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  1. Default Florida to Seattle, via LA Roadtrip 2013

    Hey guys, my family ( me, wife 8 year old son and 3 year old son) are from the UK, and we have wanted to do a once in a lifetime roadtrip for quite a while now. We have started to preliminaryly look at going next July 2013. We do go to Florida quite a bit, so we have decided to start our road trip in Key West. From there, up to naples for a day. Then to Orlando for a few days to do the parks. From there New Orleans, Baton Rouge, houston, Austin, Grand Canyon, Death Valley, LA, Vegas, San Francisco, Portland and Seattle. From here, we want to dropoff the rental and go over to Vancouver to spend a few days. From here, my parents, who live outside Whistler, would pick us up and we would stay with them for a week.
    Excluding the week with my parents, we want to take 4 weeks for the road trip. Now I have done a quick google maps plan, and itis coming out at 4500 miles. As we are at the absolute start of planning, I have no idea on how to plan motel breaks, daily distances etc. Even what awesome sights to see on the way (hopefully the worlds biggest ball of string). The one thing I would also like to do is to go to some of the places that have featured on Man versus Food too :-)
    Any help or ideas with our very first draft of a road trip would be much appreciated. Is 4 weeks enough / too much??

    Thanks in advance

    Nick

  2. #2
    Join Date
    May 2011
    Location
    Central Missouri
    Posts
    5,943

    Default

    Welcome aboard RTA!

    Does the 4 weeks plan also include the time in the Florida parks?

    Basically, if you're used to long-distance driving, you should plan to drive no more than 450 to 600 miles in a day that has no sightseeing in it. The higher number is for all-interstate driving, the lower number should be for those days that include US and state highways. If you are driving ALL US and state highways, I'd use 400 as the maximum. (On interstates you don't have to deal with stop lights, stop signs, slow downs as you drive through a town.)

    As far as awesome sights to see ... poke around in the Map Center and the attractions listings on this website to see what appeals to you and your family. Fill in the food suggestions from Man vs. Food where your road travels.


    Donna

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Dec 2008
    Location
    Melbourne, Australia
    Posts
    7,225

    Default That's a long way for a three year old.

    Hi Nick,

    The first thing you need to consider is that with such a distance, which will of course, blow out to much more with driving around towns, attractions, etc., you will have roughly 14 days of at least eight hours driving ahead of you. This equates to around 50% of the 3 year old's waking moments sitting strapped into a child car seat. Now, I'm not saying it is too much, but you will have to consider how this will affect him. He'll be fine on day one, two and three.... but how about day 6, or 13, or 20, or 25? I would plan on being in one place for multiple days at regular intervals.

    You will of course want to book your accommodation within NPs as soon as it becomes available, but it could pay to leave some of the accommodation flexible to be able to stop at will.

    Do you have a large, wall sized map of the US? It may pay you to get one, and start marking those places which you are interested in visiting, and seeing what else there is along the way or nearby. This thread may also be of help.

    Enjoy the planning.

    Lifey

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