Student US trip all over US alone

Hey guys

I would like to ask for your help, as I am in the planning stage of my trip

Some details before the plan: First time traveling to the US, as I have enough funds for 2 weeks trip, renting cars here and there( more on that later) and hostels mainly for meeting people. I would travel alone, and the plan below is based about what I have heard about US, so I am looking for some help to make sure that at least it is roughly right.

Car Rentals: I am 21, so I can rent only the likes of a Ford Focus class car, and a bit above maybe, but I would be happy with a that big car. As you will see, I will take rounds for a good reason: If I rent a car and take it back, for 4 days it will be like £170 ish including young drivers "You are a lunatic" drivers fee. If I would drop it at a different location,we are looking at £500....

The plan is, I fly from Leeds to Amsterdam, there to Boston and then New York at the end of March, so this is where it begins.
I plan to spend a dayish or less there as I will be back there at the end of the trip again.
From New York, I would take the train, go to Washington DC, White House etc.
I would rent a car (Ford Focus class from Hertz, I am 21) and go to Toronto ( I know a long drive), spend a day or two there with my friend, then drive to Chicago, with a break in Detroit. I would like to check Chicago out more than Detroit, although if Detroit is interesting then let me know.
From Chicago I would go to Colombus, stay there for a night, go through Pittsburgh, then back to Washington. Drop the car, get on a plane, fly to Las Vegas. Rent a car there as well, go to Grand Canyon, Death Valley, then go to Fresno or Bakersfield to sleep ( maybe stay a night in Las Vegas between Grand Canyon and Death Valley). Check Yosemite, go to San Francisco. A night there, then drive down to LA. Spend a few days there as well, then go do Las Vegas.

And now this is a question here, as It would be a good thing I think. Go to Miami/Orlando, drive around there for 2-3 days, go to beaches, have fun. Then I fly back to New York and have there

The plan is vague and for many reasons. First, this is my rough plan.
Secondly, I do not want to over plan it. So I would like to pin point out the things where I should go, then get the plane tickets in the US flexible so I can change it if I would like to, as for example I enjoy Miami that much that I would like to stay there for more days, then take away few days from New York.

This drip would be easy to do in 14 days, Miami might be a bit of a stretch.
What do you think, is it a good plan to begin with? Would you change a lot on it?

Welcome to the RTA Forum!

I'm honestly a little confused about your plan. The biggest question for me is your timeline. You make it sound like you want to do all of this in 14 days?

If that's the case, then you're going to have to dramatically cut back. Even if you could be awake 24 hours a day, you wouldn't have time for everything you listed.

But at another point in your post you talked about renting a car for 4 days - are you talking about for the DC-Toronto-Chicago-DC portion of your trip? Because if that's the case, again, You're severely underestimating the amount of time you need. You need more than 4 days just to safely drive between those points, much less hope to see anything in those cities and other cities in between.

You also contradicted your age. At one point you said you are under 21, but at another point you said you are 21. That really is a big difference when traveling in the US. With most companies, you're not allowed to rent any car until you are at least 21, but that's not the only area where it matters. Las Vegas, for example, is a city that is very difficult to enjoy if you're not at least 21, as you aren't allowed in any of the casinos, and most hotels in Vegas won't even rent you a room unless you are 21 or older.

It's good to dream big, and you can certainly build a plan that leaves you lots of flexibility, but at some point, you've also got to keep the scope of reality into play. The US is a huge country, basically the size of all of Europe, so it can be easy to underestimate just how much time it takes to get around. I think your next step really needs to be to sketch out a realistic day by day plan, so you can get a handle on what is actually possible to do. Once you're actually on the road, you don't have to stick to it, but it should help you understand that "a day or two here" and a "few days there" starts to really add up quickly, especially when you factor the time it will take you to get between all the places you want to go.

Hi

yeah, the timeline is not completed at all, I am aware of it and yes I am 21 years old, I edited my post. I should do a bit of proofread before I post

The main plan was divided into 2x 1 week= 1 week for DC loop and another one was the Las Vegas loop.
Then I tried to manage the Miami part in, and yeah, I squished in everything. I think Florida will be cut off this time around.

