From San Diego to NorCal

Hi, 3 of my friends and I are planning to take a Road Trip in the Summer after our senior year of high school. Our trip isn't planned until Summer '13. We all live in North County San Diego. We have planned to go up and down along the coast in one of our own cars (or would you suggest renting a car?). We want to start from here (Carlsbad) up to either the top of California or to Vancouver, Canada. We will all be 18 by then so we don't want to get too risky with the places we go to. We definitely want to go to LA (fashion district, Venice Beach, Santa Monica), and San Francisco, we aren't too sure about any other locations though (what do you recommend?). We also want to visit many different shopping locations both cheep like thrift stores and more expensive places.Also we will probably be staying in motels or cheep hotels along the way, we don't know if there are any hostiles along the way as well. We are totally open for any suggestions on locations, dining, and accommodations so please feel free to leave any feedback and advise but please remember that we are teenager and are not rolling in dough. Also since we are planning of driving back down we can stop at different pllaces on our way back home or take different routes to different cities.

Hi, and Welcome to the The Great American RoadTrip Forum.

With a whole twelve months to plan this trip, by far the best thing you can do is get some good detailed maps of the west coast States, and see what there is on offer. All good maps have most National and State Parks and Forests marked on them, as well as many other attractions. And in the area you would like to cover, there must be thousands.

When you have some places and attractions picked out, by all means, come back and we'll help refine the trip and make sure you get the most out of it.

There are a good selection of hostels on your planned route(s). This is the most comprehensive hostel site. Check it out. On the other hand, with four of you, you may find that hotels could work out cheaper. But if you are looking for the hostel experience, then by all means, go for it. I can highly recommend the HI hostel in Sacramento. In fact, I would go so far as to say, don't miss it!

As for what car to take... by all means, take your own. At your age you would find it almost impossible to rent a vehicle. Besides, you are better off in a familiar vehicle, rather than a strange one. Just make sure that the vehicle you take is in good condition, and that you are a member of a roadside service organisation, such as AAA.

Enjoy the planning.

Lifey

Much will rest on your budget and how much time you have available for the trip and of course, how long your budget can keep you on the road. There is a huge difference, both in time and distance between going to the "top of California" and Canada.

Rather than going "up and down the coast" I would suggest looking for an inland route 'up' and a coastal one 'down' and visit different places. For example you could visit Sequoia/Kings canyon and Yosemite, Lake Tahoe, Lassen, Mt Shasta and across to the coast to Redwoods NP and then take the coast home.

As Lifey said, plenty of time for planning, but to start with you should all sit down and discuss what you all want from the trip and that each one can match the time and budget required and you are all thinking from the same page.