USATourist Community

Hi.

Me and my girlfriend are making a roadtrip across USA from august 2010, and 2½ month forward. - Is it realistic?

First of all we need some advise:

Car rental. what is best/cheapest ?

Recommendations on what to se ?

Motel 6, Super 8 or better ideas ?

How much would you spend ?

Favorite national parks on our route ?

Homepages with tips, help etc. ?

Thank you...

 Lennart from Denmark

Hi Michelle.

Thanks for your reply!

I would say we are big spenders. I expect us to use around 30.000-35.000 USD within the 2½ months. We want to go local, but would love some pinpointers along the way(or just some of the areas we visit.)

- What to see in New Mexico, Louisiana, Mississippi, alabama, Georgia?

- how long would you spend in the nationalparks? I've heard that you have to book accommodations a year in advance for Grand Canyons? Its very important for us that we "go with the flow", and just take one day at the time.

 You allready send us some links to homepages, thank you. Can you recommend any other homepages.

Thank you so much!

Unfortunately a lot of the states you ask about are one I am not too familiar with.  But I'll give it a try! 

New Mexico:  Santa Fe is probably the nicest city to visit.  It has a large artist population.  So it is a great place to meet some people and find a unique souvenier.  It is also a "pretty" city with it's southwest architecture and warm colors.

Every October Albuquerque hosts a Balloon Festival.  Unfortunately I am guessing that you will be gone from that part of the country by then.  But if you are in the area, it looks like a fantastic experience.  http://www.balloonfiesta.com/

Albuquerque is also host to the Gathering Of Nations Powwow, which is (I think) the largest powwow in the US.  Unfortunately it takes place in April.  But New Mexico does have some other smaller powwows during the time that you will be visiting.  http://www.nmpws.com/calendar.html  Powwows are a great way to learn about the culture of some native american tribes.

You may have heard about Roswell.  It is the town in New Mexico where it is beleived that an alien spacecraft crashed in the 1940's.  Of course, the US government has been covering up this incident.    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roswell_UFO_incident  But whether you beleive in aliens or not, Roswell can be fun to visit for the alien museums and shops.  http://roswellnm.org

South of Roswell is Carlsbad Caverns.  I would consider it to be one of the best Cave National Parks to visit.  http://www.nps.gov/cave/

Louisiana:  Of course you must visit New Orleans.  The residents have been working hard to make the city even better since it was devastated by Hurricaine Katrina.  In New Orleans you'll find fantastic regional cuisine, musicians and culture unlinke any other place in the country.

I am less familiar with Louisiana.  But if I were to visit, I'd also want to check out some places on the Gulf Coast.  There are wildlife refuges west of New Orleans.  Sabine National Wildlife Refuge near the Texas border, Rockefeller State Wildlife Refuge and Marsh Island State Wildlife Refuge on the coast.  All sit on the water and I suspect they are an attraction for waterfowl.  Here's a site with more info about each.  http://www.fws.gov/refuges/profiles/ByState.cfm?state=LA

Mississippi: I'd stay on the coast a bit to visit Gulfport/Biloxi.  And if you gamble, you can visit some casinos in town.  Here's a site about the entire Mississippi Coast.  http://www.gulfcoast.org/

Alabama:  In Alabama, I'd visit Montgomery and Birmingham for sure.  These cities are the sites of some major events in the civil rights movement.  http://www.africanaonline.com/civil_rights_birmingham.htm  Some history http://faculty.smu.edu/dsimon/Change-Civ%20Rtsb.html and more history.  http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h-1580

Georgia:   In Georgia I'd visit Atlanta.  This is a large city with a lot to offer.  It's home to CNN and Coca-Cola.  Both offer tours.  For a taste of that southern charm, I'd go to Savannah.  It is a larger town.  But I think it's known for it's slower pace.  http://www.savannahvisit.com/

You don't list Tennessee on your route.  But if you want to detour north, I'd visit Memphis and Nashville, two great cities for live music.  Memphis is of course the home of Elvis and a fantastic style of Blues Music.  And Nashville is the home of Country Music and the Grand Ole Opry.  TN is also where you'll find the Great Smokey Mountains National Park. 