Okay, that is a good idea, I will start to work on it, plan the trip as 1-1 week, then I will see what happens when I will be there

I was traveling through Europe, although Europe is much smaller, you can basically drive through it in around 16 hours whereas US would take roughly 44 (info by Google Maps)

I am not too worried about the final plan, as there are 7 month left, although I will buy the New York tickets shortly, so at least I will know the dates I can plan between

I will post the updated plan here soon!

I'd have to agree with Michael, you need to get a more realistic idea of how far things are and how long it all takes. Forget about Miami. You may be able to work it so that you can spend a week in the North east and a week around Las Vegas.

Since you are in the early stages of planning, it would be a good idea to get some good paper maps, which show you the country and distances. If good detailed maps are not available locally, I recommend you purchase a Rand McNally road atlas, from the RTA store at the bottom of this page. It will give you not only a great overview of the States and cities you want to visit, but most of the attractions in those areas as well. If you order it now, you will have it in a couple of weeks.

You can work out the distances via various routes on the computer, but be aware that computer mapping software times are not realistic, nor to be trusted. To get a good idea of how long it will take, calculate that you will cover 55 miles per hour (that includes all essential stops, fuel, food, traffic congestion, road construction, etc.) when travelling on the high speed interstates. Reduce that by 5 miles when travelling on secondary highways.

Check out hostels here. The places you wish to go have many fine hostels, and lots of them run budget tours especially for the cash strapped young traveller. Make good use of them. Besides meeting other travellers, you can often share in community meals and nearly all of them have coffee and tea on tap 24/7.

In New York City I highly recommend the HI on Amsterdam Ave. It is no where near the cheapest but it is by far the safest and best. With 600 beds, it is always full. Bus at the door, subway half a block away, a couple of blocks from Central Park. However, you do need to book. In fact when I was there last, they told me that they book a dozen or so over the capacity, to cover for those who do not turn up.

Lifey

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Originally Posted by NefosUK

I was traveling through Europe, although Europe is much smaller, you can basically drive through it in around 16 hours whereas US would take roughly 44 (info by Google Maps)

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Keep in mind as you plan, Google map times can't be trusted for long distances trips in the real world, as they don't factor any stops/slowdowns/etc. You need to figure your actual travel time to be about 20% longer.

As an aside, I'm curious as to what you are defining as "europe" when you say it can be driven in 16 hours. Even London to Rome is much farther than that, and that doesn't even come close to say, Madrid to Moscow.

One final note, in the future, please don't edit your post after someone has responded to it, it makes it more difficult for others to read in the context of the thread.

We look forward to seeing what you come up with for your plan.

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Originally Posted by Midwest Michael

Keep in mind as you plan, Google map times can't be trusted for long distances trips in the real world, as they don't factor any stops/slowdowns/etc. You need to figure your actual travel time to be about 20% longer.

As an aside, I'm curious as to what you are defining as "europe" when you say it can be driven in 16 hours. Even London to Rome is much farther than that, and that doesn't even come close to say, Madrid to Moscow.

One final note, in the future, please don't edit your post after someone has responded to it, it makes it more difficult for others to read in the context of the thread.

We look forward to seeing what you come up with for your plan.

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Yea, you are right. I will have a 9 hours trip on Wednesday, including a 3 hours ferry, so that will be a good comparison

Basically Budapest to Paris. Yes, there is Easterner Europe, and there is countries up north ( side note: I have been in Finland and the country and the people are absolutely gorgeous, that is a plan for 2017) but for me, that is the first thing that comes to my mind for a cross Europe trip.

