Cross country trip need ideas and hints plz

[landmariner]

Some states issue an EZ Pass to non-residents. The fees by license plate photo result in higher toll fees plus a service fee. All that can add up quickly. For toll road planning you can explore the tradeoffs in extra gas vs shorter toll roads:
https://tollguru.com/
Nonetheless, I would swing widely south of Chicago to I-70 and back-up again to NJ, due to the awful toll roads and traffic in IL.

Your plan almost begs a fly-rail-drive combination. As your plans begs a lot or road time in a short amount of time for the distance to driven, it might be a more enjoyable option to explore alternative options.

It is easy to train from downtown New York City (or the New Jersey suburbs) to downtown D.C. Stopping in Philadelphia along the way is also an option to see some Independence sights. From D.C. you can fly or train to FL (fly from DCA to Jacksonville, FL or Orlando, FL; training has several nearby city options from DC to DeLand-area).

If you are driving, riding the AutoTrain from just south of D.C. (Lorton, VA) to just north or Orlando (Sanford) is an alternative. You pay for the vehicle and the passengers. It is basically a noon to noon 24-hr trip (the train leaves at 3:45p and arrives at 9:00a, but your car needs to be check-in and loading and unloading; dinner and continental breakfast are included).

I love Road Trips. But I have the opposite feeling regarding traffic jams. And NYC and DC are traffic bogs (actually the greater NYC area plus greater DC from Aberdeen, MD to Fredericksburg or Richmond, VA). It is even worse if you run into all weekend beach-related traffic jams at several points along I-95.

NYC and D.C. are great cities. Both have superb museums--NYC mostly paid admission and DC almost all free (Smithsonians). NYC has Broadway, Central Park, deli's; D.C. has museums, monuments, and more.

If you choose a road trip it you might want to start plotting plans on a spreadsheet. My take is that 400 miles can be a long day logistically with 3 teenagers in-tow.

[NowthatIamretired]

I doubt if you will need anything for tolls in Florida. Their system is called SunPass but it seems to be mainly in the Miami area, some in Tampa or traveling their toll road mid state, all which you can bypass if you’re going to Deland. EZPass could make your trip easier, especially if you end up where there’s only electronic tolls and no toll booths but while it’s accepted by many states every states sell their own and I have no idea how the prices work out between different states. Investigate it to see if it’s worth it. Also, you can avoid it on the Virginia side of DC (Maryland side doesn’t have tolls) by paying attention to what lanes you are in, especially on I-95 south. I would highly suggest avoiding the HOV (High Occupancy Vehicles) lanes around DC as they have variable rates and can get very expensive. It’s not unusual to pay up to $18+ for the I-95 south lanes from DC to Fredericksburg. Also avoid I-66 inside the Beltway (I-495) because it is all tolls and ridiculous rates.

[landmariner]

There are tolls all around Orlando, all which honor SunPass and broken stretches honoring EZ-Pass. That is a consideration if going to any of the many entertainment sites around Orlando such as Disney World. The FL turnpike is all a toll road which if you stay around DeLand and Daytona won't be needed. I remove my EZ-Pass (velcro'd to windshield) and place it in an RFID enclosure so I am not double-billed by the SunPass sticker and EZ-Pass.

The most common expressway between NYC/North Jersey to Delaware/MD is the NJ Turnpike, a toll road. Several highways towards the beach in NJ are also toll roads. All, or nearly all, the bridges around NYC are double-digit tolls. Being from rural MT you probably won't like those or city driving!!! Instead of dodging pronghorn the sport is how close can you come to a pedestrian ;)

I doubt if you will need anything for tolls in Florida. Their system is called SunPass but it seems to be mainly in the Miami area, some in Tampa or traveling their toll road mid state, all which you can bypass if you’re going to Deland. EZPass could make your trip easier, especially if you end up where there’s only electronic tolls and no toll booths but while it’s accepted by many states every states sell their own and I have no idea how the prices work out between different states. Investigate it to see if it’s worth it. Also, you can avoid it on the Virginia side of DC (Maryland side doesn’t have tolls) by paying attention to what lanes you are in, especially on I-95 south. I would highly suggest avoiding the HOV (High Occupancy Vehicles) lanes around DC as they have variable rates and can get very expensive. It’s not unusual to pay up to $18+ for the I-95 south lanes from DC to Fredericksburg. Also avoid I-66 inside the Beltway (I-495) because it is all tolls and ridiculous rates.

[NowthatIamretired]

If you find you may need the Florida SunPass, at least it is cheap, only $4.99 for the credit card size that sticks in the window. I even saved when I bought it out of state as they charged me Virginia sales tax, not Florida which is higher. Plus, the tolls in Florida from what I’ve seen are so much less than the DC and Northeast area. Here’s the link if you need info, https://www.sunpass.com/

[Dolivo]

Wow ok you've all given me a lot to think about. My brain is in overload.
Ok so what if we came into the d.c area (or nearby Virginia) and decided to park our car and use the train to go north to New York, stay a day or two, then back down to d.c. with a stop in Philadelphia?
Once in NY, where is the best safe Burrough to stay in for reasonable prices? Or outlying area? Best way to travel there?
Is the train a better idea, both time wise and money wise?

[landmariner]

DC: Some hotels might allow you to park there a couple of days if staying there for a few nights as well. But, if driving a car, you will probably want to stay in the suburbs close to a Metro Line stop. Leaving the car at National Airport long-term parking is another option... just go there during non-rush hour. There is a Metro line to DCA (airport) but you'd better check on the summer maintenance plans.

BWI (Baltimore airport) has long-term parking, hotels with shuttles, and commuter rail service to DC and Amtrak service to NYC and Philly. You could also just take the MARC commuter train to D.C.'s main train station and walk around or hop the metro line to scoot around town. There is also parking at the BWI Rail Station where you could park for the trip to NYC.

