Novices! help needed!!

[stewcra]

Hi everyone, me and my girlfriend have decided we want to travel across America next year. Considering we are complete novices we would like as much advice as you are willing to offer :) We're planning on 6 weeks/2months travelling
Planning on travelling cost to coast, starting on the East coast, and hire a car and drive some of the scenic route, although internal flights are definitely considered for some of the journey!
If anyone could recommend a particular route? Destinations? Car hire companies? Best time of the year to do this? (as i said we are complete novices!) As we both have never been to America before.
Any recommended companies to use?
As much information as possible would be greatly appreciated!!

Thankyou in advance everyone!
Stewart and Kayleigh

[Midwest Michael]

Welcome to the RTA Forum!

Right now, you just aren't far enough along in your planning process for us to start giving you help with Route or Destination suggestions. There's millions upon millions of possibilities in this vast land, and there is really no way for us to even start narrowing down or offering specific ideas until you've got at least a rough plan that includes your own personal must sees. Of course, this site is filled with information and articles that can help you get started.

What I can tell you is that with 6-8 weeks, you've got a nice amount of time to go nearly anywhere in the US. You can even think about doing a big loop around the country. If you do a one way trip, you can expect to see a significant additional fee with your car rental. If you start doing internal flights additionally, you could be looking at multiple one way drop fees, which along with the actual airfare could easily cause your costs to explode. Of course, that's just one of several reasons I probably would not fly - the bigger one is that ever part of the US you fly over is a part of the US you won't get to see or experience.

[DonnaR57]

Welcome aboard RTA!

What I'd suggest, to add to what Michael's already mentioned, is for you to get a good USA map (either from your auto club or a map store). Look over it, see what appeals to you and what doesn't. If you see something on the map that sounds appealing, use RTA and other Internet sites to see if you think it's worth a stop to you. My "must see" list might be totally different from your "must see" list, so it doesn't help to start naming places.

Also look around the forums a little bit, particularly in the Road Trip Reports section. There, you'll find descriptions and photos from other people's road trips. Who knows, you might see something there that will jump out at you as a "must see"!



Donna

[Mass Tim]

That is, the first thing to do is to decide what types of things interest the both of you. From there, you can generate a list of "must-sees" and from there, an itinerary. My preference is for summer travel, as more places I enjoy are accessible. But if you're into, say, skiing, winter would be a more opportune time to go. With two months at your disposal, you could even incorporate a couple of seasons. As an example, in northern New England, mid-August and mid-October can be quite a bit different, and each time has its own pluses and minuses.