Advice needed - Denver to San Diego

Hello. I am so glad I found this website. WOW.
I have a dilemma and because I have never gone on a road trip I am not sure the best way to plan this. I will just blurt my plan and thoughts and would appreciate any advice you all may have.

The goal is to take my 12 and 14 year old girls (and wife) to SeaWorld at the end of July.

We originally were going to drive both ways but it was really hard to plan since I have never been on a trip longer than 4 hours. The other issue was cost. We are on a budget as many are and the next issue is my 12 year old. She gets a lot of headaches in the car. Air blowing on her helps and some natural remedies help. Our own vehicle has a/c in the back but it does not work well. I then decided to look into flights and found tickets for $100 that would fly us to San Diego and then we could drive back. Flying both ways is not part of the plan as we want to stop in Yuma AZ where my wife lived. So this all leaves us two choices,
1) Fly to SD and drive back
2) Drive both ways most likely with a rental

I am really at a loss and with prices going up all the time I feel like we need to make a decision quickly. Even hotels we found a month ago for $150/night are now $260 or more. We did end up finding a room at the Bay Hotel and Marina for $180/night.

Any advice anyone can offer would be appreciated.

Hello and welcome to the RTA forums !

When you consider the budget you have to think of not only the car rental fee, but the one way drop off fee charged for a one way rental, it can be quite significant. The one thing you failed to mention is how long you have for the trip in total as you wouldn't want to be rushing out and back with long hours in the car, especially considering your daughters trouble with car journeys. If you have the time to turn the journey into an adventure then you have lots of spectacular things along the way, in both directions. Often travel sickness comes from a lack of activity, with plenty of short breaks and getting your daughter involved with the planning and talking about interesting things during the journey could help. It's something only you can really decide on once you have worked out the pros and cons.

If driving and budget become the two major factors, perhaps flying both ways and visit your relatives in Yuma another time might be the answer. (?)

I appreciate the reply. Her headaches sometimes happen the minute she gets into the car. It is a bit odd but that is an issue. She does seem to be ok if she has air on her though.

I was not aware of a one-way drop off fee. Good to know. Due to the budget this may mean we either fly both ways or drive both ways. When you say significant, can you ballpark it? $100? $500?

We have some time so we do not need to be rushed but we do not want to take the whole time. I think the initial plan is to spend 3 days in San Diego, drive to Yuma and then come home. The hard part for me is not knowing how long I can drive without needing to stop since I am a 39 year old road trip rookie.

Use the RTA rental car search - I plugged in random dates and found cars from SAN to DEN with no dropoff fee.

Eeek! I'm from San Diego and frankly, $180/night sounds expensive. Sounds like you may have found some places right on the Bay or on the ocean, which would account for the price. There is an area called Hotel Circle along I-8. This area is not far at all from Sea World, the beach, the Zoo, and any other place you may want to reach. Try the Days Inn (Days Hotel), Quality Inn Sea World/Zoo, Comfort Inn and Suites, even the Town and Country. Unless there's something going on during the week you've picked, you should be able to find something less expensive if that's what you're looking for.

GLC has suggested a place with no one-way drop off fees, which generally run around $500. If you do a fly-drive, Yuma is just 3-1/2 hours from Hotel Circle, San Diego -- a nice day's journey. During the summer months, you should be able to find a hotel there at a very reasonable price!

Road trip rookie or not, I'd suggest stopping to stretch every 2 hours. Between San Diego and Yuma, you could stop and check out the Desert View Tower in Jacumba. There are rest areas along interstate highways, and also plenty of truck stops and gas stations where you can pull over and stretch. Only between Yuma and Gila Bend is there a long stretch where there are rest areas and rather small towns -- and during the summers, most people want to stretch their legs in air-conditioned comfort! (We use either the Love's Truck Stop in Gila Bend or the Shell station at Butterfield Station on the east end of Gila Bend, for a stretch break; this is a route we drive often.)

We'd love to know what you end up doing -- we have a forum for such things, for Road Trip Reports!


Donna

It really is best to shop around and if you can find a rental without a drop fee that's good, costs can vary.

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The hard part for me is not knowing how long I can drive without needing to stop since I am a 39 year old road trip rookie.

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Over the course of a day with stops for food, fuel, bathroom breaks and to stretch you should be able to cover 500-600 miles a day, between 9 and 10 hours of travel with breaks. However in your case, it's not about how long you can drive for, but about how long your daughter can travel before she needs to stop.

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We have some time so we do not need to be rushed but we do not want to take the whole time. I think the initial plan is to spend 3 days in San Diego, drive to Yuma and then come home.

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I was thinking more of how much time do you have for the travelling. You could drive to SD in 2 full days, but if you could spare another half day/ day it would take the pressure off. Coming home you would need at least one overnight stop between Yuma and Denver.

Have you thought of taking your own car, and have the 12 year old sit in the front? If not for the whole day, for a significant part of the day. You could even surreptitiously reduce it over the length of the journey. We had a child who would be sick the moment the car moved. I know it was not lack of things to do. It started when he was tiny... even throwing up when he was 12 mths old. Eventually he grew out of it, and became a happy traveller. However, as the years went on, we did find that frequent stops, spells in the front seat and something worthwhile to do or look forward to, helped a lot.

If you have the time, reducing your travelling to much less than suggested above, could help as well.

Lifey

I appreciate the tips. I think we will start pricing a bit more.

As to the hotels, The cheapest we found was still 189 and that included the Days..
I was going to stay at the Days, Comfort or Holiday Inn Express but read mixed reviews on google. Some said it was too loud etc.. Do I figured if the price was the same we would stay right in the marina. I guess I can cancel up to 48 hours in advance so I can keep looking. Any thoughts on the Days, Comfort or Holiday Inn express? As far as kid friendly, cleanliness etc compared to the Bay Hotel.