petergriffin

Hi everyone,

My friends and I are taking a road trip from New York to California in June after graduation. We've done some significant research but we're still split on the decision. Half the group wants to rent a large car or a van, and the other half wants to rent an RV. This is a pretty ambitious plan and personally, I don't think a car or van could do this trip. On the other hand, the RV is much more expensive but is probably built for a 5,000 miles journey. Plus, we wouldn't have to worry about hotels every night. We'd have a mini apartment with us the whole way.

I was hoping for some insight on this situation- from personal experience etc. Should we rent a van or go with an RV? Cost is an important factor so keep that in mind when answering.

Thank you,
Peter Griffin

Rich

How many are you?

petergriffin

Seven

indyhiker

You won't have to worry about hotels but you will presumably have to worry about an RV campground--which are often not as cheap as you might think.

Inakauaidavidababy

How many of the seven are prepared to share the driving pf an RV?

utahtea

I hate to break this to you but you might find you are going to have a problem renting anything depending on your ages. If you are graduating from high school I doubt that you are going to find anyone that will rent to you because I'm going to assume no one is over the age of 21. If you are graduating from college then you will probably be 21. I've read there are extra charges for drivers under the age of 25. I would suggest calling both RV rentals and car rentals and finding this out.

That said, you are going to need a large motorhome to sleep 7. That's going to be more costly. One way charges are usually very high. A larger RV will cost you more in gas. Figure 7 miles per gallon. Depending on where you are headed, you might not have to worry about hotels, but you might have to worry about finding a campground that isn't full. Private campgrounds can be costly and they usually charge extra per person for parties over two. If you plan on visiting big cities the RV is going to be a bad choice. If you plan on going to some of the national parks like Yellowstone, the RV will make it harder to find places to park. The good side to the RV is you don't have to pack and unpack nightly. You can cook your own meals that can save you money. Check before you stay, but many Walmarts let you stay overnight for free.

I don't think you will find a car comfortable enough for 7. I would not worry about a large van making the 5000 miles. They are build for it just as much as an RV. Have you considered bringing camping gear so you could camp if you felt like it?

Good luck!

Utahtea

petergriffin

6 out of the 7 will be 18, 1 will be 17 and all will have drivers licenses. So we'll all be able to drive the RV. The most a campground costs (according to a few online sources) is max $50. Should we expect to pay more? Camping isn't in a favorable opinion.

Will renting the RV itself for a one way trip exceed $5,000? (excluding fuel & maintenance). We plan on mostly visiting National parks and monuments. Not so much big cities. As of right now, we're planning on visiting Nashville & Las Vegas as the two big ones.

We've researched and found Cruise America which seems to offer an RV suitable for our party. I plan on calling them soon for more information.

petergriffin

ALSO-

If our parents were to rent the RV under their name & we were to drive it, is that acceptable or illegal?

Inakauaidavidababy

With all do respect, your significant research is pretty insignificant. No Mommy and Daddy can't rent you the RV. And insurance is a huge considerations and cost. And having a drivers license for a couple of years does not prepare you for driving a huge RV that will sleep 7 adults, if, and I doubt they will rent one to a group in your age category. It's extremely difficult for anyone under 25 to rent any vehicle. Utahtea is well versed in this type of travel so heed her advice.

I certainly don't want to rain on your parade, but attention must be paid to the details.

janisj

Your plan won't work - period.

Renting a motor home is out of the question, and decent motels won't rent to groups of teenagers.

one option you might consider is driving a couple of your own cars (or your parent's cars if you don't own cars yourselves) and taking camping equipment.

janisj

ps: your 'significant research' is quite lacking.

Ackislander

I'm not going to insult you, but the basic message is that this won't work unless one of the group is in a family that already has an RV and will lend it to you.

Even then, you can't just stop to sleep in an RV pretty much anywhere east of the Mississippi. Out West you can usually stop in casino parking lots or at many Walmarts, and there is federal land where you can camp for free, but there are no facilities .

