Guidance needed! SF/LA/LV etc. circle trip

[Lifemagician]

Rent the car from wherever you can get the best deal. Being in Europe, one of the European consolidators would possibly be your best bet. From what has been reported here on the forum they seem to have good deals.

As to where to stay. I have stayed in Ontario but do not know anything about the other places. If you get through Immigration and Customs speedily, then you would have time to get out of LA before rush hour.

Lifey

[glc]

By the time you get your baggage collected and through customs/immigration and get to the car rental office, you will probably be looking at rush hour. You are kinda between a rock and a hard spot because if you stay near the airport, you will be in morning rush hour the next day. What day of the week will you be arriving?

If you want to try to get out of LA that afternoon/evening, I'd try to get completely out of the valley - perhaps to the Hesperia/Victorville area. That's about 100 miles from LAX via 105/605/210/15. This could possibly take several hours. If you get out early enough and beat the worst of the traffic, you could try to make it to Barstow. The closer to LA you are, the rougher the morning traffic will be.

I would look at a European consolidator such as carhire3000.com for getting the best rental rate. I would make sure that whatever company you go with has an airport shuttle.

Another option would be to take a shuttle to a near-airport hotel, then pick up the car the next morning and wait till rush hour is mostly over before leaving. This would not get you to the GC before sunset though.

Victorville to the GC is about 7 hours.

[Mark Sedenquist]

What if we, on the first day, drive to the outskirts of LA instead of just checking in to a hotel straight away.

It's not really that good an idea. You are flying in from Sweden and you need to get a good night's sleep before starting your road trip.

GLC was answering as I was -- Seriously, the LA rush-hour isn't that big a deal. It's part of the road trip adventure anyway. You just go with the flow -- the nice thing about rush hour is that you can look around a bit more -- when the traffic is flowing at 65 mph+ it's not wise to be looking around except at the traffic lanes.

Now... one advantage of picking up a car at a non-airport location is that fees might be less -- but not as convenient for dropping it off later.

Mark

[Lifemagician]

Even if you don't pick up at an airport location, you can still drop it at the airport, even in the same city. I have never been charged a one way fee for that. Still, I'd check.

Lifey

[Southwest Dave]

I would collect the car and check in to a nearby hotel and get an early night and get on the road real early the next morning. I find that it works well for me as I'm usually exhausted enough to go to sleep by 9pm [local] after travelling from the UK, but wake at 5 am buzzing with excitement and ready to go. After another day on the road and good nights sleep my body clock is fully adjusted.

[Adam Gerthel]

We're planning on leaving LA on the second day, most likely around 5 am. We'd like to try and avoid the morning rush hour. Would that work? Is it too early?

[kipgliues]

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[Lifemagician]

Hi kipgliues, and Welcome to the Great American Roadtrip Forum.

Thank you for jumping in to help another member, with your first post. It is always appreciated. Should you at anytime have questions of your own, feel free to start a thread and ask.

Lifey