will set you back around $75 to $125 per night. Pretty reasonable for good clean room that do exactly what they say on the tin. You can get cheaper and you can get a lot more expensive.

[sawman]

somnv said:

I'm thinking about does a road trip in either Canada or the US next year. Has anyone does similar trips?

Any advice regarding routes and costs? I suppose I want to try and keep the costs down a fair bit.

In terms of time I would have between 2-4 weeks.

Thanks

Its quite a big place so you should probably decide what you want to see. cost wise you had better do a circular route otherwise you will have a large one way rental charge. Gas in canada is about $1 a litre - so thats about 60p a litre. in the states its about $2.50 per us gallon (smaller than a british one!)

it you are looking at canada there is almost nothing between calgary and toronto, the same can be said of large parts of the states

[Andy_GSA]

Done quite a few of these but you do need to plan routes quite carefully to avoid hundreds of miles of driving through nothing. Last year in British Columbia we got stuck in a queue for about 8 hours because of an accident ahead, the only other route would have added 500 miles onto the drive.

In the US we tended to use chains like Motel6 which are bargain basement but in our experience cheap and safe, or sometimes small privately-run motels in more out of the way locations.

If you're going near any of the national parks camping is another option, though you do normally have to book a pitch in advance at the major sites.

[K50 DEL]

I've just returned from a 6,000 mile, 3.5wk road trip around California, Nevada, Utah and Oregon.

Full details including costs are on my trip report blog

http://www.roadtripamerica.com/forum/showthread.ph...

It's a great country to drive around, you'll love it.

[MartinQ]

We did a loop from Toronto - Niagara - Boston - New England - Toronto a few years ago.

There're some interesting things to see such as Salem, Lake Placid winter Olympic venue, Mount Washington, Adirondack park, plus a couple of days each in Toronto and Boston.

It might also be worth considering Montreal in such a trip.

[Fidgits]

I've done a couple of road trips around the US..

Did south of California, all the way up to San Francisco - via Joshua Tree and Yosemite.

Did a massive 2 week one last year, Grand Canyon to Monument Valley, to Moab, to Yellowstone, and to Vegas.


They are pretty costly, especially if you want a decent car (a mustang convertible cost about $2000 for the 2 weeks), hotels can be cheap - we found travelodges at $30 a night... but its good to budget $50-$100 depending on location.


Canada i havent done the road trip, but holidays there seem similarly priced.

[Strangely Brown]

Fidgits said:

(a mustang convertible cost about $2000 for the 2 weeks)

Bloody Hell! You were robbed.

I have never paid anywhere near that for two weeks in a Mustang Covertible from Hertz.

• Edit: Just done a quick check and two weeks in August from LAX is only $1056.47 (£712.85)

Edited by Strangely Brown on Thursday 11th June 20:06

[Fidgits]

actually, maybe your right, maybe it was $1000... but dont forget insurance and taxes on top of that, so probably $1400 in the end... i cant remember tbh.

[Fidgits]

Yep you were right, I just checked and it was $800 basic but $1500 with all the extras

[V8TVR1978]

sawman said:

somnv said:

I'm thinking about does a road trip in either Canada or the US next year. Has anyone does similar trips?

Any advice regarding routes and costs? I suppose I want to try and keep the costs down a fair bit.

In terms of time I would have between 2-4 weeks.

Thanks

Its quite a big place so you should probably decide what you want to see. cost wise you had better do a circular route otherwise you will have a large one way rental charge. Gas in canada is about $1 a litre - so thats about 60p a litre. in the states its about $2.50 per us gallon (smaller than a british one!)

it you are looking at canada there is almost nothing between calgary and toronto, the same can be said of large parts of the states

There is 1 thing between Calgary and "Tronta" that I know of.... A displaced Brit in Manitoba.......that wants to go home I hear.

