Road trippin with my two favourite allies...

[tigran]

Well me and some mates have decided to do something special for a holiday next summer. One of my closest buddies is going to be starting his third year of a medical degree so after summer '07 he will not have any more long summer breaks for like 7 years - kind of a send off thing ;D

Plan is to abuse my mum's power to get cheap flights and fly off to San Francisco, rent a car and road trip down to LA, from there on to San Diego and finally over to Las Vegas and get a flight back from there.

If anyone has done these kind of things before any help, tips or advise would be much appreciated. I presume the legal age from which you can rent a car is 21 (hope so anyway), which are the decent rental firms if there are any, anything cool to take in on the trip anything really.

*looks in bryn's and alistair's direction specifically*

To keep it O(n)T some cool road trip cars:







Feel free to post pics of ultimate road trip cars to keep in on topic ;D

[slammed 66]

Tigran, you are my hero!

Always wanted to do that and hopefullyt will before kids/marriage etc

[tigran]

Yeah have been thinking about it for ages. Ultimate dream USA related is to get a car in New York and trip it all the way across USA diagonally to the most south-westerly tip, i.e. San Diego - but that's a way off yet. So will have to stick to small scale for now.

Damn car rental is cheap, even with the extra charge for being under 25. Mustang soft top FTW!

[hairnet]

this will happen in 09

but it will be on a motorcycle

try this

vintagecars.about.com/od/enthusiasts/a/rentaclassic.htm?terms=rent+a+car

there was rent a wreck but cant find anything - but they were shittas

try www.rentawreck.com but they hire modern older cars no like 70 americana ;D

[HoTWire]

I haven't got experience now,.. but by the end of March I will,.. 10 day road trip form SF to LA via San Diego ...

[samyboy]

wow sounds like great fun, can i join in

my closest to a road trip was Angus - Leicester on my own less 450miles in the mighty fiesta on one of the hottest days in the year blastin radio 1 out loud, an unforgetable journey for me as i was leaving home and had all my posetions on me. the car ran fine had perfect weather oh and stuck in a traffic jam on the M1 some guy shouts over askin if theres any capris for sale on old skool ford

took about £40 in fuel too fully loaded car with 4 gears


this is the england - scotland border parked next to the fool in a skirt strangling a cat ;D


id love todo coast to coast in america with some form of hotrod

[tigran]

admin said:

I haven't got experience now,.. but by the end of March I will,.. 10 day road trip form SF to LA via San Diego ...

Great minds and all that, gizza shout who you book through and hotel advice and stuff would you?

Fankooo.

p.s. SD is south of LA

[rmad]

I'm off on a similar trip in July august - Fly to LA, two weeks in Palm Desert and then another two weeks in a Dodge Ram including Vegas, The Grand Canyon, Bonneville (during Speed Week), San Fransisco and then back to LA. ;D It's a family trip really, but I'm getting some car stuff in there!

[MWF]

Go to your local library and borrow this:
www.roadtripusa.com

[tigran]

Oh cool MWF. Ta.

[twinspark]

Fly over, buy some cheap 80s tank from the nearest used car lot, do the road trip and flog it to the last dealer you see before getting the plane back.

What could *possibly* go wrong?

[tigran]

Hehehe, sort of thing I'd do with mates who are into cars/retro heaps. This lot however have not a fugging clue about retros/etc.

[bryn]

Did someone call?

Doesn't sound like you need much help to be honest, you seem to doing fine already

But for what it's worth, here are a few ideas. I've only rented a few times over there and used whoever was cheapest at the time, so I can't really help with that one. On the upside I've never had a bad experience with any company and managed to barter between offices easily getting prices down. I once had two desks at LAX get into a bidding war, but just take out all the insurance they offer you...

I guess it depends on how long you plan to be there, but what about buying something? I guess you're looking at doing maybe 2000miles, what's that to a big old lump of American iron? Live the dream... It really does make all the difference, and it's the one thing I'd say to do if you can. Let me know your thoughts and I'll give you some advice if that's your way forward.

The only other prep you need is to set a date to go and one to come back, then make a list of all the events on in all the areas you might be in. So a full calender if you like, then make a list of all the places you'd all like to go, plus any others you stumble across whilst hunting out info. This might sound obvious, but there's so much stuff when you start looking, you'll be amazed.

