East Coast Road Trip

[Deleted User] · 03/09/10 - 08:45

Me and the OH are planning to take a road trip down the East Coast of America

We were planning on flying in to Boston and working our way down the coast over three weeks.

Was just wondering if anyone has done this or has any advice for us

Thanks

tim1966 · 03/09/10 - 09:55

Did the reverse to your plan a couple of years ago. Florida to new York. It was a fantastic trip and there are so many places to go it is very hard to advise other than to say do a lot of research before you go. There were very few of the places I visited that I would have avoided if i had known more. My trip was as follows;
Orlando, Florida
St Augustine
Okeefenokee swamp
Savannah, Georgia
Atlanta
Smoky mountains, North Carolina
Raleigh
Outer banks
Kittyhawk
Virginia Beach
Georgetown
Washington dc
Philadelphia
New York

Took about 2 and a 1/2 weeks.
Be prepared for some long drives but some exceptional sights.

Have a wonderful trip.

Camino · 03/09/10 - 10:45

sounds like a fantastic thing to do

indianwells · 03/09/10 - 11:14

My advice would be to get a satnav and plan a route avoiding Interstates. Interstate driving is extremely boring and you've got a fair distance to travel. Use their equivalent of A roads and you will see far more. On our first trip many years ago we drove 3,000 miles in 3 weeks which was a bit much really, we seemed to spend a long time on the road. Now, if we do a trip it's much more concentrated in one area.

Whatever you decide I hope you'll have a great trip!

[Deleted User] · 03/09/10 - 16:16

This is on my bucket list, well to do before i'm 30. Just need to convince Mr Lawls that being stuck in a car in the USA is so a holiday!!!!!

Have a great time OP!

[Deleted User] · 04/09/10 - 07:35

Thanks for the replies so far!

Tim1966 - your trip sounds great - a few places we hadn't heard of but good old google has helped us and we may have found a few destinations we might not have visited without you!

Ber · 04/09/10 - 07:53

indianwells wrote: »

My advice would be to get a satnav and plan a route avoiding Interstates. Interstate driving is extremely boring and you've got a fair distance to travel. Use their equivalent of A roads and you will see far more. On our first trip many years ago we drove 3,000 miles in 3 weeks which was a bit much really, we seemed to spend a long time on the road. Now, if we do a trip it's much more concentrated in one area.

Whatever you decide I hope you'll have a great trip!

I agree with this - we did a western states road trip last year and tried to keep off the interstates as much as possible.

One piece of advice I would give as it was something that caught us out last year is the cost of hotel parking - some places give it for free and others charge through the nose. If you are booking hotels before you go make sure to find out if they charge and how much. Although to be fair it was mainly the California hotels that charged ($50 a night in SF!!) so it may not apply but definately worht checking out.

Elanor · 04/09/10 - 10:11

I've done American road trips before, including one through New England. I love them, they're great. I don't think you need a Sat Nav unless you're going in and out of lots of cities - if there are two of you and you're not totally clueless with maps, the navigation is really easy. I love driving on American roads, it's so easy!

Are you absolutely sure you want to head straight down the coast from Boston? If you head upwards there are some fabulous places to go. I absolutely loved Cape Cod, it's really stunning. On the coast in that area too, I loved Plimoth Plantation, and the town of Mystic (Connecticut, between Cape Cod and Boston).

When are you thinking of going? We went in early October - just missed the September rush of whichever holiday it was, and the roads were really quiet, motels had loads of rooms (cheaper rates too as the peak season was over) and the leaves were just amazing.
Photos of our trip here if you're interested:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ginger_elanor/sets/72157608212080322/

[Deleted User] · 04/09/10 - 16:36

I live in the US now and this summer we did a road trip when my friend came over for her jollies to stay with us.
We actually live in a place close to Philadelphia and New York - this was our trip ...

Langhorne, PA
Buffalo, NY and then on to Niagara, NY
Niagara Falls
Alexandria Bay
Vermont (Ben and Jerry's factory - it was a quick stop

)
North Conway, New Hampshire
Portland, Maine
Boston, Massachussetts
Back to Langhorne PA

Twas excellent fun!

[Deleted User] · 04/09/10 - 16:42

I'm planning the other side - I fancy flying into Vegas, and then over 2.5 weeks driving Vegas > LA > San Francisco, flying home from there.

Really struggling to get my head around car rental - quotes vary massively, so I'm never quite sure if the lowest quotes will end up with loads of hidden charges or something!

[Deleted User] · 04/09/10 - 16:47

I went to Boston last year and we went North...Maine and the surrounding areas were just beautiful!

richard cranium · 04/09/10 - 18:04

Done that USA type of thing for the last 6 years, this year was Newark to Atlanta then back to Newark, all on A roads without Sat Nav, cheap motels every night, got lost a few times in dodgy areas, but hey that's the fun.

Check out the Amish Country around Lancaster PA

Got a Chrysler 300 for a fortnight for £360 ( prepaid and no extras needed at pick-up ) off Atlaschoice, pick it up at Newark Airport and off you go.