Regarding the National Parks, some of the small parks can be "done" in one full day.  The bigger parks I would plan on spending 2-3 days, especially if you plan to do some hiking.  Unfortunately most visitors to the parks don't stray far from the road.  But if you ask the park rangers you can get some great recommendations for hikes that will deliver what ever it is you are looking for - scenic outlooks, wildlife, waterfalls - that most people miss. 

If you want to stay at the Phantom Ranch in the bottom of the Grand Canyon, you will need to reserve at least a year in advance.  They accept reservations beginning 13 months in advance.  http://www.grandcanyonlodges.com/phantom-ranch-704.html  You don't have Montana on your route.  But if you do decide to venture north to that state and visit Yellowstone, it will be the same situation if you want to stay at the Old Faithful Lodge. http://www.travelyellowstone.com/  I think that it can be the same if you plan to stay in Yosemite in CA.  http://www.yosemitepark.com/Accommodations.aspx.  And possibly if you do go up to the Smoky Mountains.  http://www.leconte-lodge.com/  These 4 parks are probably the most visited National Parks.  If you plan to camp in the National Parks, you can make some reservations for the campgrounds in advance.  I'd recommend doing this to be sure you get a spot.  Some campgrounds fill up early.  And if you are relying on camping, it stinks to find a full campground as the sun is setting. 

*´¨)
¸.·´ ¸.·*´¨) ¸.·*¨¨)
(¸. Michelle¸.·
(¸.·´ (¸.·* (¸.·*´¨)
                   *

 hello!

 Its great that you are making a roadtrip almost all over the North America from Canada to New York.In your trip you can take the loop through Virginia. In Virginia there are many great reataurants, hotels, motels and bed and breakfast. Where you can get cheap and attractive prices,great accomadations with better service.In Vrginia there are many beautiful beaches, islands and mountains also.There you can do plenty of physical activities also such as hiking, skatting,swimming etc in the Shenandoah National Park.

Thank you Michelle. You have allready been a great help!

I Can you recomend a place to hire cars? We want to hire a convertible for almost 3 month pickup in CA (some place... in an airport probably) deliver in NY. Its a jungle for us, so we could really use some help...

The major U.S. car rental companies are pretty much the same.  Prices are comprable within a small range between the highest and lowest cost.  

The one thing that I've noticed that may make one company significantly more costly than another is if the company has the rentals in the terminal or if you have to take a shuttle to the terminal.  This is not a reason listed for a cost difference.  But it is likely much more expensive for the companies to keep their vehicles on site.  The result is that you pay a good bit more for the convenience.  If you have to take the shuttle, it will add a little more time to get your car.  But the convenience of a in terminal rental is not likely to be worth the cost difference.  The shuttle is provided by the rental company.  And the ride is pretty short as the rentals are kept near the airport.  Not all airports give rental companies an option of in terminal or shuttle.  Some airports don't have any rentals in terminal. 

You can use our car rental search to compare:  http://www.usatourist.com/english/reservations/reservations-cars.html  Click on the More Search Options link.  There you will be able to select a different drop off location in addition to the car type.

Be aware that a convertible will be more costly than a hard top sedan or economy vehicle of the same size.  Convertibles generally don't have much trunk space either.  So packing will likely be greatly affected.  And dropping a rental off at a different location than the pick up will induce a large extra rental fee.

It sounds like you don't have a set start point.  So I recommend doing a couple of searches with the different pick up destinations.  Rental rates can vary a lot from city to city.  That is because there are a lot of additional taxes on car rentals.  The actual rental fee may only be half the total cost.  The amount of those taxes are based upon the rate of that location. 

It is easiest to rent at the airports.  After all you don't have to worry about how to get to the rental car facility.  And most of the major rental companies are likely to service any airport you are flying into.  However a lot of the taxes are charged only at the airports.  So if you are able to rent from a location outside of the airport, you may save yourself some money.  I did a search for a rental at my local airport and the same search for a location outside of the airport.  At the airport I saw 9 rental companies to choose from with the lowest rate at $80 for a day.  Away from the airport there were only 5 companies.  But the lowest rate was $50 for the same day.

Have a good trip!

*´¨)
¸.·´ ¸.·*´¨) ¸.·*¨¨)
(¸. Michelle¸.·
(¸.·´ (¸.·* (¸.·*´¨)
                   *