Help Needed for the rookie road trip planner

**nesliatcan** · 06-13-2012, 08:21 AM

My husband and I are planning to take a road trip for six days starting from Greensboro, NC to these following cities: NAshville, Memphis, New Orleans, Houston, San Antonio, Corpus Christi, Mobile, Savannah. Which routes would be better for us and do you know any good places to stay throughout the way?

Any kind of help would be apprecaited deeply, folks!

Thank you!

**Midwest Michael** · 06-13-2012, 10:14 AM

Welcome to the RTA Forum!

I think you've made the rookie mistake of trying to do way too much.

The first sign is that you've listed 8 cities you want to see in 6 days - so even without factoring in travel time, that hardly gives you any time to see things.

Then you factor in the actual driving, and your problems get much worse. You're looking at a 3000 mile trip to visit all of those cities. That alone is 6 full days of driving.

So what you're left with is this reality: You could certainly drive to all of those places, but you wouldn't have time to actually visit any of them. It would be a trip where all you are doing is spending 10 hours a day in a car for 6 days in a row.

So the question becomes, is that what you want out of this trip, or do you want a trip where you can explore and see cities you're traveling through? If seeing things beyond what's right next to the freeway is important, then you need to scale back your plans.

**nesliatcan** · 06-14-2012, 12:26 PM

Thank you so much Michael! I was also wondering how many cities and which cities do you reccommend us to pick? I thought maybe first we could fly from NY to Texas and then start driving from there, but I really have no idea. To make things worse, I am not even from the States and I have never done any road tripping in my life. Where should I start planning?

**Midwest Michael** · 06-14-2012, 01:07 PM

The first step is to figure out what it is you want to do most. Any of the places you've listed could make for a good trip, but it depends upon what you are hoping to achieve.

Once you've got your priorities then you put it together with what you realistically can do with the time you've got. For example, if the places you've listed are the places you want to see most, and 6 days is the most time you can taken, then you probably need to cut it down to just 2 or 3 places, and go from there.

**TheIrvs** · 06-14-2012, 01:24 PM

Hi,

Michael has hit the nail on the head!

Like you I'm not from the States, but we Road Trip out there each year and it just so happens that we are planning a trip around the area you are thinking of in September.

You have to be realistic about what you really want to see and what you can acheive! Don't know where your flying in from but as an example we fly into Dallas.....two days aclimitise, pick up a rental car then we are heading south towards New Orleans visiting various cities
enroute. No more than four hours driving a day..spending no more than two or three days in each place. we are doing this over two weeks.

Planning is the best part of a road trip....get a US map look at an achievable route and research the various places on your route...don't rule out little places you haven't heard of these can be hidden gems! Trip advisor and google are great tools for this...then when you have route find suitable hotels.

Happy planning!

**nesliatcan** · 06-19-2012, 10:48 AM

Thank you so much Michael!

Our problem is about renting a car. We heard that we need to leave the car where we picked up and actually, we'll be staying in New York with some relatives and then we move from there. If we flew to Texas, would we be able to pick up a car there and leave it in New York again?

I know I'm beginning to be too much, but I'm just trying to figure out how to start planning. And I found you and TheIrvs, and I'm just pushing a little more. I promise this will be the last time I bother you and then, I will let the two of you know about our first road trip plan!

Thank you once again guys! You have no idea how much you're helping me out!

**nesliatcan** · 06-19-2012, 10:50 AM

Thank you so much TheIrvs! I'll be looking at Google and trip advisor to plan better for our road trip and I hope you have a great trip as well!

Cheers!

**Midwest Michael** · 06-19-2012, 11:05 AM

One way car rentals are quite common.

The problem is that they are typically also quite expensive. At a minimum, you'll can expect to pay several hundred dollars in extra fees to pick up in Texas and drop off in New York.

Renting and returning from the same location is the much more economic way to go.

You can use RTA's reservation service on the right side of the screen to get an idea of how much it will cost.

**John Moloney** · 06-20-2012, 06:00 AM

I did this trip last year with my GF. We spent 17 days and didn't cover New Orleans. Could have easily spent another 5.

We took the following route.

Charlotte NC (Worked out cheap for flights)
Charlestown SC
Savannagh SC
Chatanooga TN
Florence AL
Memphis (VIA Tupelo)
Nashville
Smoky Mountains
Charlotte (Fly Home)

Best parts were Memphis, Nashville, Chatanooga & Savannagh

Spend at least 2 days in both Memphis and Nashville and get to some concerts, book the grand Ole opry in advance. Dont miss Graceland in Memphis even if you are not an Elvis fan.

If you are interested in Music you will love all of these places. Also if you are interested in Civil Rights history of US you will find plenty to do.

Main advise is decide what is important to you and build your trip around that.

Please ask for more info on our trip if you need to.

Good luck with planning...

**nesliatcan** · 06-20-2012, 07:36 AM

John,

Thank you so much for all the hot tips! It's verymuch appreciated! Unfortunately, we only have a week at most, so we will have to skip all that and just focus on New Orleans. We'll fly to Greensboro to rent a car from a relative and drive to New Orleans. Next time, I hope I can follow your route! And I might always need help with sghtseeing and other stuff! Cheers!