"Road trip!" Topic

I'm finishing my uni course soon (hopefully if I pass my exams). I've been thinking about doing a road trip around the US for about a month, at first I had grandiose plans of doing the whole lot like : Boston > New York > Yellowstone Park > Seattle > San Francisco > LA > Colorado > Baltimore > then back to Boston!

Now I'm thinking this maybe a bit to much even for a months stay, I was looking for any advice from Americans or anybody else who's done something similar.

I think the more sensible alternative would be just doing the east coast maybe Boston to Miami? Not sure any tips or advice welcome.

Thanks.
(I'm from England by the way and the nearest I've been to America is google earth)

I hope you like driving. From New York to Yellowstone is about a 34-hour drive, according to Google Maps: link

From Denver to Baltimore is a 25-hour trip: link

You might want to figure out which part of the U.S. you are interested in (East Coast, West Coast, Rocky Mountains, or Texas), and then plan your trip around that.

IF you do swing through my neck of the woods (5 hours from Yellowstone) shout out.

America is BIG. France is only about the same size as Texas. Rail does run from coast to coast, but driving gives you more options (out side of the North East and Great Lakes Rail is Freight first and foremost).

Oh, and how many weeks do you have for this?

Also keep in mind that the West, while gorgeous in its wild places, is this way because it is a long way from everywhere else, and a long way between many of the best wild places.

If this is a decompression trip, you may want to plan ahead more but see less. Definitely decide what to see ahead of time.

perhaps plan to "power drive" between areas of interest, and then spend a few days in a region. Driving/visiting all at once sucks.

if you advertise/plan this right, you may end up with a complete TMP-sponsored trip complete with couch/crash-space and free tour guides!

To give you an idea, San Francisco to Los Angeles takes about 6-8 hours. If you have the budget, you could do all of that in a month – it'll just require air travel. You'll want to look at Southwest Airlines – iflyswa.com – which is the equivalent of Ryan Air in Europe. They're reasonably affordable and you can book trips a few days in advance without it getting too expensive.

Avoid Grayhound or other bus lines at all cost as you'll become entirely too well acquainted with some of the more colorful American residents.

If you decide you want to do Disney, you can ask one of us over here to get you the locals discount.

It'd also be a good plan to bring along a bunch of minis from UK manufacturers as gifts for any TMPers you wind up staying with.

Wyatt

Thanks for all of the advice guys, keep it coming.

I think the round trip might be a bit ambitious, so I'm just looking at the East coast: Boston to Miami at the moment.

I would still want to spend 4 weeks all together stopping off at New York, Baltimore, Washington.

I've got a few questions:
Whats good to see, between Washington and Miami?
I'm planning on leaving at the end of August, do I have to worry about Hurricanes?
I want to fire some guns, lol, is there anywhere you could get lessons or supervised target shooting, something like that?

Thanks again.

What's good to see between Washington and Miami?

How interested are you in the American Civil War? There are tons of historic sites to explore.

If you want something a little more modern, there is Kennedy Space Center.

As for hurricanes, yes you will have to worry about them in August.

I want to fire some guns, lol, is there anywhere you could get lessons or supervised target shooting, something like that?

You should have no trouble finding a shooting range anywhere south of the Mason-Dixon line.

Most shooting ranges will rent you a pistol but instruction and supervision are minimal. You'll do better to have a friend who shoots take you to a range.

I'd offer, but I'm in Cincinnati. If no TMP member speaks up, try posting on this site that you're a noob from the UK who'd like to try shooting when you visit. You'll have to put up with some snark about UK gun laws, but I'll bet a stranger offers to help you out:

thefiringline.com

Don't mention wargaming.

Hurricanes are no worry of you are used to the rain on Blighty…
(At least that's what one of my English Friends told me!)

Plan on visiting Philadelphia, if you can.
Lot's of interesting US history to be found there.

If you are planning on visiting Washington DC, then don't go to many museums in NYC, since the Smithsonian has equally great museums and they are all free…

Some years ago (15 ish) as a student, I spent a month travelling round the USA by train (I'm also from the UK).

It was possible to get a AmTrack ticket that allowed unlimited trips for a few hundred dollars (certainly comparable with a EuroRail ticket at the time).

I started in New York, went to Boston, Niagara, Montreal, Chicago, across to Seatle, down to San Fransico, then back across to Denver, Washington and then back to NY.

This took the best part of a month. The trains are (were) nothing like UK ones, most were double deckers, and you could get a large reclining armchair, which was great for sleeping in (and therefore saved on hotel costs).

Just another option to a driving…

Whats good to see, between Washington and Miami?

Much!

Washington – everything around the Mall.

Fredricksburg – south on I-95 (or even a train ride)

Antiteam – a short car ride from DC

Richmond and its myriad ACW battlefields

Norfolk VA – Mariner's Museum in Hampton, USS Wisconsin in downtown Norfolk. Fortress Monroe.

Kitty Hawk, North Carolina – first in flight! (Opps – prime tourist season too!)

Charleston, South Carolina – USS Yorktown, Fort Sumter (and more!)

Savannah, Georgia – Fort McAllister from the ACW.

Florida – Cape Canaveral/Kennedy Space Center – Disney World, St. Augyustine