New york to miami-the long way round!

[oswaldosborne]

Dear All,

I'm 22 from the UK and next month I'm going to begin my trip around America. Starts in New york on the 30th April, and i fly to south america from Miami on the 8th August.

Have been planning the trip for a while now, looking forward to it a great deal, ports of call along the way include boston,chicago st louis, seattle, las vegas, new orleans, and miami. I'm doing this portion of my trip primerily by myself, but am meeting up with friends on the west coast.

I'm starting to realise the huge distances involved, i think i'll be driving about 9000 miles, and had a few questions to ask of you all:

Is it possible to sleep in my car (stationwagon) at RV sites? / are there better places to park up for the night?

whats a gentle amount of miles to aim to achieve on the days that i'll be driving?

is it possible to drive into mexico? (or safe)

Also if you have any other tips, advice or "Must see" places to add to my journey i'd love to hear them, much better than just reading tourguides!!

Thanks for your interest,

Tom

[Mark Sedenquist]

I'm 22 from the UK and next month I'm going to begin my trip around America. Starts in New york on the 30th April, and i fly to south america from Miami on the 8th August.

Welcome to the Great America RoadTrip Forum! Your route will be the grand circumvention and then some!

I'm starting to realise the huge distances involved, i think i'll be driving about 9000 miles,

Yep, it is the equilvalent of several hundred trips across the UK!

Is it possible to sleep in my car (stationwagon) at RV sites? / are there better places to park up for the night?

If these are private (commercial RV park) parks -- the answer would be no. You can sleep in your vehicle at most county & state parks (unless there are signs prohibiting the practice). Truck stops and hospital parking lots would be better choices.

whats a gentle amount of miles to aim to achieve on the days that i'll be driving?

Generally we don't recommend that first time roadtrippers ever drive more than 500 miles per day. It just gets too fatiguing after a while. These days, I try and limit my mileage to about 350 miles -- but I still do those 750 mile days once in a while.

is it possible to drive into mexico? (or safe)

Are you driving your car or a rental? If a rental, it is likely that the rental contract will forbid it. Lots of tourists drive into Mexico every day. It really depends upon where you are going.

Also if you have any other tips, advice or "Must see" places to add to my journey i'd love to hear them,

Tom, since your route may cross over the Dakotas -- you might enjoy this entertaining field report filed by a fellow Brit from last summer's explorations.

Happy Planning!

Mark

[mole0083]

Hey tom

Me and my friend are planning the same thing as u but for the summer 2007. we also live in the UK. I was just woundering if u have hiered a car or bought one. we are not sure what 2 do. just started to look into it.