FL to CA and then CA to NY

Hi RTA world!

I am a 100% newbie to all of this so please bear with me if I ask stupid questions or if this post is just entirely silly, but I have to start somewhere!

Let's see... I am finishing a job down in Disney World in January and will be moving back to New York. Before I move, I have the month of January to see the country, and since I have a car down here and have never done a "road trip" so to speak before, I figure that this is the perfect opportunity! :) Ideally, I thought this would be the perfect time to go see Disneyland for the first time. So, I'm trying to figure out the best way to drive there from Orlando and then back to New York, seeing as much of the country as I can, for as little money as possible haha

Time frame is about 3 and 1/2 to 4 weeks in January. I know the weather will be bad so I assume I should stay south if I can. Regardless, I have searched this forum and done a lot of research, but there just seem to be a large amount of options and I don't really know where to start. I also would like to utilize couchsurfing as much as possible as I've done that in the past in Europe and enjoy it much more than hotels/hostels when I'm by myself traveling. Therefore, I am trying to get a general timeframe of when I will be where to help plan couchsurfing visits.

So, RTA world, where do I start?

Again, my apologies if this post is incredibly general and vague, but I'm just looking for a starting point and then I can go from there, I think!

Thank you!

Welcome to the RTA Forum!

The best place to start planning a roadtrip is with yourself, where you decide what places and things you want to see most. It could be called the "daydream" stage, where you just get to think about all the places you've ever wanted to go. You've already got a start with Disneyland, but keep it going. Where else have you wanted to go? Maybe some cities like New Orleans, maybe natural wonders, like the Grand Canyon, maybe its some other place that has significance to you personally, or maybe its even just a place on the map with a funny name.

Don't even worry about where the places are right now, just think of places you want to go. If Seattle is on your list, put it down, even thought it probably won't make sense in your final plan.

Once you've got a good list, then start going through it and seeing which places you could reasonably fit into your timeframe. Its going to take you roughly a week, each way, to drive from coast to coast, so you've got some time to explore, but you'll have some limits too.

I'll also tell you that "staying south" certainly is not a really a good guide for good weather in the winter. You just can't get far enough south in the US to avoid the chance of snow/ice. Now, on a trip from Florida to Southern California, staying south makes sense because that's the direct route, but don't overthink things too much, or assume there are places you can't go - at least not at this point of your planning.