Needed help from some Canadians

Hello everyone, I have a very similar question as the other group of girls who wanted to travel across America but mine is slightly different. Me and my 2 close friends would like to go on a trip after we graduate because we're all going to different universities. We have never done such a thing so we're kind of confused where to start. I'll tell you what we know.
There will be 3 of us.
We're not far from Toronto so we're pretty close to the border.
I'll be the only 18 yr old after graduation, their birthdays are closer to winter.
We'll be driving my car.
We are not 100% sure on destinations but we are thinking going down through Buffalo, hitting New York and eventually get to Florida.
One of my friends only wants to stay in motels but I'm trying to convice him we should go camping b/c he's never done it and i figure it might be cheaper.
We have already taken one day trip to Toronto for shopping on boxing day and we're plannin a weekend trip after prom so we're going to have some experience before the summer hits.


So we would desperetly like some advice on how to plan this out, how much money we would need, how long you think this could be done for some ammatures. umm... thats all I can think of right now, so can you PLEASE! give me some of your great advice. It's muchly appreciated!

Welcome to the RoadTrip America Forum!

For starters, our Planning Pages are a source of great information that will help you plan your trip.

Camping (tent) will definitely be cheaper than getting a motel room, and should be easier for you as well given the age ranges of your group. See this link for more on that. It may seem like it's geared toward the parents, but you can get a lot of good information from it as well. And it never hurts to get the parents involved!

How much time are you planning on spending in the States? Where in Florida are you planning on ending up? By answering these two questions, we'll be able to better help you plan your trip.

ya, i love camping and my friend just agreed to camping too as long as we can stay in some motels so we can have a change of pace and an actual bed to sleep in. We went down there for a school trip once and it took something like 27 hrs straight so it can be done but I'm not sure if we're stopping in different places and what not. And in Florida wherever. We just want to be able to get to a beach and see the attractions w/o a huge drive and w/o paying a huge bill for visiting a tourist spot.

Even if you switch off drivers, it just isn't safe. Sleeping in a car isn't as restful as in a bed...or sleeping bag. :-) There is no way that you will be driving safely by the end of that long speed run.

You might check out this post for ideas about how to plan your budget.

no, by camping, we mean like tent camping at camp grounds, oh gosh no, i wouldnt even sleep in my car if i was in my driveway and we wouldnt actually drive straight through w/o stopping, we'd kill ourselves. We're thinkin about stopping maybe twice before we get to florida, we just don't know how long to drive and where to stop because none of us have been through the states before.

hey judy, i went to the post you suggested and i went to the Fuel Cost Calculator and I wanted to make sure I did it right and it makes sense to you guys.

From my town to Florida is 1335.8 miles. I checked my car online and it says it has an average of 32 mpg and I went on gasbuddy.com and saw the average prices were around 2.30 but I wanted to be safe and said 2.50. My results were it would cost $104.36 in fuel. Does that sound about right?
But I didn't calculate any stops or anythin.. B/c we aren't sure about extra driving that doesnt involve straight freeway drivin, how many extra miles should I add?

You guys are going to get so fed up with me by the end of this, i have SOO many questions but I'm glad your helping =D

I think your fuel cost estimate is going to be significantly on the low side.

First of all, you've only calcuated your mileage one way. Since I assume you are planning to come back, you need to double everything to start.

Second, its very unlikely you will only travel the distance from point A to point B. It looks like you used Orlando as your destination to calculate miles, but are you also going to visit some of the other cities, such as Tampa or Miami, that could add several hundred additional miles. Plus there will be some driving to find your campground, and probably a bunch of in town driving once you get to Florida. If you are only stopping in one city, then I'd say increase your estimate by at least 20% to cover all of the incidental driving you'll be doing.

I also think you will be unlikely to get 32 mpg if that's what the EPA predicts for your highway mileage. Those calculations are made driving a brand new car 55 mph without AC, lights, or even the radio running. You will also likely be doing at least some city driving. 30 mpg would the highest figure I'd use, but you'd be even better off calcuating what your car actually gets for mileage (or km/Liter) during your next few tanks of gas.

