Needed help from some Canadians

hey again, okay tonight me and my friend went over our road trip and have started to make some final decisions. This is the basic run down:

Leave Canada head to Nashville, spend the night there go line dancing =D
Leave Nashville head to Clearwater, Florida
Spending 4 days in Clearwater (going to this Inn place my friend visited)
Leave Florida head to Washington
Spend the next day in Washington (rent a motel for 2 nights)
Leave Washington head to New Jersey
Spend 2 days visiting NYC (rent a motel in NJ for 2 nights)
Leave back to Canada

... if anyone is good w/ distance, could you give us a hand with how many miles that is? And obviously it will be more than the $400 expected from the straight to florida and back trip

Umm.. lodging: as you can see no one wants to camp anymore, lucky me eh
=( so i'm going to try and go on the net & find cheap places in those designated areas ...
But if you could give me another run down of an estimated cost... I used your avg $80 per night and for 13 nights its $1040 ... does that seem about right.. or is that too high/too low

Food: I really like your food idea, we will most likely be eating too meals a day out of our cooler and none of us like fast food, we're more the Denny's people.. so it would cost us about $714 like you said =D

Entertainment: We want to go dancing a lot, like pretty much every night, we're big clubbers. So I would say about 8 nights of clubs which is like what $20 each so about $500 for clubbing for all of us.. While in florida most of our time will be on the beach, and I can't see us wanting us to go into any museums or anythin ..but we do want to spend 2 days in NYC, and we talked about a cheap broadway play so how about another $100? so in total about $600... makes sense or too under priced??

If someone could give us a rundown of fuel costs and approx. motel/hotel costs than I can hopefully put together a budget. It looks like it is going to come in higher than the estimated $2000.

I trust you're planning on overnighting to at least break up those four 700-900+ mile stretches and would estimate $3000 minimum to cover the *bare essentials* you listed. However, this wouldn't cover any toll fees, trains, subways, or parking fees in NY and DC, or any other entrance fees and unplanned expenses you may encounter. Not even an "I love NY" t-shirt :) Even if you're not planning on hitting any museums, keep in mind that NYC and DC are quite expensive cities. Don't expect to drive from NJ into NYC and park somewhere all day for $10 while spending the entire day exploring by foot. It's hard enough to find a parking space, and public parking lots or garages can be very expensive - hence thousands of people commuting to and from work every day. You'll probably want to head in from NJ by train and subway, and I would think you'd end up taking a cab at some point too. Or if you haven't seen the Statue of Liberty, I'm sure you guys would get a kick out of this.

$17 per person but very well worth it, and just an example of how easy it would be to blow your budget once you're there - just to see this country's most famous landmark. These tours are even cheaper than the more classic boat trips, not to mention a lot more fun :) Granted, you could all walk around all day long without spending the extra cash, but if you plan your budget too tightly you may end up disappointed as you'd be missing out on a lot of the popular attractions. A simple trip to the top of the Empire State Building for example doesn't come free either. If you're not into any of this stuff, that's cool - just giving you a heads-up :)

I also trust the three of you will bring along some extra personal cash for the trip. Otherwise you may end up squabbling over someone spending $20 in "gas money" on a t-shirt :) Everyone should have at least a certain amount of financial freedom to spend on whatever they wish.

With regards to clubbing, I believe most clubs in the bigger cities have cover charges, and I wouldn't be surprised if many of them have minimum age requirements as well. Don't forget the legal drinking age this side of the border is 21 :)

Just some thoughts... I'm off to bed!

sascha

First day, Toronto to Nashville is 775 miles. Even if you don´t even stop for visiting a restroom, fill some gas or eat anything, it will takes you 12 hour of driving 65mph constantly. I don´t think that is possible, since you need to stop sometimes and after 8 hours in a car on a day it´s really boring. I can guarantee, you will not go to a club and dance after a 775 miles trip in one day!

Second day to Florida contains a 725 miles long driving, a day after driving 775 miles. I really hope you tell when you wanna go in some public advertising, cause I don´t think any intelligent people will be on the same road as you. Driving a car is not the same a keeping awake. It´s to beeing alert and ready for any possible actions to avoid accidents.

