honeymoon drive- vegas to NJ

For our honeymoon that will be in the beginning of July we are thinking of flying to vegas then driving cross country back to NJ and see sites and parks along the way. I only have 2 weeks vacation. Is that enough time? We are also on a tight budget too, how much can this all cost?

you renting a car? i have no idea how much that costs but when i drove my nissan pathfinder from seattle to kentucky it cost me about $250 for gas. I think i got about 17mpg if memory serves right. If you have a car that gets better gas mileage, i imagine that would save you some.
Yes two weeks is enough time.
Congratulations!

thanks for the reply, yeah we are going to rent a car - one way since we are flying out somewhere.

I guess we will take advantage of AAA hotel disounts too. And maybe bring some camping equiptment.

[Mark Sedenquist]

The good news is that it is relatively inexpensive to fly to Las Vegas from just about anywhere. The bad news is that Rental Car companies are generally leery of anyone planning to drive more than 300 miles from the rental location without imposing large one-way fees.

It is certainly possible to undertake the roadtrip you have specified, but the rental car cost (with the drop-off fees) might suggest an alternative plan. What about booking a round-trip air fare and using the savings to plot and enjoy a great roadtrip around Nevada, Arizona & California? You could see some wonderful national parks, other scenic places, great nightlife and still have some time to simply "be" . This is your honeymoon and it might be nice to spend some time relaxing and enjoying the flow rather than rushing accross country.

Even though you are not an international visitor, there is a great book about dealing with rental car companies thaty you might find very helpful. It was written by Andrew Vincent and can be found on our International Links page at http://www.roadtripamerica.com/links/international.htm

Mark

thats a great suggestion to just fly out west and tour the area.
I was looking on line for park tour groups that have packages . Can you suggest any? We would love to do rafting and hiking but not to intensive.

You will spend one week just driving back. You will be better off to fly out to Las Vegas, rent a car, tour around and fly back. You will probably find that round trip tickets are cheaper than one way tickets. I also think that rental car agencies charge you more for returning a car at a different point. Something to check on.

From Vegas you could spend the two weeks really seeing the most beautiful areas in the West. Grand Canyon National Park, Canyon de Chelly National Monument, Mesa Verde National Park, Monument Valley Tribal Park, Canyonlands, Arches, there is a fun one day river rafting trip out of Moab, Utah on the Colorado River. Capitol Reef National Park, Scenic Hwy 12 through Escalante-Grand Staircase National Monument, Bryce National Park and Zion National Park (just outside of Zion in Springdale, Utah you can rent intertubes to go tubing in the Virgin River) before returning to Las Vegas. If you find you have time you can also squeeze in Glen Canyon National Recreational Area at Lake Powell. This will fill up two weeks easy and you won't be spending all your time on the road just getting home.

July is pretty hot out in this area in July. We love to camp and everywhere I mentioned has a campground.

Here is a link to my web site that has some pictures:
http://pages.ivillage.com/utahtea2/utahteaswebpages/id23.html

And here is a great web site that has a lot of pictures and information on the areas I mentioned.

http://www.so-utah.com/

Utahtea

You will spend one week just driving back. You will be better off to fly out to Las Vegas, rent a car, tour around and fly back. You will probably find that round trip tickets are cheaper than one way tickets. I also think that rental car agencies charge you more for returning a car at a different point. Something to check on.

From Vegas you could spend the two weeks really seeing the most beautiful areas in the West. Grand Canyon National Park, Canyon de Chelly National Monument, Mesa Verde National Park, Monument Valley Tribal Park, Canyonlands, Arches, there is a fun one day river rafting trip out of Moab, Utah on the Colorado River. Capitol Reef National Park, Scenic Hwy 12 through Escalante-Grand Staircase National Monument, Bryce National Park and Zion National Park (just outside of Zion in Springdale, Utah you can rent intertubes to go tubing in the Virgin River) before returning to Las Vegas. If you find you have time you can also squeeze in Glen Canyon National Recreational Area at Lake Powell. This will fill up two weeks easy and you won't be spending all your time on the road just getting home.

July is pretty hot out in this area in July. We love to camp and everywhere I mentioned has a campground so pack a tent and a couple of sleepingbags.

Here is a link to my web site that has some pictures:

http://pages.ivillage.com/utahtea2/utahteaswebpages/id23.html

And here is a great web site that has a lot of pictures and information on the areas I mentioned.

http://www.so-utah.com/

Utahtea

You might check out "driveaways" - people who need their car driven from somewhere to somewhere else. Do an internet search for "driveaway" - maybe there's someone who needs their car driven from Nevada to the east coast (or near it).

[Mark Sedenquist]

Actually, rather than doing a web-search -- check out the Driveway Resources page we maintain at http://www.roadtripamerica.com/links/international.htm#driveaway

Mark