Finally, I think expecting gas to be $2.50 this summer is rather unlikely. Gas prices tend to go up significantly in the summer, and I wouldn't use any number lower than $3 per gallon for this calculation - and even that could end up being too low.

Changing all of those things gives you a ballpark calculation of 3300 miles, at 30 mpg, at $3 per gallon. That totals out to about $330. However, that is the minimum I think you can expect. Budgeting $400 to $500 would give you at least a little flexability in case things end up costing more than you plan.

hey again, ya i wasnt sure if that figure seemed reasonable. I also purposally only put the milage for going down because we're going to stop A LOT more on our way home because we want to see the sites and on the way to Florida we're drivin straight through expect to sleep and eat.

So I was going to try to calculate that and then add the two milages than add like $100 to error on the side of caution. Does that seem reasonable or am I over complicating things?--I do that often.

Can't wait to hear from you again!

I think following his advice will give you the best guesstimate of your costs.

And I totally agree with him that you need to find out the MPG for YOUR vehicle and not just go by the manufacturer's estimated usage. I have done numerous caravans with a car club where we are all driving the same vehicles. It is amazing to me how variable our fuel consumption is even though we're driving together so we are driving the same general speeds, etc. It isn't uncommon for me to have about 1/2 a tank left when others are getting closer to 1/4 or 1/3 tank. (And I'm not going by the gauge readings but by how many gallons we have to fill.)

I would suggest putting a small notebook in your car and then doing the following each time you fill for the next month or two to get a good average.

Jot down the total miles driven from your odometer. Write down how many gallons you put in your tank. Do this every time you fill.

On your second tank, you can start figuring your fuel consumption for that particular tank. Divide the total number of miles driven on that tank by the number of gallons you put in your car.

You need to do this over at least 5-6 tanks to get an idea of how much you average because it does vary by things like highway vs. city driving and other variables. Even weather can make a difference. I always get about 2 more miles per gallon in the summer than I do in the winter. Go figure.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by carmey012

no, by camping, we mean like tent camping at camp grounds, oh gosh no, i wouldnt even sleep in my car if i was in my driveway and we wouldnt actually drive straight through w/o stopping, we'd kill ourselves. We're thinkin about stopping maybe twice before we get to florida, we just don't know how long to drive and where to stop because none of us have been through the states before.

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When I read that post, it sounded to me like you meant to drive straight-thru without stopping.

How long to drive? It really depends on you. Some folks simply like driving longer hours than others. Some folks stay alert while driving longer than others. We've seen people on these forums who only want to drive 2-3 hours per day while others are looking forward to driving 8+ hours per day. What are you comfortable with?

Where to stop? Wherever you are when you're getting tired of being on the road. I'm sure you're looking for specific recommendations but I'm unfamiliar with this part of the country and can't help with that. I suggest that you get a good map or atlas and see if anyplaces along your route jump out at you as places you'd like to explore a bit more.

I'm sure if you do that and then come back here with a more specific route and places you're planning on staying overnight at, that you'll start getting more specific feedback and recommendations.

Don´t forget, when calculating fuelcosts, that a car takes much more gas when you have two passengers and you have packed it with all your stuff that you need. I would say that 15-20% more is very reasonable to add in the calculation. Especially if you drive alone with no passengers in your own investigation of fuel consumption.

Bernt Bergkvist
Stockholm, Sweden

hey again, thanks for all the car advice.. the only thing is i wont be gettin my car until June, after my birthday ... so I can't really test out anything because I will have owned it for like 3 weeks if that before the trip.
Oh wow I never even thought about the extra load that would put on the car! So how would I add that extra %? Could you please help

Um.. also, I have started to look at atlases n stuff to see where we could stop for the night and what not, but im not sure how many miles I can do in lets say 8 hrs. Ive only ever driven an hr n 1/2 to toronto and bak ... Do you think if I was to calculate the miles I did on that trip then I would calculate relatively in which city we would be in by then? Or is it completely different because of the freeways or what not... Hmm oh ya!

