First Road Trip

[Mavs97]

Hello,

We are looking into a group of 4 of us doing a road trip (3 drivers) we would like to take in Vegas for 2 nights and potentially start in New York and finish in Hawaii,

What sort of time should we allow for this trip and where should we take in on our way

[Southwest Dave]

Hello and welcome to the RTA forums !

Both your questions go hand in hand and are questions that are not easily answered. You would have thousands of possible routes and attractions to choose from and which of those you "should take in on your way" partly lays in the answer to your other question, how long have you got ? You would need to work out how long you and your budget can manage on a trip like this and work with that. We also know nothing of your interests and the best thing to do at this stage is research and see what appeals to your tastes

You could drive from NY to LV in 5 days, add a couple of days in each City and 5 days for Hawaii and there is a fortnight gone. If you could take 3 months you still wouldn't see everything there is to see, but you would achieve a lot.

So I guess the answer at this stage is between 2 weeks and 3 months and you need to do some research to discover things that appeal to you and bring it all together. We can make suggestions and help to 'Fine tune' your plans but you are going to have to figure out the basics for yourselves before we can be of real use.

There are lots of resources here at RTA, read around the forums and check out the planning tools in the tool bars above.

[Midwest Michael]

Welcome to the RTA Forum!

You need at least 5 days to cover the miles. Beyond that, its all pretty much up to you. Id think you'd want at least 10 days to 2 weeks minimum but if you can take more time, that's great too. Similarly, what to see and where to stop is all a factor of what you are interested in and how much time you have.

[DonnaR57]

Welcome to RTA!

You've gotten two answers, both of them really good. Here's what we do:

We take out a USA map and start pointing at things we'd like to see. I then research them here at RTA, on the websites for the places, and in books and magazines that I own. My husband gets a lot of his ideas from the magazines that he reads, TV shows that he's watched, and movies he likes. If a given area or areas start to show up, we start there.

We realize that we cannot and should not drive more than 500-600 miles a day, and as we get older, more than 2 or 3 days of that kind of marathon driving gets a bit much. As has been mentioned, crossing the country is a 5-6 day drive. (BTW, even with 3 drivers, driving that number of miles is what's recommended. The more people in the car that you have, the more stops you will make for restrooms, stretches, and it will take you longer at food and fuel stops too.)

Another hint: if you are renting a car, usually there is a maximum of two drivers. After that, most companies add charges for extra drivers. They also add charges if any drivers are under 25 years old.

Donna

[Mavs97]

Thanks !! we will have at least 2 weeks maybe 3, we love Sport, art, music and walking so anything that combines them would be great!!

[noFanofCB]

Um, are you aware that Hawaii is a group of islands and it's not possible to drive to them?

Lumping in a drive from NY to California with a "finish" in Hawaii suggests that this little check might need to be done......

[Lifemagician]

Um, are you aware that Hawaii is a group of islands and it's not possible to drive to them?

Lumping in a drive from NY to California with a "finish" in Hawaii suggests that this little check might need to be done......

When I first read the question as to how much time was needed, I was tempted to post, depends on how fast you can swim.

Lifey

[Mavs97]

well aware of that was thinking of flying from Vegas to Hawaii

[Southwest Dave]

If you end up with 2 weeks it might be worth considering either driving from New York to Vegas, or taking a road trip from Vegas to Vegas [a loop] and then flying to Hawaii and leave one for another time. You technically have time to do your "potential" list, but 2 weeks is the bare minimum I would even contemplate for this trip and with so much to see and do you might not have enough time to fully enjoy your interests.

From New York I personally would look at driving through St Louis [Gateway Arch etc] into Colorado and southern Utah and down through Arizona for some spectacular and diverse scenery with history, walks and National parks aplenty. With 2-3 weeks and Hawaii on my list, I would either do the 'Grand Loop' from Vegas to include Zion, Bryce canyon and the Grand canyon NP's with other attractions such as Lake Powell, Monument valley Sunset Crater, Hoover Dam and perhaps Red rock country around Sedona before flying from Vegas to the Islands.......or drive from Vegas to the coast and fly out to the Islands, possibly Death valley to Yosemite NP to San Francisco and explore the specatacular coast around Big Sur to LA for your flights.

That's just a brief look at A FEW of the possibilities out there and that is why it's important for you to do a little research [or better still a lot] and once you have the basics of your trip sorted we can help to 'Fine tune' and offer meaningful advice.

[Mavs97]

Thanks looking at the map and speaking to everyone on the trip we were thinking of driving down the Pacific Coast, so starting in Seattle, taking in Vegas, San Francisco, LA and San Diego than potentially over to Hawaii so any advice on stops on that route or slightly off it would be great, it's looking like it will be a 3 week trip