USA fly-drive what would you do?
Discussion
So Mrs Barbon Star and I have seriously started thinking about going over to the States and trying to see / do as much as possible.
It's going to be a couple of years so we can ensure a) we've got enough saved to make it amazing, b) plan properly and ensure we're not dissapointed considering the potential outlay for this holiday.
At present the only two things we know we definitely want to do are universal studios etc for a couple of days (her) and drive to other cities in a muscle car (me
).
Other than that we don't even know where to start! Anyone been? Experiences and suggestions would be hugely appreciated. Would you start in Florida or save it til last as somewhere to drive to? The floor's yours!
It's going to be a couple of years so we can ensure a) we've got enough saved to make it amazing, b) plan properly and ensure we're not dissapointed considering the potential outlay for this holiday.
At present the only two things we know we definitely want to do are universal studios etc for a couple of days (her) and drive to other cities in a muscle car (me
). Other than that we don't even know where to start! Anyone been? Experiences and suggestions would be hugely appreciated. Would you start in Florida or save it til last as somewhere to drive to? The floor's yours!
Depends how long you intend to go for and how much you have got to spend really.
My wife and I are doing a similar thing next year but we are sticking to the west coast and Vegas as we have been to Florida 10 times and there is not point in us spending anymore time here.
I have planned on Vegas-San Diego-LA(Universal,Disney etc)-San Fran-Yosimte-Lake Tahoe-Death Valley-Vegas
Planned that this will take about 3 weeks so that we are not rushing everywhere but have enough time to see everything and chill at the sametime, its scary how much it looks likely to cost.
My wife and I are doing a similar thing next year but we are sticking to the west coast and Vegas as we have been to Florida 10 times and there is not point in us spending anymore time here.
I have planned on Vegas-San Diego-LA(Universal,Disney etc)-San Fran-Yosimte-Lake Tahoe-Death Valley-Vegas
Planned that this will take about 3 weeks so that we are not rushing everywhere but have enough time to see everything and chill at the sametime, its scary how much it looks likely to cost.
Wife and I did Route 66 last year and that was fantastic
It actually cost less than I thought, but I suppose it depends where you stay and waht you end up doing, for us the journey was the reason for going not the means to get one one place to another, if that makes sense?
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150225...
It actually cost less than I thought, but I suppose it depends where you stay and waht you end up doing, for us the journey was the reason for going not the means to get one one place to another, if that makes sense?
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150225...
I have done USA drives every year for 15 years, in fact twice last year and going in a weeks time. Motor home usually through cal,Utah,, new , Nevada , Colorado and drove from San Antonio Texas to palm springs ca in one day, not in a motor home but a camaro convert able !
Have done Florida many times but much prefer the west and mid west of course.
Have done Florida many times but much prefer the west and mid west of course.
Dis a fly drive for our honeymoon 2 years ago August we didnt really plan anything & just went where we fely like.
Got a really good deal on fights car hire (mustang convertible)insurance & hotel at lax on the first & last night from Virgin.
Ended up doing over 2k miles in two weeks & had a great time.
Got a really good deal on fights car hire (mustang convertible
)insurance & hotel at lax on the first & last night from Virgin.Ended up doing over 2k miles in two weeks & had a great time.
Thanks so much for the suggestions and info so far, definitely some food for thought! Time wise I think we'd be looking to go for 10 days minimum, ideally 14. With regards to budget etc, errrmm... not too sure! We don't want to spend ridiculous amounts of money but equally we're well aware it's not going to be a couple of hundred quid each. Trying to keep costs down would mean we wouldn't mind staying in motels etc the nights when we're driving from place to place. We want to see America not a plush hotel room.
Would budgeting £1,000 - £1,500 per person be realistic for a fortnight or am I being naive?
Would budgeting £1,000 - £1,500 per person be realistic for a fortnight or am I being naive?
Barbon Star said:
Thanks so much for the suggestions and info so far, definitely some food for thought! Time wise I think we'd be looking to go for 10 days minimum, ideally 14. With regards to budget etc, errrmm... not too sure! We don't want to spend ridiculous amounts of money but equally we're well aware it's not going to be a couple of hundred quid each. Trying to keep costs down would mean we wouldn't mind staying in motels etc the nights when we're driving from place to place. We want to see America not a plush hotel room.
Would budgeting £1,000 - £1,500 per person be realistic for a fortnight or am I being naive?
Well two years ago doing it through vigin was 2400 for two of us inc flights car hire & insurances the motels ranged from 45-150 dollars per night one thing would be when you do Vegas do it mid week the hotel prices double & it becomes very busy!Would budgeting £1,000 - £1,500 per person be realistic for a fortnight or am I being naive?
