Hi guys, planning something of a weird one.

Hi guys,

Just like to say well done on the website, good idea, congrats...

Thinking of going to the US from UK in the summer with a few friends...

We were thinking of starting off in Florida, then maybe driving or bussing it up to New York, then maybe taking a leg somewhere to finish off, but as to where I am not sure, a friend suggested Alaska, but the logistics involved with this seems rather daunting.

Idea being that, we wanted to start off somewhere warm and end up somewhere with a bit of frost, ideally like...

Were budgetting for a month, but dunno...

Looking for suggestions and input really.

Was looking at hiring a vehicle of some sort..

Any ideas or pointers would be great.

Welcome to the RoadTrip America Forum!

One of the things we generally ask it - what are your interests?
You could be looking for the best places to party, or the best places to go hiking, or even the biggest ball of twine type of locations. You could find some interesting backwoods communities or the birthplace of Lincoln. You could go to Jack Kerouac's hometown, or try to find the skunk ape.

You could go to where the sun first rises over the continental US (Lubec, Maine), and drive to the place where it last sets (Ozette, Washington).

You could take a drive along some of the rivers that helped make this country what it is today (Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio), or along the roads that have similar alignments to the trails the Western pioneers traveled on.

You could go to the first national park East of the Mississippi (Acadia), and/or America's first national park (Yellowstone).

In the USA in the Summer, it is more difficult to find a bit of the frost, but there are places other than Alaska where you can find it - the Rocky Mountains being the first that spring to my mind as I have seen it snow there in July.

Be sure to take this test with your friends. You will want to check out our planning pages as well.

We just did the opposite a couple of months ago. We drove from Alaska to Florida and back. It took as 6 weeks but that is because we spent 2 weeks in Mickey Land :)
If you plan on driving to Alaska where do you want to go? You can drive all the way to Fairbanks using the Alaska Highway...however, make sure that you don't do this during the winter months since gas stations are far in between so we had to gas up every time we see a gas station and our gas is in the halfway mark. We don't want to risk being stuck.

Hi,

Instead of bussing to NYC, how about an Amtrak train. You could stop in Savannah, Washington DC, and Philadelphia before hitting New York. I guarantee you it will be more relaxing than a bus trip.

A flight from NYC to Anchorage or Fairbanks, Alaska is 10-12 hours and will cost between $600 to $800, but Alaska is worth it! Fly to Anchorage, drive or take the train to Denali (take a flight over Mt. McKinley, as well as a bus ride into Denali National Park. Then, carry on to Fairbanks and pan for gold or go back to Anchorage and go south to the Kenai Peninsula and take boat tour to Kenai Fjords National Park in Seward.

Yes, it is an expensive addition to your trip, but one you'll never forget. Trust me!

Craig Sheumaker
co-author of the travel guide: America's Living History-The Early Years