The best way I've found to do this sort of thing is this, book your first nights motel and that's it. Land with a notepad full of places and things to see, sort your motor and just hit the road ;D

If you make a plan then it can go wrong. You will also potentially deny yourself the chance to see so much other stuff that you won't know about until you're on top of it.

Stay as time/place flexible as possible and you'll be fine. The great thing about an American road trip is there is so much to see and do. But if you're on a schedule to do a museum in the morning and a car show in the afternoon with a hotel booked a hundred miles further on, what happens to the 3000 car desert scrapyard you just drove past? And the old school diner next to it that serves the best burrito you might never taste... Real America isn't in any tour guides.

In the last ten years I've driven tens of thousands of miles like this, all over the world and it's never failed me yet. Travelling about like this has lead me to meet some of the most fascinating people and definitely see the most amazing things, but they'll be people you'll have never heard of and things you'll not see anywhere else. Don't be afraid to get off the highway either, otherwise you'll more than often just blast past something interesting. Gene Winfield's scrapyard/chopshop is on your proposed route somewhere...

Remember, it's a first world country. Take a credit card (very necessary) and a sense of adventure and you'll be fine.

Here's a couple of events I'd recommend if it works time wise for you. Bonneville Salt Flats/Speed week, saturday morning in Huntington Beach (just south of LA) Derelict Donuts meet up, Pomona swap meet, night racing at Vegas drag strip.

Right, enough of the advice. Start making a list of all the things you want to see and do... Just don't start putting dates next to them. Here's some pics for inspiration....

All of them were taken at unplanned events or stop offs.

[bryn]

twinspark said:

Fly over, buy some cheap 80s tank from the nearest used car lot, do the road trip and flog it to the last dealer you see before getting the plane back.

What could *possibly* go wrong?

You can blow the trans, 4500ft up in the Mojave desert at 2.30am.

DO IT.

[tigran]

*Begins to get excited already

Hotel wise the guys are such damn squares - insisting on pre-booking, I'm feeling the whole 'stumble across a motel and crash' vibe. Which is pretty much what i did on a roadtrip round cornwall/dorset/somerset.

I'll win them over yet.

Think I'll get onto some 'Mericun auto forums (the hot rod type) and check out what's-a-happenin around that time. Anyone got any decent ones they know of?

[surprisingskoda]

my thinking would be the same, don't rent, buy

[bryn]

tigran said:

*Begins to get excited already

Hotel wise the guys are such damn squares - insisting on pre-booking, I'm feeling the whole 'stumble across a motel and crash' vibe. Which is pretty much what I did on a roadtrip round cornwall/dorset/somerset.

I'll win them over yet.

Make sure you do, in getting on for 20K miles I've driven around the States it's never been a problem finding a (decent ) motel at anytime of day and night.

Schedules suck big time...

[RetroMat]

Go for it!!!
I'm planning a similar jaunt around Europe with a couple of chums this summer

My Uncle has lived in the U.S. for a few years now and has had much succes with rentawreck.

[herald948]

This seems to be a common objective.

I have only one word to say: CONVOY!!!

My plan for a few years has been to do the Trans Canada Highway. 4857 miles from StJohn's to Victoria and one of the great road trips of the world. I've evaluated quite a few possible cars and bikes, this is just one of them:



One day it will happen. Whether using a Herald, Roller, Enfield Bullet or milkfloat.

[deucecoupe]

Having done a few road trips in the U.S last one in march/April last year 3 weeks 5700 miles across California Nevada and Arizona my tips are as follows, reserve a car in the U.K i have always used Dollar sort out a deal when you arrive there are always specials at the desk. Never book motels as there coupon books free in most chain restaurants Denny's etc which offer up to 50% off . Don't bother hiring convertibles if you are doing the cheap motel thing as you will stick out like a sore thumb as a tourist. As for car related stuff pick up a copy of Drive magazine free at most car parts places or check www.driveonline.com for an idea of whats happening . Don't forget most American cruise nites start at 4pm and they are all in bed by 9pm.
heres some photos to wet the appetite