I did the following trip last year, stayed in motels en route but decent hotels in SF and Vegas. Budget wise I think it only cost us about £1,500 each, maybe a little bit more.
2 nights San Francisco
1 night Monterey
2 nights Yosemite
1 night Ridgecrest (middle of nowhere)
Through Death Valley to
1 night Las Vegas
2 nights Grand Canyon
3 night Las Vegas
We booked motels the night before as wanted trip to be flexible and was really easy to do.
Had such a great time I'm heading back with Petrolhead Nirvana this year.
Just picked the places we wanted to go and planned it on Google maps.
2 nights San Francisco
1 night Monterey
2 nights Yosemite
1 night Ridgecrest (middle of nowhere)
Through Death Valley to
1 night Las Vegas
2 nights Grand Canyon
3 night Las Vegas
We booked motels the night before as wanted trip to be flexible and was really easy to do.
Had such a great time I'm heading back with Petrolhead Nirvana this year.
Just picked the places we wanted to go and planned it on Google maps.
I have done quite a few road trips in the last few years. I have done all the booking myself, hotels, flights, car and found it totally unrestrictive, you can set your budget and book car and hotels accordingly. 'Motel' type accomodation is so varied, quality and price, but a quick check on tripadvisor usually sorts out good from bad! I'm not sure how much cheaper fly drives are but you get cheaper as they need to make money as well!.
We found a couple of days in Vegas, SF or LA before you start driving pays dividends getting the body clock right and giving full concentration to the driving.
Best Routes we have found start from Vegas (except the Pacific coast highway trip) have been:-
Vegas-Utah (Zion/bryce parks) Moab, Denver, Durango, Grand canyon, Flagstaff, hoover dam, vegas.
or Vegas, utah parks, Salt lake city, yellowstone, Grand Teton, Vegas.
Yosemite is ok but a job to book anything a year ahead. San Diego is ok but not too much on the way.
We found a couple of days in Vegas, SF or LA before you start driving pays dividends getting the body clock right and giving full concentration to the driving.
Best Routes we have found start from Vegas (except the Pacific coast highway trip) have been:-
Vegas-Utah (Zion/bryce parks) Moab, Denver, Durango, Grand canyon, Flagstaff, hoover dam, vegas.
or Vegas, utah parks, Salt lake city, yellowstone, Grand Teton, Vegas.
Yosemite is ok but a job to book anything a year ahead. San Diego is ok but not too much on the way.
neiljohnson said:
Well two years ago doing it through vigin was 2400 for two of us inc flights car hire & insurances the motels ranged from 45-150 dollars per night one thing would be when you do Vegas do it mid week the hotel prices double & it becomes very busy!
Tip I heard about Vegas is to find what conventions are on at the time and book through a link from their website so you get it at their rate (which is usually very good). I'm pretty sure the hotels won't check, but make sure you remember what convention it is just in case 
Kenty said:
or Vegas, utah parks, Salt lake city, yellowstone, Grand Teton, Vegas.
wow! that's quite a drive!!we did the SF, Yosemite, Death Valley, Vegas, Canyon, Pismo Beach, up Route1 back to SF thing... was BRILLIANT.
Best Holiday I've ever had.
Would love to do another as quoted above, but the drive from Monument Valley etc up to Yellowstone is a MASSIVE drive...
How long did you take to do that one?
Lap of CA or a version of this is what I'd recommend. 1 to 1.5k isn't a great deal of money per person to get you there, lodgings, car hire and feed and water you for a fortnight, even doing cheap motels I'd expect your accomadation to run close to 1k, figure on about £500-£600+ for flights a head. Throw in the cost of a hire car and even trying to do it cheaply you'll not be far off 3k.
Thoughly awesome holiday though
Some pics:
San Francisco
Sonoma Valley
South Lake Tahoe
Entering Yosemite
El Capitan- Yosemite Valley
Death Valley
Devils Golf Course- Death Valley
Highway 1 near Big Sur
Elephant Seals outside Cambria
Whale watching at Monterey
The big red chariot, 3 weeks and 2800 miles=awesome.
[/quote]
Thoughly awesome holiday though
Some pics:
San Francisco
Sonoma Valley
South Lake Tahoe
Entering Yosemite
El Capitan- Yosemite Valley
Death Valley
Devils Golf Course- Death Valley
Highway 1 near Big Sur
Elephant Seals outside Cambria
Whale watching at Monterey
The big red chariot, 3 weeks and 2800 miles=awesome.
[/quote]
I would highly recommend the trip i did last year.
