X country coming from Australia!

[sarahn1]

Hey everyone,

A friend and I are planning to travel to either San Diego, LA or Seattle and travel across to NYC. We are coming all the way from Australia (mid 20's F) and would appreciate any suggestions of if any of those are the better starting points, "must see's".
I have only been to LA and NYC (last year).
We also want to travel off the major highways etc to see more of the country and not bypass everything.
Currently we are allowing ourselves 2 months roughly, would this be a decent timeframe? Arriving in March, leaving early June.
We have some ideas of places we want to go, but they're the main attractions!

Thanks for your help!

[Midwest Michael]

Welcome to the RTA Forum!

2 months is a great amount of time to see a lot of the country - and its a lot more time than most people get. Of course, even then you still won't have time to see everything.

It is enough time to do a loop of the country, which may be a better choice than just traveling one way. That would give you a chance to see a more diverse range of the US - both north and south. There's typically much cheaper to rent a car for a round trip, and a one way cross country trip would likely mean several hundred dollars in extra fees.

Speaking of car rental, if anyone is under 25, you'll likely face an extra fee of $25 per day or so, plus fees for additional drivers, so if anyone is under that age, you might be best off if they remain a passenger.

As far as what to see, we don't really do "must sees" and even things that could be considered "main attractions" easily number in the thousands, so the more you tell us about what you know you want to see so far, and what kinds of things would be interesting to you, the more we can help with other specific ideas.

[sarahn1]

Thanks! How much extra would be be looking at for a one way than a loop? I will be 24 but my friend 25.
Places so far we have in mind are Seattle, Vancouver, LA, Las Vegas, Grand Canyon, Chicago, Utah, NYC, Boston, Washington DC, Philadelphia, Austin, Memphis, Nashville.

[Southwest Dave]

One way drop fees can be several hundred dollars, but it's not all about saving money. The places you have listed will have you zig-zagging up and down the country to get to them, adding lots of miles in the process. By doing a loop you might not add that many miles and it will keep you on a more 'direct 'route.

For example from LA to LV, GC and Utah and then heading Southeast to Austin, Memphis and Nashville before heading up the east coast to NY, Boston etc and back across a more northerly route through Chicago to Seattle and south back to LA would be quite efficient.