Another question, does anyone know any good spots to visit along the east coast? Us canadians know very little about the major spots unless its like New York, Sanfransico, California or Buffalo ...

I think thats all the questions I have as of right now

I don´t know which car you will got, and I must say I even don´t know so much about northamerican cars since I´m from Sweden. Here in Sweden we calculate that an ordinare Swedish car like Saab 9-5 or Volvo V70 need 1 liter of gas for every 10 kilometers when we do roadtrips. If we translate that to something understandable for you, it´s 24mpg. If your car in smaller than that, 24mpg will be good to calculate for even if you have passengers and a lot of stuff inside the car. If the car is bigger, say 20mpg to be for sure.

I wouldnt care so much about that, since it probably will be no 3 or 4 in order of expensives. If the gas will cost $450 instead of $350 I don´t think that will make the trip unmakeable.

If you haven't yet read it, I would highly suggest you take a look at the article "Teenage Roadtrip." I think it will provide a lot of help an insight into the kind of major undertaking you want to try.

Most importantly, I would strongly urge you to take at least one small roadtrip before you try this 3,000 mile adventure. Even taking a weekend where you and your friends just go a couple hundred miles away will give you a great deal of help figuring out each of your roadtrip styles, what things work well for your group, and where you could have some problems during your weeks on the road. Considering that you've never been more than a couple hours from home, I'd hate for you to get a thousand miles down the road only to discover you can't stand traveling with your friends and/or being cooped up in a car for 8 hours a day is something that makes you miserable.

As far as your distances, you can use 54 mph as a decent ballpark figure for the fastest you'll be able to travel over a long distance in the areas you'll be driving. That's if you are pretty much driving straight through, any stops beyond the basics for food and fuel will cause you to slow down even more.

ya, we're going to be taken a 3 night trip after prom but before that it will be kind of hard because my friend is going to France until a month before prom. Anyway.. Im hopeing then we can figure out our road trip styles ... I briefly had skimmed through the Teenage Road Trip article but I'll read it more in depth now.

Is there anythin else I should know? Any more advice before I evolve my own questions.

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Originally Posted by carmey012

...but im not sure how many miles I can do in lets say 8 hrs. Ive only ever driven an hr n 1/2 to toronto and bak ... Do you think if I was to calculate the miles I did on that trip then I would calculate relatively in which city we would be in by then? Or is it completely different because of the freeways or what not... Hmm oh ya!

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I'm not talking about how fast you can drive or how many miles you can cover in X number of hours. What I'm talking about is your own personal driving style. Some people drive 2-3 hours and they're done for that day. That's it. That's all they can bring themselves to do because they don't enjoy the drive itself. Others think that 2-3 hours is the point where you're just getting warmed up and are fine driving 7-8-9 hours in a day.

You may be able to get to Florida in 2 or 3 days. But will you hate every minute of it? Do you need more days to make the trip enjoyable? And does your interest in driving wane after awhile making it not only unenjoyable but less safe because your mind is wandering?

These are questions only you can answer about yourself.

I really think you should do a practice roadtrip or two before you take this bigger trip on to get an idea of how many stops you need to make durign the day, and how long those stops are, in order for you to enjoy the day's driving. Even though, in theory, you could do 500 miles in a long day's drive, you might find that your personal cap is 300 miles. Knowing this about yourself will help you plan better.

ya i wasnt totally sure because ive only ever driven one the freeway once and it was for like an hr 1/2 maybe 2 hours and I could have kept going, I don't get tired when I'm behind the wheel. I don't really enjoy driving too much in the dark so I guess that is something to consider also.

Oh ya! I have another question, I went on map quest and got directions and maps and it said there isnt anythin I can do to avoid toll routes.. is that true? and if so how much does it usually cost??

First of all, regarding tolls, you can't avoid them completely because all of the border crossings in the Niagara area involve crossing toll bridges. They'll cost about $2. Any other toll routes could be pretty easily avoided.

But that's really a tiny detail in a very major project, and honestly, its reflective of the questions you've been asking. I think you will really be much better served by backing up, and restarting how you are coming up with a plan.

