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For travelling around California and nearby States, you could try one of these camper hybrids from Lost campers'. Small campers are rare in the USA and you won't normally get one way rentals and the other option, an RV, usually work out dearer than a car and Motels when you consider gas and campground fees etc.
One of the most difficult parts of your planning in this regard is that public transportation in the US is generally pretty horrible.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ben Cann
Long distance, Greyhound (bus) and Amtrak (train) are really the only national options, although there are a few others like Megabus that work on a more regional level. Both of those options are pretty limited in where you can go, and they can be very slow methods of transit.
They will work fairly well if you are focusing very heavily on cities, but many national parks and other popular natural areas simply aren't served by mass transit, and you can be looking at many miles from a park to the nearest bus/train stop.
Additionally, with the exceptions of a handful of cities like NY, DC, Chicago, and San Francisco, most city bus systems are really quite challenging, with limited routes, long travel times, and often many connections needed for even short trips if you don't happen to be going exactly the same way the bus routes are lined up.
Once you have your visa all sorted out, and know when you are coming, and for how long, you may like to look into DriveAway. With your limited budget, focus on cities and general wanderlust, this may just suit you. Even if you do it, mixed in with a renting vehicles.
Here's a further explanation. I did this for 13 or so weeks on my first visit and 19 or so weeks on my second visit. In that time I relocated some two dozen cars, drove coast to coast and border to border on a variety of routes, as well as many other routes inbetween. Totalling well over 40K miles. Meanwhile I saw an amazing slice of the USA, and visited places of which I had never even heard.
Check it out... it may just suit you. Feel free to ask any further questions.
Lifey
To be perfectly honest, I think you would be better off if you were to hire one vehicle for a 90 day period under the VWP than you would trying to stretch your budget and rely on combinations of planes, trains, buses and Automobiles over a longer period.
You won't waste lots of time waiting for connections and having to go around the houses to get from 'A to B' by public transport, but you will have the extra money and freedom to go exactly where you want, when you want and have fun. Even if you were to get a 6 month Visa, you could end up seeing more if you stayed within the constraints of your budget including vehicle hire, say for Four and a half months as an example. Perhaps even staying on the east or west coast at the end of your trip for a week or two, with no vehicle and explore a City [or two] in more depth.
We hired an Escape Camper in LA and spent six weeks covering 8000 miles. We are now planning our trip for next year and will be putting the pressure on them for a good deal next year for a 60 or 70 day trip.
Escape Capmers are not RVs but basically a bed on wheels with a little Kitchen area in the back. We love camping so it suited us perfectly. Some nights were in campgrounds and some in RV parks and a few motels when in Las Vegas and LA.
Having the flexability to pay a no milage fee also helped as there were no fees to pay when we dropped it off.
John
Hi Guys
I have now kind of decided on what the best option may now be and any advice will be greatly appreciated.
I have taken on board the less is more approach,as I am now thinking of not spending the full 6 months travelling around the country but more like 4 months and spend the rest of my budget in other countries possibly an "around the world" trip
Will 4 months be sufficent enough to take the route I want to take? I have been looking at Adventures on Wheels and they seem to be the most reasonable on price (because of amount of miles) but as I have never done this before is there alot of campsites/places to shower along the road (the girlfriend insists) and also have to account for the cost of fuel?
I think its best to start the driving of our trip on Denver to tour mount rushmore, yellowstone, all of california, yosemite, etc.
What I am stuck on do I drop the car off in Vegas and fly to Dallas (is Texas worth visting?) and then plane/train/bus it up to Canada via New Orleans/Most of Florida/Washington DC/New York or drive to these destinations up to New York? If so can the journey I want to do be done in that amount time?