NYC: One can often obtain reduced rates in the Wall Street area on weekends. There are also other less expensive options like the "cube hotels" to stay at. The benefit is having subway and access to the main train terminal.

I-95 to DeLand: The interstate is most direct and also very busy, lots of trucks and very bad on weekends. To clear southbound traffic through Richmond on a Saturday, I leave by 5am. That would also be true on Mon-Fri, although at that hour it can be fast and crowded! Other "exit areas" towards the beaches can also become very crowded. Approaching South Carolina, the 3-lane wide northbounds and southbounds neck down to 2-lanes in each direction, which can create some monumental back-ups.

I occasionally drive the southbound trip but take a detour to I-81 to Charlotte and from there go through Columbia, SC, to I-95. I stick to the interstates as the US highways through much of the South are full of small towns, unlike out West where towns are far and few or have a nice By-Pass.

Hang in there... yeah, lots of data to process. Get the kids involved in the process. And map it out using a spreadsheet and map, look at the costs for different options if that is a planning factor.

[DonnaR57]

About the DC Metro....a few hints, learned by experience in summer 2018.

We stayed near the end of the Blue Line. Check with nowthatI'mretired since she seems to know what lines will be affected by the rehabilitation projects. Blue Line is near Springfield. We stayed at one of those places with a kitchenette -- Towne Place Suites in Alexandria. It was about 4-1/2 mile drive to the Blue Line, which had a good parking structure. We tried not to commute in/out with the Rush Hour crowd, so the trains were seldom "standing room only". Blue Line stops at Reagan airport (as does Yellow Line).

One thing we learned was to put enough on the WMATA rider card to be able to pay for parking each day. It saves you a couple of dollars in parking fees. (I don't believe there are charges for parking on Saturday or Sunday.) Yes, buy the SmartTrip card. If you live further than 100 miles away from DC, you can apply to have any monies returned to you that you didn't use for riding the train or parking your vehicle, once you return home. It will take about 4-6 weeks for processing.

Using the station at the end of the line ensured that we did not have parking issues. The structure at the end of the Blue Line was pretty large, accommodated our long-and-tall pickup, and there were always plenty of parking places when we'd go to the train around 9 or 10 in the morning. Often times, too, there was a train just sitting there, loading passengers, when we'd park and walk over to the train. Once again, that's because it was at the end of the line. I don't believe you could park long-term, though. The suggestion to use Reagan Airport's long-term lot is a good one.

We learned to read the WMATA map, and to change stations easily. Once you're on a train heading into DC, you can switch without incurring extra charges on your prepaid card. All rides are considered one way, so when you return to the original station, you'll be charged for another ride.

Learn the names of your line's stations on both ends, so that when you're in the Metro stations in DC, you'll be able to find your line and the direction you are going. For instance, we always knew that we were going to need Blue Line's Franconia-Springfield direction. Stations are well marked for what lines are where, and which direction they're going. They also have electronic signs that tell you how many more minutes until your next train will come. We seldom had to wait more than 5 minutes for a train when we were switching somewhere.

Not about Metro, but about DC: distances are very deceiving. We ended up walking more than 7 miles one day when we decided to see the sites along the Mall ... Washington, Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials, Vietnam and Korean War memorials, etc. It was an exhausting day!

Oh, also, as far as I know, the Washington Monument is still closed. They've been fixing the elevator and building a more pertinent screening facility.

Finally, speaking of screening ... when you go into the city, leave all mace, pocket knifes, little bitty scissors, etc., back in your hotel. Every museum and the US Capitol Bldg makes you go through a screening to ensure that you are a safe visitor. When they took another woman's folding scissors (little bitty) at the Capitol Bldg., I was glad I'd left mine at home. Those are hard to find these days!


Donna

[NowthatIamretired]

Washington Monument is now open but need tickets for going up to help with the crowds. Here’s a link, https://www.nps.gov/wamo/planyourvisit/fees.htm. Donnas advice is good for a place to find a hotel on the Blue Line. The construction it is now done but starting this summer on the Orange line so don’t go west of DC. Also I’m pretty sure there is no overnight parking allowed at any of the MetroRail stations. Reagan National would work or there is a parking garage at Union Station. Donnas also right about distances and walking. Plan ahead, there’s a LOT to see along the Mall. Oh, one word from a semi native to the area, the unwritten rule on Metrorail on the escalators is “stand right, walk left”. The locals greatly appreciate visitors who learn this quickly!

[Dolivo]

Such great information! Thank you everyone!

[BillyGr]

One thing to note about the DC Metro (as opposed to NYC Subways and many other city subway type systems) is that the rates are different during peak times (before 9:30am and 3-7pm) AND there are different rates depending on how far you travel (not to do with changing trains but the distance from your start point to your end point). They do have machines by the exits should you not have enough $ on your card, so you don't have to worry about being stuck (like the sort of famous song about the Boston MTA ;)).

They do offer a daily or 3 day pass, but you'd have to look and see what your plans are - if you are only riding in and out each day, it may not be cheaper than just paying the individual trip rates.

As I remember, you can add extra money in fairly small amounts, so you should be able to wind up with fairly little on a card, if you don't want to have to send it in as mentioned above.

Also, while looking at that info, happened to see that there are four locations that offer some (limited) multi-day parking (up to 10 days), one of which happens to be the Franconia station mentioned (limited for that meaning 15 to 17 spots, out of about 5,000 total, so who knows if one would be available when you needed it). The other 3 are Greenbelt, Huntington and Wiehle-Reston East.
So, pretty minimal (since they say 44 stations offer parking), but there is a small chance it would work out.