Planning a College Spring Break Trip from Charlotte, NC to LA, California

Hello,

I am planning a road trip starting from Charlotte, NC. It will be with 2 or 3 friends during spring break from March 3-10. I would really like to make it to California and stay there for a few days and then come back home by the 10th. I would also like to make a few stops in some amazing places along the way. Please post to this thread to help and give me some ideas. An itinerary would be great :-) . Have a great day!

Hello and welcome to the RTA forums !!

I'm afraid that your current plan is not going to work. It would take all of your 8 days to drive LA and back and that would be pushing things. That would mean no time to check amazing things on the way or have a few days in Cali, it would be more a case of jumping out the car snapping a photo and turning around again.

I would look for ideas much closer to home and create a loop trip of 2-2500 miles max and have a couple of days to enjoy each others company.

Where would you suggest? could we make it to new york? Ideas

As Dave said, you should look to limit your trip to around 2,000 miles - which means you can go about 1000 miles in any direction. In your specific case, that pretty much means anything east of the Mississippi. NY, Boston, DC are all options - but so are places like Chicago, St. Louis, Memphis, New Orleans, or anywhere in Florida. Even Toronto or Montreal could work, if you have passports.

But what sounds interesting to you is something you have to discuss with your friends. Get out a map and start talking with each other. Once you've figured out as a group what you want - and is within reason - then we can help you put it together.

If you are looking to spend some beach time, as Michael said you have the whole state of Florida, the rest of the east coast up farther than you will want to go in March, and the Gulf coast west to probably Galveston. Any farther west in Texas would probably be pushing it.

Have you thought about starting with a theme for your trip - either water-oriented stops, or historical stops, food (eat your way through the Southeast/Eastern Seaboard), hiking, or fishing. What do you and your buddies enjoy doing, and could you build a 2000 mi. trip out of it?

For example, if you want water, the Gulf Shores area (Pensacola, Ft. Walton Beach, Panama City) is hard to beat - gorgeous water, great weather, fantastic food, and enough adventure between where you are and the white sands of the Gulf to make for a memorable Spring Break trip. You could stop in GA at several lakes along the way. Or go down the Eastern seaboard, then cut across Florida to get to the Gulf.

It might be easier to plan a trip with some parameters that help nail down what you want to do with it.