Australians coming to America - NY to LA

I have always wanted to travel in America, and feel a road trip is the only way to do it because there is so much I want to see.

So yesterday, rather than study for exams, I decided I would go on googlemaps and find out a rough route of where I would like to go.
the route so far

Being from Australia, and not knowing much about anything American, I had some questions hopefully you can help with!

• Travelling in a rented RV appears to be the way to go, are you able to park these and sleep in them in lots of places?
• Is there a big rental surcharge for being under 25? I am 21, but would plan to go when I am 23-24.
• Would 2 months be plenty of time for this trip? (want to take my time and see the sites, not just do the trip as quick as possible)
• For daily costs, I have accounted Food, petrol, car rental and spending money. Have I missed anything?
• What do you think of the trip, does it look feasible and fun?

Thanks for your help, I'll probably be updating this thread with plenty more questions!

Welcome to the RTA Forum!

I think you've done a nice job of laying out a good basic idea of a plan.

There is just one thing I think you've left off your planning list/budget: camping fees.

If you get an RV, you can "boondock" where you simply park and sleep. However, when you do that you really are limited on what you can do with an RV's features - as you don't have power or water hookups, and using things like generators and slide-outs can be frowned upon. You also really don't have any place to move around at the end of your day.

I guess the other thing to consider is if an RV is the best option for your trip. An RV is generally a fair bit more expensive than traveling with cars/motels - and if you are traveling solo, there is no one to help absorb those costs. Underage fees are normal for a 23-24 year old, and you'll typically be looking at a fee of about $25 per day, although at times you can find deals especially if you look at booking through 3rd party companies based in Australia or Europe.

There will be at least 2 of us, possibly 3 or 4. I had a quick look on a website and saw RV rental for $40 a day, which seems cheaper than cars and hotels could possible be... But I say that with absolutely no experience obviously!
In australia you look at minimum $25 a day for a bomb and hotels around $60-100 for a run down room.

How much would camping fees be?
How far out of the major towns do you have to go to find camping grounds generally? (Pretty much all the places listed we would want to stay for at least 2 nights, so a camping ground would be ideal)

Typically an RV from a reputable company with the extra's added on [not including "one way fee's" or "young driver charges"] would be over $120 a day. Tread very carefully on a website that is quoting you $40 a day. I am not trying to discourage you, I love to travel by RV, but it should be a lifestyle choice and not one based on budget. All said and done, if you can get a group of 4 you are getting to the "break even" point in comparison to a car and Motels cost.

Campground fees can vary from $15 to $60 or more depending on location and facilities. You will get a gas return of around 9mpg which is another major expense to consider and the RV is much more "at home" in the heart of nature than it is in City's where they are not the easiest of things to get around in.

wow ok!
have to rethink the strategy if that's the case.

What would be a good sort of car to rent then, how much would it cost?
Also, how much are hotels? Is a cheapo motel (like from TV where everyone turns up dead) less than $50 for the room a night?

You would need to do a web search to see what deals are around, staying in cheaper chain Motels can get you a decent double room for $50-$60 near Interstate, maybe a little more in the City, and higher again inside [or close to] popular places such as National parks. A mid size sedan car normally has all you would need, but the rental Co websites will give you all the info, including number of people and luggage.

What are some reliable, accurate websites to check for hotel and car rental prices?
Its so hard to find the good ones from the bad!

Almost any place you'd book an airline ticket will also book cars/hotels, so if you have a favorite in that area, that could be a good place to start. You can also look right on RTA by clicking the travel link on the menu bar at the top of the page.

Otherwise, Kayak, Expedia, Travelocity, Orbitz are some of the biggest names out there. I usually work with those to start, and then also look directly at the websites of the car rental and hotel chains.

Thanks for those sites, kayak looks to be a pretty useful one!

i had a quick look at Car rental prices: (for 3 months, Jan 18-April 18)
SUV looks to be 6-7k (jeep laredo)
Van 8k (dodge caravan)
Big sedan - 5 (chevy impala, dodge charger)

but RV rental is 5.5-8
That doesn't include mileage though, which is about $2800+ state tax, however much that is. (from RoadBear on Fetch RV Rental)

Be careful on mileage estimates, because it is very easy to go far over what you might thing you'll do. Even if you are looking at a route that is say 5,000 miles total point to point, you could easily be looking at at trip that's 8,000 miles or more total when you factor in all of the driving you'll do within towns and parks, getting to campsites, etc. If you're paying by the mile, that can get very expensive very quickly.

I will say no matter what you decide to go with, you'll nearly always save money (often a substantial amount) by doing a round trip and with 3 months available, you would have time to do a loop around the entire country.

