Driving in the USA

[pinotnow]

I am starting to get anxious about the driving element of our summer trip to the USA. I have never driven there before and am the only adult/driver as it's me and my teens going.

One worry is navigation. We rely on my inbuilt Satnav at home and with roaming charges I don't think Google maps on our phones is going to be doable? Would a separate Satnav I bought here work? It's one of many worries...We're not driving a huge amount - from Philadelphia to Annapolis to York Town to Charlottesville/Shenandoah to DC, but I'm starting to dwell on it!

Any tips would be amazing!

We are with EE and pay a fixed charge of £25 to use our normal data allowance. They just increased it to £25 a week rather than a month but we see it is a holiday cost.

Driving on the other side of the road is fine because you're on the other side of the car so it works out. But just remember all their roads have about a billion lanes so when you're turning left, you're probably heading a lot further over than you might initially think!

You can pay extra to hire a satnav with your car. It was an option before checkout when we hired a car earlier this year.

I'd get a phone e-sim and use google maps, at least that way you know it's accurate. Nomad have them on sale at the moment, and they're very easy to set up USA eSIM, from $4 | Prepaid Travel eSIM | Nomad

USA: Road navigation would be the least of my worries given the political climate over there. I believe there are travel advisories in place. I'd look at my cancellation policy and visit Canada ( which is awesome by the way). See https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/usa/entry-requirements

I did not know about using different SIMs for travel purposes! I'm off to research that now, thank you.

@monkeyboy2013 It's not what I asked. I'm well aware of the political situation and wouldn't have booked had I known this was going to happen, but it's a big year for us and this trip has been planned for a couple of years. Cancelling would be costly and even if money was no object I don't have the time or headspace to replan a major holiday within the next few weeks. Travel advisories are about entry requirements - why scaremonger?

I use airalo as a travel sim and that’s always worked well

Lucky you going to Shenandoah. Skyline Drive is the most beautiful road I’ve ever been on.

Apologies if I scared you. But let's be honest, the USA is kind of a scary place right now, with basic civil rights under attack. But hey, it's your call if you want to fuel that economy so enjoy your holiday. In answer to your question: Buy a paper map of the states you're visiting and get your teens to help navigate. It'll help develop life skills and ...ummm... character.

Driving in the US is much easier than in Europe because 99.9% of the country is basically built for cars. Roads are wider, signage is better and most towns and cities are laid out in a grid pattern that's pretty easy to navigate. You'll be absolutely fine. But yes, hire a car with a sat nav for added peace of mind.

As someone else has suggested, get an eSIM and use google maps as you would over here. Driving over there is easier in many ways than here. Nearly all cars are automatic. Stay in your lane as much as possible. Remember that you can make a right turn (equivalent to our left turn) even on a red light as long as there’s nothing coming. Parking is usually at a diagonal, bonnet first.
Take out extra cover for your insurance excess.

We hired a car and paid extra for gps (don’t say sat nav as they’ll have no idea what you’re talking about - I did that).

Driving in the USA is super easy.

Don't trust paper maps in the USA. We found they were often vague or just inaccurate.

Go with Google Maps.

It’s very beautiful and you stop at the first few view points. Then you ease up…. We would still be there if we’d stopped at all of them! We did a similar trip in 2023 and the driving was fine… most stressful thing was working out how to pay the tolls. Do check options when you hire the car.

E-sim and Google maps. DH was a bit nervous about driving there as normally hates driving in the other side of the road, but actually once he got started it was totally fine. Cars being automatic really helped.

read up on rules of the road, usual etiquette, common road signs before you go, so it’s not all new.

Careful with the right on red rule. You need to stop first and then proceed. It may be State specific too, so check. Be extra careful turning into an empty road with no other traffic to orient you. It’s the only time I got confused in 8 years of living there.

You have had some sensible suggestions here, you could ask for a car with inbuilt sat nav. Our experience is that most cars in US will have sat nav anyway.
airalo worked fine for us, get it before you go.

we loved our road trips in USA, we were about to go this year but cancelled it. Enjoy your holiday.

You want satnav on as it will assist with which lane to be in. That's probably the hardest part. Drivers in general seem more courteous than in UK.
The cars I've hired have always had screens and you could link your phone up to them.

Watch some YouTube videos about driving in US for British drivers - I found this very helpful

I loved driving in the USA. It was a but daunting the first time as I was in LA and the 405 is just a huge traffic jam with at least 8 lanes each side. Other than that though, the roads are very wide, roadside are clear. If you are doing a long journey make sure you check for gas stations along the route.

Most hire cars have gps built in, you should check with the hire firm if yours will have, otherwise pay a bit extra for one.
After saying that, I found driving over there very easy.
A tip I found helpful if you feel yourself getting disoriented driving on the other side of the road, just say “Keep ME to the centre of the road”
Enjoy your trip, it will be awesome 🤩

Turning at a T junction or crossroads - left loose, right tight.
(which is the opposite of what we do in UK)

You’ll be fine driving. I would definitely get roaming on your phone or get a different sim if you’re phone is unlocked. You can’t drive around without a usable phone. What would be your plan if you break down? I’d ask the hire company for a sat nav. Almost all of them have it built in or have car play (once you sort phones).

You can download sections of google maps for offline use

Assuming you will need a usable phone whilst there anyway, there’s no need to pay extra for satnav.

Download Waze to help with navigation, it’s an excellent app