New York City to San Francisco

Hy everyone!

I red an article on a Hungarian website about a guy who drove from New York to San Francisco. It made me excited so I decided to do something similar. I started to look around on the Internet and this is how I found this site. I am interested in your opinion about my trip. Here are the details what I already know.

Me and my girlfriend would like to start our trip in NYC in august 5 2011. I decided to rent a car from HERTZ cause I found that they have the less expensive offer. Am I right?

Our destination is Castro Valley, CA where we would like to arrive in august 12. There we will stay for another 7 days in a house of my friend. It is in the bay area and there is a lot of things to see in 7 days!

My Girlfriend told me that the only thing what she surely wants to see is Washington D.C. and the Grand Canyon. I planed two nights 10.08 - 12.08 in Las Vegas cause it is a good HQ if we want to go to Grand Canyon and play some poker. :) I know on the weekends rooms are much more expensive so I wanna check out on Friday.

My question is what to do and what to see between Washington D.C. and LV? Which way we should follow and where to stop. Which hotel chains are you suggest for the trip? What other ideas do you have?

Thanks for your attention!

Hello and welcome to the RTA forums !

Hertz are one of the larger rental company's and if you have found them to be the cheapest for your particular trip and circumstance that is good, but I don't think there is a way of telling you that you are right, as deals etc are forever changing.

Now to the trip, I think you are under estimating the lenght of your journey and the time it will take. You say you have a week to 8 day's for the road trip, and you want to spend a couple of nights in Vegas, visit DC and the Grand canyon. You actually have 6 full days of driving from NY to CA, leaving you only a day or 2 to play with, which you plan on spending in Vegas. Also you need to know that Grand canyon is a 5 or 6 hour drive each way from Vegas and more than a day trip, the good news is that you could visit it on the way to Vegas if you can find the time.

Welcome aboard the RoadTrip America Forums!

The shortest point to point route for all the localities you've listed is nearly 3,500 miles, or almost seven days of serious driving. Since you only have eight days for the journey, that would leave a little time to get out of the car for some quick photo opportunities, but not for seeing the sights of Washington, hiking the rim of the Canyon or playing poker in Vegas. So the first thing you'll need to decide is what's really important to you on this trip. Something (or two) will have to go.

Car rental prices vary from day to day, agency to agency, location to location, etc. If Hertz was offering the best deal on your particular choice of vehicle on the days you want, then take it. Just be sure that there are no additional charges such as one way drop off fees, underage penalties, etc.

As noted, you don't have enough time for what you have planned now, so I'm certainly not going to be suggesting other stops to further slow you down. but you should watch out for state parks, wildlife refuges, and other places near the highway where you can take short hikes for exercise and some mental down time.

AZBuck

Thanks for the fast replies! I believe you are right about the short time so I gotta think about it again! I hope I can set up a new plan for Monday! :)