USA Road trip

[brooklyn77]

Can anyone give me a rough estimate on how much it might cost to spend 2 weeks in USA on a road trip. U know, in an open top big car, travelling between several different big cities and including motels etc... also any idea on how long it would take to travel by car from west USA to East USA ( Newyork to California for example)

[funkylad20]

I STRONGLY recommend that you visit Los Angeles, and travel up the coast to San Francisco (or even start at San Diego). I have just got back from a month in California, mostly around Hollywood area, and it's very beautiful. We did a road trip to Vegas for the weekend, fantastic, and so cheap. Car hire out there is a fraction of what it costs here, as tax is only 8.5% in CA so not a great deal, plus full tank included, and fuel is so dirt cheap, keep you going for ages. The Californian coastline is beautiful, absolutlely breathtaking views. Fly on Virgin Atlantic(cheap flights going now...), get a car through Budget (we hired ours for 1 weekend, Fri 5pm - Sun 5pm,) or a lot of companies do packages with car hire, just go ask the travel agent. Staying in Hostels proves very inexpensive, and they're bloody good fun too, full of similar people, as well as entertaining characters. Word of warning, unless you are a very skilled driver, I wouldn't hire a car - roads can be lethal, no bloody roundabouts for a starters! And seems to be no rules about pedestrians etc, so read up beforehand! Plus the whole driving on the right, gears on the right, seats and pedals back to front etc etc....very confusing personally! There were a group of us, people we met in the hostel in Hollywood, one Argentinian guy who drove, so was pretty funky! Can't remember the exact price, but know I payed $25 for entire car hire for weekend, but we did have a HUGE A/C'd car and stuff, there were 6 of us, in a 7 seater - trick is to try and barter the price down, all Americans seem to do that, quite bizarre! Have a nice day! ;o)

[Pinotage]

This is definitely a 'how long is a piece of string' question. Car hire prices you can find out by surfinge the car web-sites, but open tops are at the upper price range, and insurance will be higher. Remember you'll have difficulty renting a car if you're under 26.

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Fuel is dirt cheap, motels can range from $20 a room upwards, depending on where you are. Cities are more expensive, butthere's always cheaper older motels in poorer parst of town. You could pig out on an 'all you eat' buffet and skip lunch.

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Drive from east to west - it depends whether you wantt o see anything on the way. It roughly 3500 miles, so if you drove 5 hours a day at 50mph you could do it in 2 weeks.

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Why not decide how much time you've got and what your budget it is first. That will help you decide what youw ant to do.

[Pickle]

I looked at doing this. It depends on the car and the places you stay. A car for 2 weeks can be from about $300 for economy to about $1,000 for a big convertible. Motels depend on where you are, eg. a motel in NYC is about $100 a night but in Las Vegas it's much cheaper, more like $20. I'd put by at least another $800 for accomodation. You pay per room and not per person so that would be between you. As far as routes go, if you've only got 2 weeks don't try coast to coast, you'll be driving too much to enjoy it. From Las Vegas to San Francisco is fun, you can take in the Grand Canyon on the way and it's mostly those desert roads you see in the movies. I would take about a month for a cross country road trip, then you can afford to detour and spend a few days in the best places.