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!

Can you not pickup the car from a central location near the train station? We tend to avoid airport pickups, because they tend to have longer queues, are usually more expensive, and after a long flight we don’t want to be hanging around. We always get a cab to our hotel, then an uber the next morning to a local pickup. Same on way back, especially if we’re finishing in a city where you don’t need the car. We dump the rental and then just cab it to the airport.

The OP is going on holiday, not emigrating.

OP I found driving in the US really easy, you'll be fine. Here's some help on eSIM cards:

https://cybernews.com/best-esim-providers/best-esim-for-united-states/

It’s an hour at least from Dulles on public transport. Why not just use one of the rental places at Union Station?

Where are you going OP that you need to drive between Philadelphia and Washington DC and use public transport to get back and forth to both stations?

Quite often the city centre car rental places charge HUGE amounts for open jaw rental - much more than the airport ones.

Not sure why she needs open jaw rental though. That’s the point. The train from Philadelphia to Washington is fast and cheap

Surely just pick up the car in DC at Union station and return to the same place after driving out to Shenandoah etc?

True!

DC to Philadelphia is dead easy by train but Annapolis is unfortunately out of the way. Shenandoah and the like are best done by car.

Yeah, of course.

The OPs plan is to travel via public transport from central Philadelphia to the airport to collect a car rental. Then when she’s finished with it she’s planning on dropping it at one of the DC airports and using public transport to get back to central DC.

That’s bonkers unless there’s some other reason for it. It’s also another 2 hours driving when she could be relaxing on Amtrak for less time!

@CountryQueenthe OP started the post saying she was anxious about her first time driving in the US.

Instead of saying she's bonkers, have you considered she might not want the additional stress of driving in a major city centre, especially for the pickup, where the car would be unfamiliar and she'd be driving on the wrong side of the road, and no doubt having to pull out of a parking garage into a busy one-way system, filled with unforgiving natives ?

No, thought not.

So my reasoning is as follows: We are having a few days in NYC initially and I read on here that it was far easier to pick up a car in Philadelphia than driving in the NYC area so that's why we are doing that bit. Our flights home are booked from DC as that was another city we wanted to visit, so that's why we need open-jaw for the car. I do feel we need the car for the other bits, especially the sky drive thing and one of our Airbnbs is pretty rural. All the places we are visiting are places one or more of us specifically wants to see and I don't want to be juggling public transport to fairly remote places. DC also wanted a roadside motel as part of the trip too.

When I researched I could only find airport car rentals, so that's why I've done that. If anyone can recommend others I'll happily see if I can cancel and rebook. Any advice about other more sensible options gratefully received!

I’ve done both and there’s no difference in the difficulty of exit. Public transport back and forth is much more difficult, not sure why you need to be arsey but luckily the OP has replied since and has the possibility of making her life much easier!

Hi OP, you definitely need a car for what you wish to see but would be much better placed using Amtrak all the way to DC.

It sounds like you’re having a few nights in DC at the end of your road trip so you could take Amktrak from NY Penn to DC (with a stop in Philadelphia if you wish). Then pick up your car at Union station (I recommend Enterprise but there are countless others there). The exit is just as easy as from the airports. You can then do your Shenandoah road trip and end back where you started at Union station. Likely walking distance from your hotel in DC and saves all the back and forth between airports in both Philadelphia and DC. You’ll also save any one way drop off fees.

I hope that helps and for some reason people think I’m arsey but I’ve done this trip and you’d be well placed to avoid the airports and use the excellent Amtrak services between the big cities.

Driving out of DC from Union station is a doddle. You’re looking at a minute or two to navigate the exit and then straightforward roads past the Smithsonian and out of the city.

@CountryQueenwhat have you done "both" of exactly ?

And yes, I probably came across as arsey to you, just like you came across as dismissive to the OP.

And public transport isn't difficult between Dulles/downtime DC ans PHL/Philly, and it's not even that slow for the latter.

I’ve driven out of Philadelphia airport and out of Dulles and out of both city centres.

Erm, who said travelling between Philadelphia and DC was difficult on public transport? Maybe have a read back, I was the one pointing out it’s the easiest way 🤣

Why are you so irritated. It’s an easy exit from Union station rentals, just as easy as either airport. The OP will also save time and money and a load of pointless and more expensive travel between airports and cities.

@CountryQueenFrom your last reply to me: Public transport back and forth is much more difficult

Back and forth from Philadelphia city to the airport and then from Washington DC to the airport and back. Obviously.

Tell me how doing all that is easier than just using Amtrak and then driving directly out of the station

I mean, OP and her kids and luggage will already be on the train out of NYC so it’s impossible for it to be easier to do it your way.

But ok. I’ll assume you’ve got masses of experience of driving and travelling within these cities. Hopefully instead of sniping and nitpicking at me you’ll shortly be imparting your wisdom and giving the OP some useful information just like I tried to do. I wait with anticipation

I provided my advice to her yesterday - in a lot friendlier manner than you originally did.

Ok, you got me to actually scroll all the way back to find you were the poster who didn’t know you have to stop at a stop sign 😅 and decided to question, “genuinely curious” of course, a poster who rightly described just how many lanes some US freeways have.

Think you’re just here for an argument. There’s no sensible reason for the OP to make her life more difficult by not using the city rentals as opposed to out of town airport ones.

Since you’ve nothing to add other than arguing with me over cities you seem not to know then I’ll bow out and hope the OP has a look at other options that will save her time, stress and money.

Lol - cherry picking some of my later comments and mis-interpreting them. As for DC and Philly - I know Philly very well, DC not so much.

However, i have driven in the US for over 30 years now, mainly in Texas and the West Coast, and recently drove from Denver to San Diego, so yes I know how to drive in the US more than most do. And, I've yet to see an interstate that is 20 lanes wide (10 in both directions) which was what I was "genuinely" curious about.

But yes, let's bring this to a close - I've had just as enough of it as you have.

There is a claim that the Katy Freeway in Houston is 26 lanes at one point, but apparently that counts various slip roads and such, so it's not. Yes, I did go googling for the widest highway last night because I was curious! OP needn't fear as nothing in the Northeast is like that.

The one thing to watch out for if you're driving to or from Dulles is that there is the Dulles Access Road (free) and then to either side, the Dulles Toll Road (NOT free). Then the new Metro Silver Line in the middle of that.

Yep the Dulles access road vs Dulles Toll Rd is a pain. If you are coming from one direction you have to cross 4-5(?) lanes of traffic in about a mile to get to the access road and avoid the toll IIRC. We got to it at rush hour. I bought DH a drink at the airport 😂

I don't think I can change the plans and get the train to DC as I have accommodation booked for all the places in between so it would mean changing all that. It's all refundable but I don't think I can face re-planning everything and finding alternatives. I do appreciate the advice though.

I think the car hire is refundable/changeable so I could see if I could change the locations. However, having the checked the drop-off is at Ronald Reagan airport, which I think is more central so maybe easier to get to? It'll be a Sunday too so maybe that will be a bit quieter?

Yes, DCA (Reagan National) is more central (only a few miles from DC proper), and Sunday will be quieter. It's never zero traffic, but things won't be clogged like a weekday.

It is more central yes, you’re looking at 30 mins on public transport back into the city, plus the time to get there from the rentals area, you do have to navigate the roads into the airport though which is a bit of a pain so if you can change the drop off to the train station without much cost it’ll be worth it.