Before you start to worry about the costs of toll roads, or how much gas will cost in one direction, or anything like that you need to figure out the basics.

How much time do you have? How much of a budget do you have? and How far can you go and have a good time? And then after answering all of those, figure out where exactly you'd want to go that fits into those criteria.

To me, you haven't figured out any of these questions yet, and until you've answered those questions, most of the little things don't matter.

One more piece of advice. You need to approach this like you have zero experience with this sort of trip, because, that's what you have. That doesn't mean you can't have a good time or have a successful trip, but it does mean there are questions you can't answer. When you say "You don't get tired behind the wheel," it makes me cringe, because you simply haven't driven enough to answer that question. 2 hours of freeway driving will have you no more prepared for a 3000 mile trip than 5 minutes in a baby pool will have you ready to jump off a 20 foot high diving board.

None of this is ment to discourage you. Its only ment to get you pointed back in the right directoin. Short trips down the road and cross country roadtrips are two very different animals. While you don't need a wealth of experience to make either one successful, you can't approach the two things the same way and expect to have good results.

Okay.. The basics: ~=approximately
~10-14 days (it all depends on our parents exactly how long)
~$1500-$2000 (all depends on the "little things" like gas,accomidations, toll roads, food {it all adds up})
we want to go to florida or to another big ocean and see everything on the way

I know everyone is suggesting we go on little weekend adventures but no one understands how little time we all have. We're all working part-time jobs, attending school, 1 friend is going to France for 3 months, and I don't have my own car yet, I'm sharing with my mom and its the only car she has.
The only excersion I can see us having which is a weekend thing will be in the beginning of June, before that we'll be too busy.

And I can see your getting fustrated by my types of questions, but I was raised to count my chickens before they hatch, I devise a realistic plan of our trip with all costs, plus extra for accidents and to be cautious since nothing is perfect... and THEN make our bugdet
Hense why I'm asking how much fuel is.. because that will be about $400 of the budget... so our budget has to be large enough to accomidate everything

I appreciate the fact that you're trying to nail things down. A lot of people your age wouldn't be so diligent. It seems you have a good head on your shoulders. This reflects well on your ability to put this together.

Is the $1500-2000 per person? Or the total for everybody?

Did you visit the post on budgeting that I provided a link for? If not, please go there now and do that.

If it's $1500-2000 for everybody, I think your budget might work fine for 10 days as long as you choose the more inexpensive options like camping and eating out of your cooler most meals. I think you might be pushing it for 14 days. But, even for 10 days, that's not a lot of money for 3 people so you'll have to be careful with what you spend. Anyway, go through that post and see what you come up with based on what all 3 of you want to do on this trip.

This exercise should give you a good idea of what your budget needs to be for this trip. Once you've come up with a tentative budget with a breakdown for lodging, food, gas, entertainment, etc., then you'll have a better idea of the money you will need for this trip and whether this trip will be feasible with the funds you'll have.

In fact, let's do some of it here:

You previously said: "From my town to Florida is 1335.8 miles. I checked my car online and it says it has an average of 32 mpg and I went on gasbuddy.com and saw the average prices were around 2.30 but I wanted to be safe and said 2.50. My results were it would cost $104.36 in fuel. Does that sound about right?
But I didn't calculate any stops or anythin.. B/c we aren't sure about extra driving that doesnt involve straight freeway drivin, how many extra miles should I add?"

If the 1335.8 miles is accurate, than you need to double-that for the round trip. Then I would add at least 25% for the extra miles, but I feel more comfortable with 33% more miles. So 1336 x 2 + 33% = 2845 miles (if my quick math is right). I would figure that you'll get closer to 25mpg because the manufacturer's estimates are usually a bit on the high side and because of the extra passengers and baggage you'll be hauling. Since you'll be traveling in the summer when gas prices are high, I'd estimate $3.00 per gallon. It probably won't be that high but I always estimate high myself. It's always better to have too much than not enough, right? This comes to about $350 so rounding up to $400 is good and gives you a lot of breathing room in that part of your budget.