We would probably plan for 2-3 months, and I would much rather see the country rather than spend the whole time driving, so a round trip wouldn't be something I'm too interested in. I'd rather spend time seeing each place than rush through it all.

Didn't think of the extra mileage that would pop up... I think a big car would be the way to go, like Dave said, easier to get around towns and also cheaper on petrol. Seems to be the way to go!

While the US is a big country, you can make it from coast to coast in a week, so over 2-3 months you really wouldn't be spending the whole time driving or rushing through it even if you did do a loop.

Doing a loop would let you see more different parts of the country, so there are some advantages beyond just the money saving. Its certainly not a must, but it would be something I would consider if I were in your shoes.

How many miles could you go in say, 8 hours (generally, taking into account going through cities and whatnot)

Might be different to what we can do in aus!

If you take Interstate highways, you can cover about 450 miles in 8 hours including brief fuel and bathroom stops. The speed limits on rural Interstates vary from 65 to 80. In urban areas, expect 50 to 65.

I just did the math, 10,000miles (round trip) would be 22 days of 8hours/450miles a day!

You'd want 3 months to make that worthwhile for sure!

For this route what would a good month to start be?
I was thinking starting in February (3 month trip), and doing the south side first (reverse of the order on the map)

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Originally Posted by miked

I just did the math, 10,000miles (round trip) would be 22 days of 8hours/450miles a day!

You'd want 3 months to make that worthwhile for sure!

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It really does depend on your travel style. Many would consider the above numbers to represent a relaxed and comfortable trip with a days drive every 4 days or so, but it's what you want that is important. I also think it is a good idea, you will get to see more of the country and saves adding a lot of miles while doing 'zig zags' up and down the country to hit certain spots.

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I was thinking starting in February (3 month trip),

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My personal opinion would be to start a little later. It can still feel wintry in Feb and if you are planning on visiting places such as Yellowstone at high elevation you will arrive too early for having full facilities and access to many places open, due to winter snow accumulation.
So me, I would be looking to travel late in March/beginning of April at this time of year.

Would that be the best time of year for this trip? (not just better than Feb, but best all round)

Personally, my favorite season to travel is fall, and a 3 month trip starting in Late August/early September would be my choice. The only downside is that you're balancing the end of high tourist season in August with the quick onset of winter in November.

A very close second would be spring with a trip from Mar/April into May/June - with the seasonal issues being reversed. The biggest downside to spring travel is that winter does tend to stick around a bit longer in mountain areas, so there will be some mountain passes and other elevation areas that frequently aren't accessable until at least May if not into June.

I too like to travel in the Fall, but as with everywhere the weather is unpredictable, and with such a large scale trip there would be a lot of variables to consider. As mentioned snow at higher elevations can have effects between Nov into June. Hurricane season in Florida from June to November, which I believe mid August to mid Nov being peak hurricane season. In New Hampshire you can See huge visitor numbers in the Fall for the peak of the foliage season, when 'leaf peepers' come from all over the world.

It's all these variables you need to consider, and how they fit into your plans, but the only guarantee is that you can't guarantee what 'Mother nature' has in store. With the loop you have set out in your map, I would say for a Fall trip under "normal" circumstance, starting and ending in Denver and heading Westward from Denver at the start of September could work well. As Michael said it's a fine balance that is unpredictable and you will have to weigh up the pros and cons.

What areas might not be accessible in a Spring trip?

Problem with starting/ending in Denver, is that flights to LA cost much less! (right now they're $850 or so return, or $1200 to NY for example)

Fall might be better so we would catch the end of MLB, and the start of NFL NBA and NHL, although we would miss all the college sports.

As noted previously, there would be certain areas at high elevation where you could be restricted. The Tioga pass that crosses the Sierra mountains from Yosemite, the Trail ridge Rd in Rocky mountain NP, parts of Yellowstone etc, but that's not to say you can't access certain parts of these areas, or get around OK, plus it can be a wonderful time to visit. If you are starting out from LA [which makes economical sense] in Fall, I would travel clockwise as you have your map laid out, and in Spring it might be better to reverse it, so that you hit Wyoming, Montana, Yosemite etc later in your trip.

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Originally Posted by miked

Fall might be better so we would catch the end of MLB, and the start of NFL NBA and NHL, although we would miss all the college sports.

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What college sports are you thinking you'd miss? The college sports seasons line up pretty close to the pros. College Football starts in August/Sept - just like the NFL, College Hockey starts in October - just like the NHL, and College Basketball starts in November - just like the NBA. The biggest difference is the college season is generally shorter, ending a month or two earlier than the pros.

Right, good point. I didn't know basketball started that early, overestimated how much shorter the seasons were.