UK to NY. NY TO LA AND BACK!

[Lucinda]

Hi,
I am planning a big road trip with my partner Joanne. We are flying from the UK to New York on the 10th of July. We will be staying there in the wellington for a week. Then, we will hire a car, and drive out of New York. Our Itinerary is:
10th New York. 7 days

17th Washington DC


18th Shenandoa, Virginia


19th Virginia Beach


20th Winston Salem, North Carolina


21st Nashville, Tennesse

23rd Memphis

25th Clarksdale, Mississippi

27th New Orleans

28th Houston

29th Dallas

31st Sweetwater, Texas

1st August - Roswell, New Mexico

2nd Lordsburg, New Mexico

3rd Gilabend, Arizona (Senoran Desert)

4th San Diego

7th Los Angeles

9th Pismo Beach

10th San francisco

12th Yosemite

14th Death Valley

15th Las Vegas

16th Needles, California

17th Grand Canyon

19th Lake Powell/Bryce

21st Salt Lake City

22nd Yellowstone

24th Badlands

25th Sioux Falls

26th La Crosse

27th Chicago

30th Cleveland

1st September - Pittsburgh

2nd Niagra

4th Syracause

5th Lake Placid

7th Salem

10th New york

The dates aren't set, we have 3 months to do all this in. Minus the flights and car hire we have about $9,000 - $10,000.
We do not plan on sleeping in anywhere close to luxury! Do you think this realistic? What will driving out of New York to Washington be like for first time drivers in the USA? We are 20 and 21. Joanne will be the main drive as she is 21, but I will take over some of the driving.

Thank you in advance for any help!
Lucy & Jo

[Midwest Michael]

If you aren't including Car and Flight expenses, that kind of money should be plenty, and should give you more than enough left over to splurge here and there.

My bigger question would be what are you planning to do for a car and how much are you budgeting on that end. Because of your age, this will be a pretty expensive proposition.

[Lucinda]

our flights should be about £770 from the uk, for both of us. We havent included the flight back yet as we werent sure if it would be cheaper to book a flight from an airport in America while we're out there rather than booking in advance. Or should we book returns? I've budgeted about about £1500 for our flights. We should be returning in october, maybe earlier. Our car hire for that amount of time has come to aout £2,000. And a week in new York has come to about £1,600. I might change it to 5 days in New York at the beginning and then one night at the end to get ready for our flight back. So then our money is down to about 6 thousand dollars for the road trip part.
Thank you for the quick reply!
Lucy & Jo

[Lucinda]

I've just looked and found that our flights should come to about a thousand including returns for the 10th of october from JFK. So that leaves £500 to play around with. Thats almost a thousand dollars isn't it? Not too bad!

[Eris]

If you are entering the USA on the Visa waiver scheme you will need a return (or onward) flight ticket to gain entry into the country.

You say you are first time drivers in the USA. If you can drive the big cities in the UK then you’ll be fine. You’re likely to take some wrong turnings on such a long journey, especially in a city, but just accept it will happen and be mentally prepared to deal with it in a calm way. Tell yourself you are on vacation.

It is quite a gruelling trip – 24 days of non stop driving with some long days. Have you done anything like this before? If not build some flexibility into your plans just in case – you may want to stay a day somewhere, sleep in etc.

Good luck.

[Lucinda]

we want to make it from new york to mississippi by about the 30th of july. Do you think thats possible? Also, are you allowed to smoke in hire cars? thanks for your help!!

[Midwest Michael]

I've just looked and found that our flights should come to about a thousand including returns for the 10th of october from JFK. So that leaves £500 to play around with. Thats almost a thousand dollars isn't it? Not too bad!

I'm sorry, I'm not following you anymore. 500 pounds is about 1000 US dollars, but is that what you have left to "play around with" on your entire roadtrip? Or is that in addition to the $6000 number you said in your previous post?

You can make the trip from New York to Mississippi comfortably in 2-3 days, so it doesn't look like it would be an issue.

You need to contact your rental company to find out what their policy is regarding smoking in their cars. Some may allow it, but some do not.

[Lucinda]

Right, I've worked out all the money for flights, hotel in manhattan for 5 days and 1 night at a hotel at JFK airport on the last night of our trip and the car hire. This leaves us with around £3,500 or close to 7 thousand dollars for the rest of the road trip. On top of the £3500, or near 7 thousand dollars, I will have maybe just over a thousand pounds spending money. I havent included petrol yet, but I'm estimating about a $1000+. So for motels, food and just general spending we have 5-6 thousand dollars overall. Do you think that 5-6 thousand dollars is enough for motels, food and general spending? Over about 2 1/2 months of just road trip stuff?

I've also looked in to travel from JFK to NY. Buses, trains and shuttle buses. I thought the New York Airport Express would be the easiest after just getting off a flight from the UK.
''to the Port Authority Bus Terminal at 8th and 42nd (West Side) and the Grand Central Terminal at Park and 41st (East Side). ''
I have no idea where they are! We will be trying to get to the Wellington Hotel which is- 871 7th Ave
New York, NY 10019.
Is that anywhere near where the Express drops us?
Thank you very much for your help. We appreciate it greatly :D
Lucy x

[b4idie]

I'm not certain that this is true for all the big rental agencies, but for Hertz, and I think Avis, the minimum age to rent and drive is 21, so you wouldn't be able to drive at all under the rental contract. There's also a $25 per day fee for a driver between 21 and 25, which adds up to almost $2000 for your trip.

[Lucinda]

I know its become really expensive after finding a rental company to rent to 21 year olds. the total rental money has come to £2650. We are probably only going to have around 5 thousand dollars for food and motels now. Has it become unrealistic?
Thanks!