Lodging: If you camp every night, you'll probably average about $25/night. $25 x 14 = $350. But it sounds like one of your friends doesn't want to camp every night. Hotel prices really vary. A more inexpensive chain like a Motel 6 might be $45-55/night for 3 people in some locations, and closer to $80-90/night in other locations. So if you plan your hotel stays away from cities or tourist attractions, you will get a lower rate. Just as a ballpark estimate, let's say you will average $80/night for hotels and that you are going to do hotels every 3rd night to please your non-camping friend. In 14 days, that means you will be staying in hotels for 4 nights and camping 10 nights. 10 x $25 = $250. 4 x $80 = $320. 320 + 250 = $570. So let's round that up to $600.

Food: There are huge variables here. Are you eating out of a cooler some meals? Or restaurants? If restaurants, are we talking fastfood places? Or do you want to eat out in a nicer place once in awhile...especially someplace that has good local cuisine? I typically only eat in a restaurant once every 2 days, eating the rest of my meals from my cooler. But, when I do eat in a restaurant, it's usually a bit on the high-end. I'd rather eat out less often but then eat well when I do. We're all different. If you're into fastfood (since many teens are, I'm guess you all are, too), then 3 meals per day x $5 per meal x 3 people = $45/day. But you should add extra into this for a few snacks and fluids. So I'd figure another $10/day for extra drinks (try to drink some water and not just pop). That's $55/day. Let's round it up to $60 for some leeway. $60 x 14 = $840

When I travel, I figure $10/day for food out of my cooler. I replenish at grocery stores, not mini-marts, because it's cheaper and has a better selection. I fill my cooler with cheese, crackers, protein bars, sliced lunch meats, bread, condiments, tuna, fruit, veggies, pop, and lots of water. I probably don't really spend $10/day but, again, I like to estimate high. I then budget myself $30-40 every 2 days for those nicer meals. I actually put the meals more in my entertainment budget than my food budget. But, that's just what works for me. So, my food budget over 14 days would only be $140 but I would add about $280 to my entertainment budget for nice meals out. (Remember, these figures are just for one person.)

Anyway, I figure you could all eat out of a cooler for about $12-15/day if you plan on doing what lots of folks do and eat 2 meals per day out of the cooler, but then eat out one meal per day. You can eat at fastfood places for about $5-7 per person. Mid-range places like Denny's will be more like $10-12 per person. If you're thinking Denny's type of places, you're looking at about $36 for all three of you plus $15 for the cooler food for $51/day. $51 x 14 = $714 per day.

See how it varies? Only you and your friends can pin these numbers down based on how you intend to eat.

Gas: $400
Lodging: $600
Food: $714-840
Total: $1714-$1840

And this doesn't even include money for fun/entertainment, emergencies, souvenirs, etc.

I hope this gives you a better picture of how to figure your budget and helps you understand why we think you're putting the cart before the horse a bit.

Also, re the driving...Michael's also right here. You can't compare a short drive on the highway to a multi-day roadtrip to figure how tired you'll get driving. Based on the inexperience you all have with driving, I would take a guess that 6 hours per day is probably the maximum you should drive. I would plan on breaking that up into three 2-hour chunks. After 2 hours, plan a rest break...maybe a stop at some place you want to explore. Or, at the least, a meal break. At this rate, it would probably take you at least 3 days, probably 4 days, to make it to Jacksonville. Would this work for you and your plans? I really don't think you should try to do it quicker.

I just don't think that a long roadtrip is the time to get your first real experience on the road. However, if it's impossible for you to get out and do some practice roadtrips, then you need to plan for your inexperience while on your trip. This doesn't mean you shouldn't go. It just means that you need to factor your inexperience into your plans. This definitely means laying out a plan where you pace yourself because there are few things more dangerous than a fatigued and stressed inexperienced driver on the road. And, without experience, you may not recognize when you hit your limit. So schedule adequate rest stops in.

Please continue asking questions. That's what we're here for. We're certainly not trying to discourage you. We're just trying to help you think realistically so that you end up having a fantastic roadtrip and will want to do more in the future, rather than ending up having a rotten time and then not wanting to do one again. Hope that makes sense.

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