US Scenic Route

[Sibust]

I am an 18 year old planning a summer road trip through the US. I live in Ireland, and have never been to the US, but have planned that in summer 2006, me and my mate will take a car from NY to Cali, and back, via the US hotspots.

As i have never been to the US i would be extremely grateful for some US citizens to give me advice on the best places to visit on the way. I plan to go from NY to florida, then on to California via Texas.

Please bear in mind the following details:
- I am 18 (Dont like museums-tho sum i may like)
- Havent got a lot of spare cash
- Time is a factor

Could you also give approximate details as to how long the journey would take. All your help, and ANY suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Thank You.

[PNW Judy]

To go from New York City-Orlando-Dallas-Los Angeles is about 59 hours of driving, just driving no stops. It is about 3650 miles.

There are literally dozens of routes you could take to get to these various cities. Which route someone might recommend is dependant upon what you want to see and do.

Without knowing your timeframe and just what you are interested in, it's really hard to give recommendations. So, since museums aren't really your thing, just what do you want to see? Are you looking for exciting city life and partying? Are you looking for natural beauty like our national parks? Are you into funky, kitschy stuff? When you think of America, what pops into your mind that you'd like to see?

What kind of budget do you have? Car rentals can get expensive. I hope you have adequately planned for those expenses. Also, unless someone in your party is age 25, you will have an extremely difficult time renting a car and, if you can find one, you will be paying a big premium.

This webpage http://www.roadtripamerica.com/links/international.htm at this site should give you some good information to help you get things sorted out a bit.

[Sibust]

I have checked some car rentals and it estimates to be $2000+, which wouldnt really be a good start to the trip. What are second hand dealerships like, trustworthy, good value? The time period for the trip is between 2 and 3 months, so I think it may be a better option to buy a car rather than pay high rental fees, although this too could be extremely costly with insurance.

As you can tell this is just the start of a plan, not thoroughly thought through, but i am hoping that with your help i will be able to get some idea of the cost of the planned trip.

Thanks

[PNW Judy]

Purchasing a car and then selling it has been discussed a lot here. I'm not an expert on it so I can't help you there. Do a search and find the discussions about this. Hopefuly, you'll get some good ideas. Maybe someone else here can point you in the right direction.

If you purchase a car, don't forget to consider buying insurance. It's mandatory and you could receive heavy fines for not having basic minimum coverage. And don't forget to consider extra funds for repairs, maintenace, and gas.

There are also lots of excellent threads here on budgeting for roadtrips. If you do a search and read through these, you'll get a lot of good ideas and you should get advice that will help you nail down your anticipated budget a bit better.