3 Students Going from NY to ATL to LA!!! Advice Please!

[Tom Bradley]

Myself and 2 mates are planning to drive from New York to Miami and then across the South up to Grand Canyon, Las Vegas and then on to LA with maybe a trip to Tia Juana!!
I have read a lot of the other posts but not sure if there is anyone doing this length of trip.

We have planned to do it in 2 months, hopefully spending a few weeks in Florida and Los Angeles. £4000 each, so about $7200 has been saved for the trip - will our budget be tight and where would you recommend we spend the most of our time, considering we are all 21!! Our flights into NY and out of LA should be about $1400 each leaving us with $5800 for everything else. We are thinking of renting, to help with any break downs and ease, who should we contact for this - looking to get an SUV, 3 of us and baggage could take up some room!!!

How long will it take to do this trip if we were to just visit places like Grand Canyon etc, rather than staying there for any length of time, and how can we best pace ourselves on this trip so we spend the most time where the most fun is to be had. Is TiaJuana worth a visit and if so when is best to go? How long will it take to drive from New York down to Florida stopping to see relevant attractions?

Thanks for any help.

[Robert Schaller]

That's the least expensive rental for an SUV I found, one way, 2 months, JFK to LAX. Renters under age 25 are subject to an additional fee of $71 per day, and this does not include any "insurance" coverages (National Car Rental company through www.travelocity.com). You may find something less expensive if you do a thorough search, but you can see this isn't an inexpensive option and apparently, your budget can't cover this expense.

You can easily cover 400-500 miles in a day of interstate driving, and the entire country can be crossed in 5 days or less.

My suggestion is you purchase a USA Rail Pass through Amtrak, our national rail passenger company. They are available to non-USA citizens for much, much less (a few hundred dollars each for 30 days at a time) and the trains follow your intended route very closely. You could rent a car in specific locations a day or two at a time, wherever you wanted to do some sightseeing off the train route. Bob