Athens, Ga to San Francisco & Seattle

[arinisticalism]

Hello.

Alright, here's the skinny. Two friends and I are planning a roadtrip for next summer. We're planning on leaving from Athens, Ga and driving to San Francisco, Ca to hang out for a few days. Then we want to drive to Seattle, Wa and see what's going on there. We plan to head back to Athens from Seattle. We've gathered an approximate amount to plan on spending on gas [$800-$900] but we aren't really sure about anything else.

So, my questions are:
1. How much should we plan to spend per person daily on food?
2. How much should we plan to spend on hotels and whatnot?
3. What are some things we should see while in San Francisco and approximate costs?
4. What are some things we should see in Seattle and approximate costs?

I know I'm asking a lot, but I really hope some of you senior road trippers can help us rookies out.

Thanks in advance!

_arin/kristi/maduh

[lhuff]

Greetings arinisticalism!

Your trip sounds like a blast. While not exactly a senior I consider myself a sophomore in the great adventure of road tripping. Now keep in mind that I'm rather cheap when reading my advice.

Food - when roadtripping I tend to carry an ice chest full of drinks that I purchase before the trip and carry a tupperware box of nonperishable foods like crackers, tuna, vienna sausages, Cheerios, etc. I'll often forage for breakfast and lunch out of my box unless the hotel offers a continental breakfast. So all I'm ever out is supper - I usually spend about 10-15 dollars on supper.

When stopped in a city for a day or two, however, my food expense increases to upwards of $30 a day per person as we explore the culinary delights of our destination.

Hotels - I balk at spending more than $60 a night for two people - granted I'm talking Motel 6 and Super 8, but I've never found my accomidations lacking. However, I don't carry a computer with me and generally view hotel rooms as nothing more than a bed and tv and am very happy when my room has a door handle and the remote is not screwed to the nightstand (true story = New Orleans = very long and troublesome night).

San Francisco - book your hotel room in advance by at least a month - I finally found a halfway decent room within walking distance of Fisherman's Wharf for $80 that had a parking garage. That was the least expensive room that I found in San Francisco proper.

I suggest (again booking ahead at least a month) a trip to Alcatraz. I think it was $20 per person, but it was well worth it. My sister and I spent the rest of our time there on foot exploring China Town, Nobb (sp?) Hill, Washington Square, etc. We got a map from our hotel and just started wandering and had a fabulour time.

Seattle - can't help you there, but there are several posters that live in the Northwest that should be able to give you good tips.

Let us know if you have anymore questions!

Laura

[arinisticalism]

Thank you so very much! We're cheap, too. =) We do intend to book ahead [Kristi and I are verry plan-ahead-or-you'll-die kind of people]. I'm going to print out what you wrote and put it in our plan book. Again, thank you- very helpful.

[dj toast]

Hiya.

I'll just echo the point above: If you plan to visit Alcatraz while you're in San Francisco, (which certainly is high up the list of things to consider) you absolutely WILL need to book it in advance: the ferries that take visitors there are always booked at least a few days ahead. When we went there were large numbers of disappointed folks who'd turned up hoping to go that day whose fun was limited to cursing those of us who did have tickets.

Have fun, whatever you end up doing!

[cool]

Hi there,
Shop in Costco(if you have membership) wherever you go. I generally take a map of costco location where I go. You cannot survive on McD's or BG all the while, so, save money where you can.
lhuff has a point there. Find a hotel in SF with parking. SF is best viewed in anything(local buses, muni, trollys) but not car.
The pier area, Union square, china town, Baker beach, Coit tower, Golden Gate, Alcatraz, Muir woods, Golden gate park, twin peaks, 49 mile drive are a few places you can hang out in SF.

Space needle, Pioneer square(old Seattle underground tour), Pike's market are a few places to see in Seattle.

I've never stayed in SF. But when I visited Seattle, we stayed at Everett(30 miles north of Seattle). Saved a few bucks there.

Hope these help!

have fun, planning!
cool

[arinisticalism]

Hey everyone.
I've posted once before a couple of months ago, but I really need some help again.

Here's the skinny- two friends and I are heading out to California in June so we can see some of the U.S. and all before we're heading off to college and we basically know nothing about the western side of the U.S.

We know we're going to San Francisco and Seattle, but that's it.

So, what are the need-to-see things in between Georgia and San Francisco and also in San Francisco? We're hoping for a lot of suggestions. We're going to Alcatraz and the Grand Canyon, but we want to do much, much more.

Please help us rookies out!

Thanks!
arin

[PNW Judy]

How much time do you have for this trip? Budget? Interests? Those are just a few of the questions we would need answered to even begin to help you out with this.

I suggest that you get a good US map, lay it out, check out the different routes from Georgia to San Francisco. Look at the things listed along each route like cities, national parks, and other points of interest, and determine which route has the most things on it that appeal to you. Then do the same for the San Francisco to Seattle route. Then for the Seattle to Georgia route.

From Georgia to SFO: You can do the southern route of I-10, or go part of the way on I-20 before you will need to go south to I-10 or north to I-40, or you can do I-70, or any combination of the above. The choices, really, are endless.

From SFO to Seattle: You can do I-5 and see mountains, or 101 to see the wonderful coastal areas (my preferred route), or a combination of the two.

The ways from Seattle back to Georgia are, again, almost endless. Lots of choices.

So, you see, it's not so easy to say do this, then do that.

[arinisticalism]

We've got three weeks for the trip, we're planning on spending anywhere from $4-6,000, and we're interested in everything. We'll probably do a combo of I-10 & I-20 because we've been on both of them and know where they begin in Georgia. So sites and must-see's along those routes would be much appreciated. I'm digging the idea about the map, I will definitely jump on that as well.

Thanks!

[cool]

We've got three weeks for the trip, we're planning on spending anywhere from $4-6,000, and we're interested in everything. We'll probably do a combo of I-10 & I-20 because we've been on both of them and know where they begin in Georgia. So sites and must-see's along those routes would be much appreciated. I'm digging the idea about the map, I will definitely jump on that as well.

Thanks!

Hi,
Get yourself a AAA membership(if you don't have one already). You are travelling a long way and you will need a backup. Their maps are very helpful too. Pick up any SF/OR/ WA tourbooks. They will have a list of all the places and you can choose where you wanna go from there.

If you have the time, try to cover OR coast over to Washington. Its beautiful!
Try to camp in some of the parks. That saves you money and you get to be close to the place. If you pick a park with showers(most parks do), you can save big time. For camping, try this

We've tried sleeping in the car over interstates(in the rest areas, of course). It may help you save a few bucks. But you will need a fresh shower and a bed afterwards.
Is Vegas/L.A in your agenda?

Have fun!

[arinisticalism]

There will be two 18 year olds and one 16 year old on this trip so we were planning on leaving Vegas out.

Thanks so much to "cool" for the idea about getting materials from the places we plan on staying, that thought hadn't even crossed my mind!