USA Road Trip Advice

[MayHemm]

DP and I are planning to save up to go on a road trip between New Orleans, Louisiana and Nashville, Tennessee in the USA in Spring/Summer 2016.

My main question is: has anyone done this before and if so, how much money did you save up to do it comfortably? We are not fussy about luxury accommodation, just as long as it's clean and in working order.

Some background info:

Because of work responsibilities we are thinking we would be away for 14 days maximum, more like 10-11 realistically. Work is based around education system so school holidays (Easter or Summer in this case) are optimum time to go as it's quiet, although am aware this could make the cost of flights skyrocket. Could possibly get away with early/late summer term time e.g. May or early July.

I will be 25 and he 27 at the time we go, so we should both be alright to drive over there (although I only passed my test in June 2014 so am wondering if that could be an issue). We would want to factor in getting a fairly decent rental car (larger size, mod cons) as we assume we'll be spending a lot of time in it so want to be comfortable.

Secondary question - does anyone have any recommendations for what to see/do while we're there? He is a musician (loves blues/soul/rock and roll hence the destinations of choice!) and I am a graphic designer, we are both fairly active so don't mind walking distances, and we enjoy being outdoors and exploring as well as visiting cultural things and sightseeing.

Thank you in advance! Any general advice will also be much appreciated.

If you are renting a car look at getting car hire excess insurance rather than getting cover when you hire the car. It'll save you loads of money. Moneysupermarket and confused.com can help.

It's not the direct route, but you should definitely go by way of Memphis. You can visit Graceland and have some of the best barbecue in the world at Central Barbecue.

It's hard to hire small cars, anyway (trust me I've tried).
Will you eat out every meal, too?

Book your car from the UK using someone like rentalcars.com and you will have a zero excess. As you'll be 25 you won't get hit with a young driver surcharge, and book it in your partner's name as main driver and have you as the additional driver (they may not even ask for your driving licence, and two years experience would be fine anyway). Two weeks hire next August is coming in at around £200 per week for a large car or a compact SUV. Watch out for one way hire fees though, if you are flying into New Orleans and out of Nashville.

Hire or buy a SatNav - it will make life soooo much easier.

You can plan a route ahead and book using Expedia or Hotels.com (can usually cancel these bookings with 24 hrs notice if plans change) or you could wing it and stop where you fancy, you'll always find somewhere even if it's just a Motel 6. Use Trip Advisor and guidebooks and road maps to give you ideas of the best route to plan to see things on the way.

Alternatively, americaasyoulikeit.com does a 15 night fly drive from around £1300 per person including flights, hotels and car hire - although that is probably the low season price, the car may be small and you'll need to upgrade and top up insurance, and you're limited to the set itinerary.

mrsmortis Thank you - that's really useful to know. My current car insurance is reasonably low for my age and location anyway so hopefully it wouldn't be megabucks to do this.

SenecaFalls Thanks - DP is a huge Elvis nut so Memphis will be mandatory anyway I imagine! He went when he was about 13 but think he would like to see it again with 'adult' eyes! Barbecue sounds good to me.

YeOldeTrout Good to know! And not sure - these are all things we need to take into consideration. When we have been away (Europe) before we often do self-catering, and save on paid breakfasts by getting small bits like baguettes and fruit/olives that will last a few days etc. Am thinking we could take a portable cool bag/box and make use of hotel minifridges where poss to make this work over there perhaps.

SquirrelledAway Thank you for all this great advice - really helpful and good to know about avoiding the young driver fee. Will check out americaasyoulikeit.com even if it's just for ideas of routes/hotels!

Thank you all!

Many hotels/motels (usually the ones that don't have a full-service restaurant attached) like Hampton Inn and Holiday Inn Express, offer all you can eat breakfast included in the price of the room. You can usually take some of it away, too, especially the fruit and baked goods.

I went to university in New Orleans and love the city. It is still recovering from Hurricane Katrina, but has made great strides in overcoming that disaster. One of my favorite places in NO is Napoleon House.

www.napoleonhouse.com/history/

If you book your car in the UK you won't need excess insurance as there is no excess - its £0.

Excess policies are great for Europe for instance, where the excess can be hundreds of Euros - Insurance4CarHire does good value European and Worldwide policies. Their USA & Canada policy covers insurances that you should already be covered for, but it would be worth double checking (SLI and uninsured driver cover), and the Worldwide policy (which is much cheaper) could give you peace of mind as it covers tyres, windscreens and underneath the car, which are usually excluded from the rental insurance.

The young driver fee is quite high, around $25 to $30 per day, might be able to get it lower if you shop around. It's seems to be for drivers aged 21 to 24, 25 will be OK. Look at the car rental websites as they will give you more info.

Shit I'm jealous - oh to be young on a road trip around the US. Good luck young uns

Make sure you get travel insurance that covers medical. Don't underestimate the distances to get from one place to the next (and sometimes from one gas station to the next). GoogleMap some routes to get a sense of time to drive from one place to the next. Yelp is very helpful for local places to eat, shop, stay etc. Don't bring valuable things with you and then you won't have to worry about getting stuff taken from rental car/your motel room. Shop around for the rental car. One way rentals from one state to another can be expensive, but sometimes if you are going the right direction (ie the opposite of what all the other tourists are doing), car rental companies need cars returned to a particular city and offer deals on the rentals. (Google one way rentals for more information). Have a fantastic time!

I would advise against using Google Maps for judging the amount of time it takes to drive a given route -- or add on an hour to what it tells you.

The viamichelin.com site isn't as quick or clean as Google Maps, but the drive times are more accurate.

Not all car rental companies charge a "drop" fee for one-way rentals, so shop around for those who don't. I've had good luck with Alamo on this, but as others have pointed out, it may have been the route.

Check your car has an iPhone connector. Ours didn't last week and we spent our time listening to radio stations with a total playlist of about 7 songs. 3 of which were by Demi Lovato.

Budget extra $$ for tipping, especially if you plan on eating out or drinking in bars. Tipping is compulsory in USA, it forms a large part of people's salaries.

One way rentals are often free within California, Nevada and Arizona.