Ben
Hello there
I am from the UK and I am going to be hiring a car and travelling around California mid September 2013
We are going to start at San Francisco for a few days and then get the hire car and go to Yosemite National Park, and then I want to drive the Big Sur coastal road and then head towards Las Vegas to do Death Valley, Vegas, Hoover dam and Grand Canyon. (I’m not sure whether to just get a day pass to Hoover dam, GC from Vegas or drive but not sure on parking)
We are going to be camping almost our entire trip (most cost effective) and hiring the camping equipment starting from San Francisco which we will have with us until we reach Vegas. (We can post the equipment back, not sure of there is one locally outdoorsgeek have quoted us for our trip to Yellowstone) if there are any websites for cheap campsites please let me know.
We have a tight budget but we have no time limit so was wondering if there was any advice that can be given and what route to take.
I have been onto to Google maps and roughly planned a kind of route but any help will be appreciated (attached)
We need to finish off in Los Angeles to catch a flight to Peru but for cost it will be more cost effective to get the bus there rather than car hire as we can probably only afford around 2 weeks of car hire.
Thank you
Hi Ben, and Welcome to The Great American RoadTrip Forum.
No doubt you have read quite a bit about this, the most popular route. Two things jump out at me. For one, if you go to Big Sur, after Yosemite, you will be missing the drive over the spectacular Tioga Pass. Secondly you will be zigzagging back to the coast. Unnecessary miles and fuel costs if you are already on a budget.
Has the start in San Francisco been set in concrete? If not, you might consider rearranging your trip to do a loop from LA, which would look something like this....
LA, GC, Hoover Dam, LV, Death Valley, Yosemite, SF and down the coast via Big Sur, to LA. A nice trip for a two week holiday.
This will save you in a one way drop fee, which can be hundreds of dollars. (I am at present looking at a rental from SF to LA, and most have between $250 and $400 one way drop fee.) It will also save on a bus fare for both of you, and be more efficient in fuel. Most companies charge a weekly rate, which is about 5.5 or 6 days of the daily rate.
As for renting camping equipment, I don't know of any places which do this. But recently, driving through the eastern part of the country, I saw front yard posters announcing camping equipment for rent. So it may be worth doing a search.
[Years ago when I drove to AK on a camping trip, I bought my tent, sleeping bag and ground sheet, as well as small stove in a big box store. On my return to LA I sold it all over Craig's List. I advertised it about a week earlier, mentioning the date it would be available. I got almost half my money back.]
Enjoy the planning.
Lifey
Have you now completely scrapped your plans for a larger USA trip?
I'd agree with Lifey that a loop would be a better bet, because it eliminates the zig-zagging and could save you quite a bit of money.
However, even if you are locked into starting in SF, I'd still recommend some changes.
First, It would make much more sense to do the coast highway first, and then head to Yosemite. That would save you a lot of miles, and lets you drive across Tioga Pass, the scenic crossing of the Sierras through Yosemite, on your way to Death Valley.
The other big thing is that I'd drive back to LA from the Grand Canyon. You're going to have to head back to Vegas anyway, and driving directly to LA only adds 200 more miles. That short extra drive, even if you add one extra day to your rental car, is likely going to be cheaper than purchasing additional bus tickets.
Hi Lifey and Midwest
I see your points and that sounds like a really good idea, the reason why we were going to SF first is to spend a few days there 'hire car free' (we are getting the Amtrak from Denver to SF on a separate road trip we are doing but can be changed) then collect the hire the car and onward travel to Yosemite and the Big Sur. We can then drop the car off in Vegas to spend a few days there 'hire car free' and then travel to LA via public transport to catch our flight to Peru.
As we are on a budget we would like to use the car every day and not have it sitting around while we are in the bigger cities we want to do, e.g. SF, Vegas, etc. We want to spend 5 days in SF, 4 days in Yosemite, 5 days in Vegas and finish in LA.
Also not sure if this is maybe too long time in some of the cities and spend a day less and travel to a smaller town.
Was also thinking could start in Vegas hire the car from there and drive to Death Valley, Yosemite via Tioga Pass up to SF down the Big Sur to LA? This way we are not looping and can spend the time making our trip. I also suppose I could off hire the car in SF and then re-hire for a couple of days to do the Big Sur down to LA?
Hope this all makes sense!
Thank you