Petrol $ 2.90 a gallon

irishguy · 04/09/10 - 18:22

Quick question Richard, if you are planning something like that, what do you put down on the ESTA application as your address of residency?

Previously, when I've done something like that, I've put down the address that I knew I was going to be staying at when first arriving but what happens if you don't even know that and have no reservation that they confirm?

scoobyju1 · 04/09/10 - 19:16

irishguy wrote: »

Quick question Richard, if you are planning something like that, what do you put down on the ESTA application as your address of residency?

Previously, when I've done something like that, I've put down the address that I knew I was going to be staying at when first arriving but what happens if you don't even know that and have no reservation that they confirm?

It terms of an ESTA, I'm pretty sure you only have to put the address of the first night of stay. Not too sure on no address though...do they even check...

Road trip sounds fab

irishguy · 04/09/10 - 19:21

Yeah, thats what I do... but I was wondering what you do in Richard's case where he just hires a car at Newark and hits the road with no idea where he's going to be spending the night and no reservation or contacts that the CBP people can check with.

richard cranium · 04/09/10 - 19:47

irishguy wrote: »

Yeah, thats what I do... but I was wondering what you do in Richard's case where he just hires a car at Newark and hits the road with no idea where he's going to be spending the night and no reservation or contacts that the CBP people can check with.

I pre-book Motels for the first couple of nights , so I have a bona fide address to put on the Green Visa Waiver Form.

Some Airlines ask for your first night's accommodation address in the USA on UK airport check-in ( Continental Airlines certainly do ) which leads to much hassle at the check-in desk as folk exasperatedly rummage through luggage looking for the hotel's address. It's most unnecessary In my opinion.

irishguy · 04/09/10 - 19:55

Cheers Richard.

Yeah, I think that unless you're staying with friends you have no choice but to reserve somewhere just in case you have CBP hassles. It is totally unnecessary in my opinion and can be a pain if you don't put down a hotel where they can check your reservation.

BTW, you'll be glad to know that those crappy green forms are a thing of the past now. All done via ESTA - which of course, still requires the address. Although I wonder what happens if you don't update it and it has an address that you used a year ago..?

richard cranium · 04/09/10 - 20:13

irishguy wrote: »

Cheers Richard.

BTW, you'll be glad to know that those crappy green forms are a thing of the past now. All done via ESTA - which of course, still requires the address. Although I wonder what happens if you don't update it and it has an address that you used a year ago..?

Don't know about that, I was told the green and white forms would run in tandem with the on-line ESTA for a few years yet.

Mainly to give the the cheerless, sullen US Immigration guys something to bitch about if you haven't filled them in correctly TO THE LETTER.

After an 8 hour flight and a 20 minute queue to get to Immigration I'm not in the mood to be scowled at by some testy pen pusher :mad:

irishguy · 04/09/10 - 20:22

Nope - they're gone now. None were given out on my last trip in August and I wasn't asked to fill anything out at the CBP checkpoint in Newark other than the blue customs form regarding items you're bringing into the country.

But yeah, those CBP guys are the least humorless, cold and unfriendly people I've ever met. I don't know whether they're told to be like that or whether the job just makes them that way.

And I understand that you may not be in the mood to be arsed around by some uniform but those guys have the right to ban your entrance to the country and have you on the next flight home with no right to appeal, so you've no other choice than to bend over and take it... metaphorically that is

Stewie_C · 05/09/10 - 08:06

We are planning something like this trip for next summer. Flying to washinton DC and ending up in Florida. It might be worth giving RV's a thought. We have costed doing it via a one way RV rental, and car hire/hotels combo and it works out fairly similar for a family. Might not work the same cost wise for a couple though.

The good thing about RV's is the freedom to change itinerary. We did a west coast trip last year and had to make changes because of snow blocked mountain passes that shouldn't have happened at that time of year, and one of the places we decided to stop for two days in wasn't worth stopping at all so moved on. It's also great to stop in a layby with a view and make tea / use the loo and you can keep the cost down by self catering.

Th dissadvantage to them is that they are not easy to drive in towns, and parking isn't always possible. We watched a guy trying to park his rented RV in a series of car parks in the waterfront area of San Francisco with no luck. You might have to park outside some cities and take a bus in, but you can also plan routes round such restrictions. Most tourist attractions accomodate RV's though.

If you do look into this, don;t try to book through the US website. Elmonte RV have an international division with special rates for foreigners, so go through the UK site and get the best prices.

Stewie_C · 05/09/10 - 08:54

I'm planning the other side - I fancy flying into Vegas, and then over 2.5 weeks driving Vegas > LA > San Francisco, flying home from there.

That's perfectly acheivable with time to spend in a couple of places. We did the trip from Vegas to the pacific (didn't want to go to LA) up the coast road to SF. 4 days in SF, trundled on to Yosemite and spent a couple of days there and back to Vegas via death valley. We did it in two weeks in an RV, but spending that little bit more time doing it would be even better! Vegas itself is worth spending a few days in mainly because it's so unreal!

Hey there!

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