The reason why I edited that post is simple, if someone new looks at the post he does not get confused. I do understand your point though, as I will not edit my replies

As an updated plan looking thing, that is still vague:

I looked at the planes, at it lands in Boston first, then I would get a connection to New York. So I got an idea:
I will start in Detroit. I take a look around in Detroit, if I like it I will stay there for a night, if not, I go to Chicago. (Day 1 or Day 2)
After a night in Chicago. From Chicago I go to Columbus via Indianapolis. it is 5 hours drive, let say 2x 3 hours drive ( including stops) that is not bad I reckon.
From Colombus, I drive to Cleveland (2hrs) check the Rock Hall of Fame, drive to Niagara Falls, and then Toronto. It is a lengthier drive but I will stay in Toronto for 2 days. From Toronto I drive to Detroit, drop the car, fly to Los Angeles on Day 6, if I stay for a night in Detroit.

After a night in LA on Day 7 I drive to Las Vegas, spend a night there,Day 8 I visit Grand Canyon, Spend the night in Phoenix, back to LA. Day 9, I go to San Francisco. Day 10 Yosemite, back to San Francisco. Day 11, drive back to LA, drop car, fly to Washington DC. Day 12, after a day in the Capital, I take the train to New York, spend 2 days there. on Day 15, go to Boston, fly back home.

I can fly back a day or two later, it does not need to be a strict 14 days.

What do you think about this plan?

Next thing will be the math and dates. I need to look for the best flights, hostels, car rental services so on, and that will need loads of research but I am confident that I can keep to this plan, give or take a few days here.

Honestly, I don't think your plan is much better.

In fact, I think the western portion of your trip is significantly worse, as it's not only impossible how you've laid it out, but it really doesn't make any sense at all - as you're doing a ton of backtracking.

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,Day 8 I visit Grand Canyon, Spend the night in Phoenix, back to LA.

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First off, Just for the driving, that's nearly 900 miles! So, even if you ignore the completely unsafe 17 or so hours it would take for this drive, how on earth do you think you'd have time to see the Grand Canyon too?

And then there's the matter of why would you be going back to LA at all? Similarly, from LA, I have no idea why you'd try to drive from LA to SF one day (basically going right past Yosemite in the process), drive out to Yosemite the next, then head back to SF, before doubling back down to LA again.

I find this especially puzzling because in your initial post, you followed a much more logical path of making this trip a loop. To hit all the places you mentioned, you'd want to go LA - Grand Canyon - Vegas - Yosemite - SF - LA. You could hit Phoenix before GC, if you really want to go there, but it doesn't look like you'd planned to stop there anyway, so I wouldn't bother with the significant detour to get there.

In both of your trips, it seems like you've started thinking about drive times, but you haven't given yourself much, if any time to actually see the places you'll be visiting.

In the first half, I'm not clear on if "day 1" includes your international flight. If it does, you absolutely should not consider driving to Chicago, in fact, you shouldn't even plan to do much in the way of exploring Detroit. After traveling for nearly 24 hours, the last thing you should do is be getting in the car for a long drive.

But from there, on your current plan, say you leave Detroit on day 2, you'd have just a half day in Chicago, a half day split between Indy and Columbus, and just a few hours at most in Cleveland, before getting to Toronto. That's not much payoff, for a whole lot of time spent in the car. As you see, that's really a theme throughout your entire trip. Even if you make it work, I think you're going to be pretty severely burnt out by the end of your trip.

Again, I understand the desire to "see everything" but I really think you're in danger of doing a trip where you are trying to do so much, that you don't end up getting to enjoy anything!

Actually, taking a second look at your plan, I didn't notice you mentioned "spending a night in Phoenix, however, it doesn't really change the larger point.

Going from Vegas to Phoenix in one day means you won't have nearly enough time to make a stop at the Grand Canyon worthwhile. I mean, you could stop, take a quick look, get back on the road, and claim you've been there, but you won't really have seen it. It deserves at least a half day of your time.

Similarly, in my initial read of your post, i thought you were going out to Yosemite for a night, and now I read it as you're planning on making it a day trip from SF? Again, you wouldn't even be making it worth your time. By the time you factor the more than 8 hours you'd be in the car to get there, you won't have time left to actually enjoy the park at all.