[sawman]

V8TVR1978 said:

sawman said:

somnv said:

I'm thinking about does a road trip in either Canada or the US next year. Has anyone does similar trips?

Any advice regarding routes and costs? I suppose I want to try and keep the costs down a fair bit.

In terms of time I would have between 2-4 weeks.

Thanks

Its quite a big place so you should probably decide what you want to see. cost wise you had better do a circular route otherwise you will have a large one way rental charge. Gas in canada is about $1 a litre - so thats about 60p a litre. in the states its about $2.50 per us gallon (smaller than a british one!)

it you are looking at canada there is almost nothing between calgary and toronto, the same can be said of large parts of the states

There is 1 thing between Calgary and "Tronta" that I know of.... A displaced Brit in Manitoba.......that wants to go home I hear.

no idea what you mean;)

However I am heading back to the UK for 12 months next week, should be another adventure!

I quite like Canadian life, and I'd like to be a dual citizen, but some aspects of Canada frustrate the hell out of me!

[V8TVR1978]

sawman said:

V8TVR1978 said:

sawman said:

somnv said:

I'm thinking about does a road trip in either Canada or the US next year. Has anyone does similar trips?

Any advice regarding routes and costs? I suppose I want to try and keep the costs down a fair bit.

In terms of time I would have between 2-4 weeks.

Thanks

Its quite a big place so you should probably decide what you want to see. cost wise you had better do a circular route otherwise you will have a large one way rental charge. Gas in canada is about $1 a litre - so thats about 60p a litre. in the states its about $2.50 per us gallon (smaller than a british one!)

it you are looking at canada there is almost nothing between calgary and toronto, the same can be said of large parts of the states

There is 1 thing between Calgary and "Tronta" that I know of.... A displaced Brit in Manitoba.......that wants to go home I hear.

no idea what you mean;)

However I am heading back to the UK for 12 months next week, should be another adventure!

I quite like Canadian life, and I'd like to be a dual citizen, but some aspects of Canada frustrate the hell out of me!

displaced Brit = Sawman who lives in Manitoba (displaced as in going back to UK soon.) Was just teasing you.

Frustrate the h*ll out of you... At least you can go back to UK.. I'm stuck here..

[K50 DEL]

Fidgits said:

Yep you were right, I just checked and it was $800 basic but $1500 with all the extras

You were still robbed.

I hired an '09 Nissan 350z roadster for 22 days with unlimited mileage and it cost me $848 including all the insurances I could get (although I didn't bother with PAE as that's what health insurance is for)

[Fidgits]

K50 DEL said:

Fidgits said:

Yep you were right, I just checked and it was $800 basic but $1500 with all the extras

You were still robbed.

I hired an '09 Nissan 350z roadster for 22 days with unlimited mileage and it cost me $848 including all the insurances I could get (although I didn't bother with PAE as that's what health insurance is for)

who did you use?

it was pricey as i went through Hertz (So i could specify the car), but since the exchange rate was 2.1:1 I wasnt that bothered

[K50 DEL]

Fidgits said:

K50 DEL said:

Fidgits said:

Yep you were right, I just checked and it was $800 basic but $1500 with all the extras

You were still robbed.

I hired an '09 Nissan 350z roadster for 22 days with unlimited mileage and it cost me $848 including all the insurances I could get (although I didn't bother with PAE as that's what health insurance is for)

who did you use?

it was pricey as i went through Hertz (So i could specify the car), but since the exchange rate was 2.1:1 I wasnt that bothered

I went through Budget at LAX, no hassles on the hire and, more importantly, no hassles when returning their nice new car with an additional 6k on it, looking like they had all been hard miles!

[srebbe64]

Been to Canada and USA many times. Can highly recommend the west coast of both. My favourite road of all is the road from Banff to Jasper - about 250 miles. It's an amazing road. Then from Jasper to Vancouver. Then follow the Rockies down to Denver and beyond. Be prepared to pull over round every bend to take photos though!