Split the trip from Canada to Florida into three legs is my suggestion. It won´t cost you anything.

On the trip back, I think you will rent a helicopter if you should run Clearwater to Washington, on I-95 which has the most heave traffic in the whole US, in one day. Thats is over 900 miles, and it´s really hard to get more than 55mph as an average speed on that road. It means 16-17h of non-stop driving. Please, give up plans like that!

Washington - New Jersey is no problem and New Jersey to Toronto is doable in one day too, without getting to tired.

This will be roughly 3500 - 4000 miles depending to if you are going do drive anything in Clearwater, in Washington and from NJ to NY. That will give you and fuelcost for 4-500US$ depending on how much gas your car want´s and what the price for gas is.

You can find cheap motels like Super 8 or Motel 6 for around 80$/night to accomodate all three of you in a room, even if the rates in New Jersey seems to be a little bit higher.

Have a nice day!

Bernt Bergkvist
Stockholm, Sweden

Barra and Sacha are both dead on with their assessments.

I will just some up why your current plan is just a really bad idea by saying this:

You are trying to do with 2 hours worth of freeway driving experience under your belt something that professional drivers with millions of miles of driving history are forbidden by law to even attempt.

In other words, your plan is dangerously unsafe, and in some cases simply not possible without bending the rules of physics.

I strongly suggest you go back to where I told you 54 mph was the fastest you'd possibly be able to travel when you consider even the most basic stops, and take a look at just how many hours it would take you to the distances you want to cover. I then would suggest going back to when Judy suggested 6 hours a day might be the most you want to drive considering your experience, with 8 hours a day being the maximum you should really even consider. Using those guidelines and suggestions will help you plan a much more realistic, enjoyable, and safe trip.

As others have mentioned, not only are your driving segments unrealistic, but so is your budget. With your lack of driving experience, you shouldn't plan on more than 300-350 miles per day. And, as I previously mentioned, hotels in large cities are much higher than in other areas. You will be hard-pressed to find a hotel near NYC and DC for $80. $100 would be your cheapest option and even those are very hard to find. There is no way you can do this proposed itinerary for $1500-2000. Absolutely no way.

You may not be able to do it all. NYC, DC, and all these other locations will be there in 5 years, 10 years, etc. You don't have to see it all this trip.

okay, im am not the only driver, why could we not drive 3-4 hrs each? or one drives 2 and another more.. like it is not only me driving. And okay thanks i understand our budget is unrealistic so how about someone try helping me with some numbers instead of just blatenly telling me this fact, because i am not dumb. oh btw... I have never been to the states, only durin school trips, how in the world should i know which hwy is the busiest in all of US?

In nashville we are not leaving the next day, we are staying there a day to see whats around and then leaving the following day, and you obviously havent met us if you think we wont go dancing.

We were going to go from Clearwater to Charlotte in North Carlonia(i think) and stay at his aunts house, but my friend said there would be no point.

Anyway.. thanks everyone for the critiscm, but I would rather much have some positive stuff, and maybe some things that we do to lessen the costs... w/o cuttin the whole trip

I think this thread has run its course. Here is some information, written by AZBuck that you might consider helpful:

Time Out

You have received many detailed, helpful responses to your request for help and advice and you have essentially chosen to ignore them all. The fact that you are not the only driver does not mean that you can cover 800 miles a day. You will all still be cooped up in the same car getting no exercise or reasonable rest. It simply means that you will make additional stops to change drivers and further slow your progress. Rather than simply blatantly telling you your budget is unrealistic, Judy, Michael, Sascha, and Berra have all given you specific advice and suggestions and pointed you to places to get further information. You are proposing to travel as three minor aliens in a foreign country and you have not even begun to come to grips with what that means. Just as one example, have you considered what will happen if any of you needs medical attention? You cannot legally authorize even the simplest of treatments.

In short, many people have tried their best to help you overcome your ignorance of our country and the requirements of road travel, and you need to go back and re-read what they have said and what is contained in all the links they have given you. You are welcome to return in a few days and once again fully participate in the "give and take" that is the hallmark of this Great American RoadTrip Forum. But in the meantime, we are instituting a "time-out" on your membership account.

AZBuck

Good luck with your planning.

Editor