I'll also note that you seem to be extremely hopeful on both of your flight days, by starting in Toronto before flying out of Detroit, and even worse, by leaving from SF for a flight out of LA. That's a lot of driving, on days where being late could be a very expensive mistake! I'd say you'd have to leave SF at least 12-13 hours before your flight is scheduled to leave LA to account for the high likelihood of traffic. And that means, even if you find a red eye leaving late out of LA, getting into DC the next morning, you'll have to leave SF very early in the morning.

Chicago is a FABULOUS city. I'm not sure a day would do it justice. Just the food alone is a temptation to stay longer. Museums and the "Miracle Mile" of Michigan Avenue are amazing. Good thing to cut out Miami. I live in Florida and the beaches in Miami are NOT nice and it's a huge city. Sarasota, Siesta Key, or the Tampa Bay area are much more entertaining, in my opinion.

Okay, I am back with a plan

it will be spring 100% so my plans will not clash with any internship I might do over the summer.

A generic plan that I can keep easily

Day 0/1: flying from Leeds to Toronto
Day 2/3: Toronto
Day 4: Flying to New York
Day 5/6: New York
Day 7: Flying to Los Angeles
Day 8: Spend a full day in LA
Day 9: drive to San Francisco
Day 10: Yosemite, sleeping in Fresno (or nearby)
Day 11: Drive through Yosemites, sleep in a hotel in the desert
Day 12: drive to Las Vegas, Las Vegas trip
Day 13: drive to LA drop car
Day 14: fly to Toronto
Day 15: fly home


As you see I cut out most of east trip, California trip is rationalized, with 4-6 hours drive per day, and trying to do 1 thing per day, either travel or being a tourist.

It is not exactly 2 weeks, although it really depends when can I get tickets in good price, if it is 14 days only, then NY will be cut out too

Some explanation:
The reason why I dont fly like UK-> LA-> Toronto -> UK is plane tickets. One way tickets are more expensive than return ones, and it works out cheaper
I would be able to fly to LA straight away and back as well, but that part will be based on my math, so which option would be cheaper

This plan would be a general plan that I can keep, as there might be events that I want to attend that time around, that might not be advertised now, but then again at least I will have a plan to change

Does this plan sounds roughly good enough?

That definitely sounds much more doable.

Did you get hold of some maps or a road atlas? That will show you how many other attractions along those routes at which you may choose to make stops.

A good atlas, as adviced above, will probably last you many decades, and it's value cannot be overestimated.

Lifey

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Day 9: drive to San Francisco
Day 10: Yosemite, sleeping in Fresno (or nearby)
Day 11: Drive through Yosemites, sleep in a hotel in the desert
Day 12: drive to Las Vegas, Las Vegas trip
Day 13: drive to LA drop car

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Please realize that the only route to use, to get from LA to SF in one day, is I-5. If you had been planning to see the coastal route, it's a 2-day trip. That's because it's a 2-lane road, very curvy, but very scenic too. I-5, not so scenic, but it will get you there in a day.

Yosemite to Las Vegas is also a pretty full day on the road. If you are traveling and overnighting on a weekend, you will want to find lodging reservations.

Las Vegas to LA is usually around a 4-5 hour trip, as long as you aren't trying to do it on a Friday or a Sunday. Then it might be 5-6 hours.


Donna

Yes, this plan is much improved. However, there are still a few things I'd suggest and/or you need to keep in mind.

If you're planning to drive from LA to SF in one day, that means you're not going to have the opportunity to drive along the scenic Pacific Coast. Based on how little time you have planned in SF, I'd suspect you'd want to stick to I-5, the fastest way to make this trip - even that will be about 7 hours, plus traffic delays.

Since you say this trip will happen in spring, that means it's most likely the Tioga Pass will be closed, and that means there is no direct way to get from Yosemite across the sierras to "the desert." You're going to have to go around the Sierras, via the Bakersfield area.