My route was as follows:
- Fly in to Bozeman, Montana
- Yellowstone NP (3 nights)
- Grand Teton NP (2 nights)
- Salt Lake City (1 night)
- Capitol Reef NP / Grand Escalante NM (drive through these)
- Bryce Canyon NP (2 nights)
- Zion NP (2 nights)
- Valley of Fire SP (drive through)
- Death Valley NP (2 nights)
- Mammoth Lakes (+ Devils Postpile NM, and Mono Lake) (1 night)
- Yosemite NP (3 nights
- San Francisco (2 nights)
- Carmel (1 night)
- Pismo Beach (1 night)
- Santa Barbara (1 night)
- Fly out of LA
It was approx 4,200 miles (i do a lot of extra miles, so it's shorter than that directly!). Obviously you have to like the outdoors for this to work
http://www.flickr.com/photos/matthoulb/sets/721576... <- photos
My route was as follows:
- Fly in to Bozeman, Montana
- Yellowstone NP (3 nights)
- Grand Teton NP (2 nights)
- Salt Lake City (1 night)
- Capitol Reef NP / Grand Escalante NM (drive through these)
- Bryce Canyon NP (2 nights)
- Zion NP (2 nights)
- Valley of Fire SP (drive through)
- Death Valley NP (2 nights)
- Mammoth Lakes (+ Devils Postpile NM, and Mono Lake) (1 night)
- Yosemite NP (3 nights
- San Francisco (2 nights)
- Carmel (1 night)
- Pismo Beach (1 night)
- Santa Barbara (1 night)
- Fly out of LA
It was approx 4,200 miles (i do a lot of extra miles, so it's shorter than that directly!). Obviously you have to like the outdoors for this to work
http://www.flickr.com/photos/matthoulb/sets/721576... <- photos
I came home last Friday after spending 3 weeks in the states. My route was Miami, Key West, Nashville, Memphis, New Orleans, Dallas, Amarillo, Santa Fe, Denver, Aspen, Grand Junction and then 6 nights in Las Vegas. In total i covered just under 5500 miles in a covertible Mustang and it was by far and away the best holiday I've ever had.
Saw some amazing places, met some fantastic people, listened to great live music in Nashville, Memphis and New Orleans and drunk in some cracking bars :-).
Want to go back to Key West and Miami at some point. New Orleans was great for nightlife and Santa Fe was a beautiful place. Drove up the Pikes Peak hillclimb course in Colorado and also Mount Evans. Saw the Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo, which was just bizarre but kind of cool. The World War 2 Museum in New Orleans and the Auto Collection Museum in Vegas are must do's. Graceland and Sun Studios were definite highlights.
If you have the chance do it, you wont regret it. All in all, i dont have a bad word to say about the whole trip.
Just to keep in with the Pistonheads theme, when i got to Las Vegas i spent the day at Exotics Racing. Did 5 laps in two Gallardos (LP-560/2 and Superleggera), a F430 Scuderia, a 458 Italia, MP4-12C and a disappointing V10 R8. Great day and well worth every penny of the money it cost.
cheers,
Saw some amazing places, met some fantastic people, listened to great live music in Nashville, Memphis and New Orleans and drunk in some cracking bars :-).
Want to go back to Key West and Miami at some point. New Orleans was great for nightlife and Santa Fe was a beautiful place. Drove up the Pikes Peak hillclimb course in Colorado and also Mount Evans. Saw the Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo, which was just bizarre but kind of cool. The World War 2 Museum in New Orleans and the Auto Collection Museum in Vegas are must do's. Graceland and Sun Studios were definite highlights.
If you have the chance do it, you wont regret it. All in all, i dont have a bad word to say about the whole trip.
Just to keep in with the Pistonheads theme, when i got to Las Vegas i spent the day at Exotics Racing. Did 5 laps in two Gallardos (LP-560/2 and Superleggera), a F430 Scuderia, a 458 Italia, MP4-12C and a disappointing V10 R8. Great day and well worth every penny of the money it cost.
cheers,
Pierscoe1 said:
Kenty said:
or Vegas, utah parks, Salt lake city, yellowstone, Grand Teton, Vegas.
wow! that's quite a drive!!we did the SF, Yosemite, Death Valley, Vegas, Canyon, Pismo Beach, up Route1 back to SF thing... was BRILLIANT.
Best Holiday I've ever had.
Would love to do another as quoted above, but the drive from Monument Valley etc up to Yellowstone is a MASSIVE drive...
How long did you take to do that one?
Kenty said:
Took just over 2 weeks, had 4 days in Yellowstone, we actually went SLC to grand Teton then Yellowstone. leaving Yellowstone we drove the whole way back to Vegas in one day, about 750 miles but did it in 11 hours. It was a great trip but probably most driving I would want to do. Yellowstone is a long drive around to see all.
Yellowstone is very worth the effort. It is my favourite park i've visited in the US It is quite big though, so yes, you do need a good few days! and as you say, it's in the middle of nowhere!Gassing Station | Holidays & Travel | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff