The end of a 6 week road trip

[Antsp]

Just coming to the end of a 6 week road trip covering 11000 miles all over the USA. We also have now visited all 50 states. If anyone is thinking of doing a road trip large or small and wants any advice, just ask.

[Manny Haines]

Thats pretty impressive, just a tad jealous.

So, what was your favourite State? Sight? Experience?
Ever since reading On the Road and reading about places where bands I was into would stop on the way whilst touring the US I’ve had a hankering to do a road trip and explore hidden America, visit places like Sioux Falls, Fargo, Boise and Flagstaff.

[Antsp]

That’s a tough one to answer,
Some states that stick out
South Dakota, Wyoming and Utah. Best drive was probably Denver to Grand Junction, through the Rockies.

The route we took,
My daughter picked me up in Houston ( she just finished a year in Uni in Oklahoma)
We travelled from Houston TX, Montgomery AL, Atlanta GA, Washington DC, New York NY, Cape Code MA, Marshall’s Point ME, Derby Line VT, Niagra Falls NY, Cedar Point OH, Fargo ND, Deadwood SD, Denver CO, Las Vegas NV, Los Angeles CA, Roswell NM, Dallas TX.
Lots of stuff in between but can’t list all.

National Parks visited Theodoore Roservolt ND, Badlands SD, Devils Tower WY, Archers UT, Horse Shoebend AZ, Grand Canyon AZ, Petrified Forrest AZ.

No Hotels booked in advance, almost all booked using Hotwire.com most hotels just stayed in 1 night at a time.

[archibald]

Wow that sounds an amazing trip - I'm really surprised at your mileage though, I thought you would have a driven a lot more to visit all of those states. We usually clock up 2500 for a two week trip to Florida or Texas and don't feel as if we drive much at all. Ypu must've seen so much! Jealous!

[georgemac]

Very brave with no pre-booked hotels - and interested to hear more about how you got on with Hotwire.
I am currently planning our 4th USA Road trip in Sept. Have done 2 West Coast and this i 2nd East Coast - find hotels, especially in cities very expensive, but even Hampton/Hyatt Place type hotels between £100 and £150 per night, and in the city centres £200-£300+ but then you have to add around $50 per night car parking fee if you are on a road trip.

Most reasonable hotels seem to be out around the airports - but I am always reluctant to stay out there.

[Antsp]

Hotels never an issue, very view stays in cities themselves, whilst visiting New York we stayed in New Jersey, just over the river. Obviously staying in a hotels for 40 odd nights does have a significant cost, so Hotel standards did vary, we used Comfort inn, Quality inn Super 8 etc, and also lots of independents. Using Hotwire saved us a lot of money and by using the android app and looking and review counts you can tell what hotel you are getting before you book. No once anywhere did we struggle to get a place to stay. Travelling for 6 weeks makes it impossible to plan a trip in south detail, and the whole idea was not too.

[georgemac]

Originally Posted by Antsp

whilst visiting New York we stayed in New Jersey, just over the river.

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We did the same last year, staying in the Hilton beside the stadium, might have been baseball. Used the shuttle bus to get the train - did not bother us one bit and saved a good bit of money, mainly car parking.

We always have all the hotels booked in advance, but our trips lengths have been 13/13/21 and this year 17 nights.

So far this year I have booked all with free cancellation - I used Hotwire once for Manhattan Beach in LA and it was fine. I'll try the app.
I have found sometimes when booking through third party, you can sometimes get a better deal than offered by the hotel, but sometimes they tend to give you the not so great rooms.

I am using Hilton a lot, Hampton Suites so far so good. We have stayed in a few Hyatt Regency, very nice always, but this year prices are extortionate.

I also don't want to spend holiday time searching for hotels - but then we are quite fussy, but you have shown that OK to have confidence in things like Hotwire.

[Ridersmom]

I use an app called Hotels Tonight. You can book up to a week in advance and you know what hotel you are booking. You do get a decent discount.

[scush]

We love road tripping too, we've another trip planned for September 2020. We're on a motorcycle so don't usually pay to park. Also never book ahead just use one of the booking sites and have a drive by! I've not used Hotwire, will be trying it next year tho! Great advice

[Antsp]

Hotwire is great and always cheaper, you can always tell what hotel you are getting by the number of TripAdvisor reviews. I use the app, probably booked about 40 different hotels through it in the last six weeks, saves about $25 a night on average, probably adds upto around $1000 on this trip.