With your timeline, I'd suggest you spend the night of the 9th in SF, and then spend most of the 10th day in the city, leaving for Yosemite in the afternoon. Spend the 10th just outside of Yosemite, say in Mariposa (or even inside the park if you can afford it). Spend the 11th touring Yosemite, and stay just to the south of the park, think Oakhurst or maybe as far as Fresno (It will take you about an hour to drive just from the Yosemite Valley to the towns outside the park like Mariposa and Oakhurst, The Valley to Fresno is 2+ hours). The 12th, drive to Vegas (another 7-8 hours). The 13th explore Vegas, and head back to LA in the afternoon. You might look to fly directly from Vegas to Toronto, which would save you some much needed time, although it could cost more, especially for the car rental.

just a quick update

the day to day planning phase is on hold for now, as now I realized that I missed a very important step:
I have not asked question about the trip yet. The plan you see above is really a generic plan, but I think it is time to ask some question from myself/google of the likes of:
What do I want to see in LA/SF/LV? What things these cities holds that are interesting for me?
Is there any event around that time that I want to watch?
Who do I want to meet? I will be on the other side of the globe, I might as well make it useful
What opportunities I can get there for my university? for example being and exchange student in UCLA, or other universities, and I would be able to visit those personally
And other questions over the next few days. I think I get myself a logbook, where I can write down my ideas and questions and wishes, so I can spend time useful.
It also might mean (probably will) that my original plan will not work out, but at least I have now a general list and idea that 8 hrs /day driving is not a viable option
I will be back in a few short weeks with a post with actual details

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Originally Posted by NefosUK

That opportunities I can get there for my university? for example being and exchange student in UCLA, or other universities, and I would be able to visit those personally
And other questions over the next few days. I think I get myself a logbook, where I can write down my ideas and questions and wishes, so I can spend time useful.

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Be sure you mention all these things when you apply for a visa or visa waiver program. If you should be one who is stopped for inspection (happens to all of us sooner or later), and documents to this affect are in your luggage without having mentioned them on your papers, you stand the risk of being refused entry.

Tourism means tourism..... not doing research on universities. Contact your local embassy to be sure.

Lifey

So a veeeery late update

First of all the bad news: this did not happened... yet

Long story short, my life changed a lot.I am about to set up my first small business (it will be a webshop) so realistically i could not afford an US trip yet. But, I got an Italian girlfriend, and I made an Italian trip to test!

It was my first time abroad "alone" (eg not with parents or a group) and I was surprised how amazing it was. I had some rough plans, and I was able to go wherever I wanted whenever I wanted, and it made the whole week a joy.

Secondly: car renting and driving. I rented a Citroen C1 ( it is a tiny tiny tiny car, pretty much i was able to touch the rear window from my driving seat) and I drove it 1000 miles in 4 days. There were days when I drove 6 hours. (3 hours daytime and 3 hours nighttime). And I loved it. Most miles were done on motorways, that was interesting with this tiny city car, but I enjoyed both the driving and both the luxury of travelling. Also it was not too expensive, £100 with "premium package" (it was £20 and made my deposit £300 and the excess below £500) and it was an experience. Certainly I would rent a car again if i go abroad. I took the train a few times as well, and they are good if you want to go between 2 big cities, otherwise car was the way to go.

So just to recap and close it down: My life is going crazy in the best way possible, so that means I have no idea what will happen with me in the near future. US trip WILL happen sometimes in the future, if I will have both the money and the time. Thank you very much for everyone for helping, I will let you know how things progress with my US trip.

PS.: if you can, do a road trip around Italy. I was around the Northern part and I had the best week of my life and it was not even terribly expensive

I'm sorry that your trip does not happen. Fortunately, you should have other years down the road where you can make it happen. Renting a vehicle is less expensive in the US if you are 25 or older, anyway, and you'll have more experience in traveling in your local area, to know what you might look for when you make the trip over here.

My parents did a big trip that included Northern Italy about 20 years ago, and raved over it. The only negative comment my mom made was that she really missed her travel trailer -- she and Dad had never done much traveling without one.


Donna

Some good (not.. GREAT) news!
This Christmas I will jump in front of myself and I will surprise myself with a ticket from Dublin-LAX!

so after a year of planning and life sabotaging my life I feel like I am ready (both in person and both my wallet).
Also based on my past trip experience the plan will be mostly loose( not like the daily breakdown I tried) which meant I was doing things I have never thought about.

A few things: I will only go to California this time and not planning to leave it. Idea behind is that after realising that Cali is big (duh) I rather spend a reasonable time there rather than trying to cram everything into a small time. Also I will start working from June with a decent salary so I will be able to afford a later trip if I like US.
Secondly, £350 return ticket to LA? count me in
The time I will spend will be around two week-ish, will depend on flights and the rough plan.
The time is end of march beginning of April, only time I will be able to go anywhere really.
I will create a post here (mods, I will try to make it search engine friendly as well) and I will use this thread to A: document everything from the original "I drive around US in a week" to the final "I will sunbathe on the beach for 2 weeks".
It will include some heavy driving (which I love) and maaaaybe a music festival.

Step 1: Plane tickets (sorted)
First I had to sort 3 things out: How long and exact dates and where
For the how long: I wanted 2 weeks or there around.
As I was planning my trip here (again, thank you very much for everyone for their input) I realised that even though 9 or so days might sounds like a lot, but it is not really, especially in a place that is 2x as big as UK. This also limited the where option, as I want to go somewhere warm (22-24C according to the internet is just perfect) and California sounded like a good place to be and drive a bit.
Exact dates were just playing around Google Flights
Also, Google Flights saved my life. It showed me various options, flights, airlines, dates so I could get a great deal.
Firstly, from GB/Western Europe fly from Dublin. For me it pretty much halved the price and I can go through US border control in Dublin, that means in LAX I will arrive as a domestic flight, so no need to go through border control there.
I had 2 option: WoW airlines (£300) or KLM (£348, both prices return). WoW is a budget airline, which means no onboard food, small baggage allowance but hey it is cheap.
Even though I went with KLM. They are a bit more expensive, but they have larger cabin bags( which is important because I have a larger one already so I do not have to buy a smaller one) and they serve you drinks and food in price.
Dates were sorted by looking at when can I leave uni (term time break), when can I go to Dublin from Belfast, and when does Formula Drift starts (starts 31st of March).
I have bought the tickets with credit card which means I do have a layer of insurance on my plane tickets, which is not bad and yeah that is it I believe.
Now it is time to wait until a few more events pops up (it is too early for most of them to be announced) and maybe a bit of a planning and dreaming!

These days, for continental US flights, there were a lot of folks that bring food on board the plane. Some folks bring food from home, others buy food at the airport and carry it aboard. You have to buy drinks at the airport, at one of the vendors that is between the security gates and the plane gates, but it's available from the food vendors and at the gift shops. Flights within the States rarely have food service! On my last flight, you could smell everything from the hamburgers and French fries to Chinese food, and see folks getting fruit and snacks from purses and carry-on bags.


Donna

Bit of an update:
I am going to stay in a Hostel in West Hollywood (seems like it is a quieter place in a big city which is good) which is 1 hour walk away from Hollywood and Beverly Hills, with bus stops around, also was very cheap
Car is sorted through Silver Car (brand new Audi A4 for the same price as a Ford Fiesta or similar) from 3rd to 7th, which is long enough that I can go anywhere in California where I want with a rough plan. (to give a scale how long I am willing to drive, around I am alright with 1500 miles or so)
then I will have a few more days, which will be just to enjoy somewhere.
Music Festivals (or concerts as matter of fact) are scrapped, as they are terribly expensive, and I am not going to for a luxury trip anyways. My main goal is to relax and chill for 2 weeks

As you saw, this is a really long plan, brewing for a year or so, including countless night playing car simulator games "discovering" Cali. I cannot be more excited

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Originally Posted by NefosUK

I am going to stay in a Hostel in West Hollywood (seems like it is a quieter place in a big city which is good) which is 1 hour walk away from Hollywood and Beverly Hills, with bus stops around, also was very cheap.

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If you are planning to stay at the USA Hostel on Schrader, right below the Hollywood Sign, I can heartily recommend it. It is one of the best hostels in the country. I have stayed there many times in the last 18 years. In a great area, accessible to almost everything and a safe district to walk, even at night.

Lifey