You are going to be a tempting target for every cop in the United States. Seven teenage boys = booze and dope whether that is true or not. Every time you pulled into a camp ground, all the older people would say, "Oh, no", your every move will be watched, and if you breathe wrong, the complaints will fly.

What you _can_ do is go on an extended backpacking trip together. You must be rich kids even to be thinking about this, so maybe you could take the summer to hike the Appalachian Trail or the Pacific Crest.

gail

I admire your sense of adventure. But this is not going to work. You need a fairly large RV. Driving it is not something I would recommend for inexperienced drivers - and even at 17/18, that is what you are. If you can even find someone to rent you one, the insurance for people your age would be exorbitant.

You can not rent a car or van until you are 21, and even then there are expensive surcharges until age 25. One-way rentals of anything adds a great deal to cost.

It is illegal to lie about who is driving the vehicle. If you have any kind of an accident, the insurance will be void and you will end up paying for the damages on your own.

So since you can't rent anything, the choices are now either public transportation or driving what you own. If 2 people own cars, you can all do that - and in fact, as much as you like each other, being able to break up the group might be desirable after a while. Camping or cheap hotels - you can find some that will take 4 people/room will end up being cheaper than an RV, even if you could rent one.

Public transportation - revamp your trip and fly someplace and go from there or take a train someplace.

And make sure any hotels or campgrounds will take people under the age of 18 or 21 - when our son was that age that was a problem. And don't think you can lie - they ask for ID - or sneak people in - there are surveillance cameras and the people who staff these hotels were not born yesterday and you will be caught.

So I think you can still have a post-grad adventure. Just not in the way you were thinking.

nytraveler

Agree that your age is going to make a huge problem.

European kids this age travel in groups all the time - but thy are traveling in places where public transit is the rule - trains go almost everywhere with buses filling in.

As you may know trains in the US are nothing like those in europe, don;t go many places, have very sparse schedules and are often very expensive. Bus is more possible in terms of going many places but not that pleasant - esp for a group and still is not good for many national parks.

I think your only option is to use a couple of your own cars to travel in - and find motels along the way that will take a group of teens (MANY motels will not take people under 21, especially in groups, without an over 21 to be responsible - and may require very large damage deposits.) So you would have to have credit cards with hihg limits, since it takes a while for vendor holds to be removed from you credit limit.

Also you need to run a zero-based budget, make sure you all have access to credit and debit cards, and if you are interested in national parks check out availability (lodgings often rent out many months in advance).

I know this sounds like a wonderful adventure - but you really need to do a lot of research to find out what is possible.

Have you considered europe instead? There youth travel is incredibly popular with a very supportive infrastructure. (A couple of years ago my 19 DD and a couple of friends went for almost 6 weeks and loved it - meeting young people from all over the world in the process.

Ozarksbill

Yes, another thumbs down on a motor home mostly due to being younger than 21 but other reasons also. Too many ifs. But it sounds like you could have a great time traveling one car pulling a fold down camper with stove as well as another vehicle and with some sleeping in tents. You can enjoy campfires and hiking etc. We've done lots of family camping in years gone by with tent, fold down campers, then trailers. You could get a large screened tent with fold down table form group meals. So this might be better than motel rooms.

petergriffin

Ackislander, I find your message to be very offensive. First of all- we are a group of 7 girls and our parents are not all rich. We all have part time jobs and are working very hard for this.

Same goes for you janisj- having never done this, we thought our seven pages of research was significant. My apologies that it wasn't up to your standards.

Thank you to everyone else who was much more kind to us.

rizzo0904

Have you considered going by train?

Inakauaidavidababy

In their defense, I think given that you signed of with the name Peter, many of us made the assumption that it was a group of young men. Even if it were possible to attain an RV for this trip, I find it rather naive and cocky to assume that all of you would be up to the task of driving one for hours a day on unfamiliar roads. Take a wrong turn - have you ever done a three point turn in an RV with height clearance to consider?

7 pages is insignificant when considering such a grand trip cross country. What do you girls want to see and experience? Which route are you considering. Just knowing where to stop from state to state each evening would require files - not pages.

Due diligence is required. Don't resent people who see clearly that due diligence has not been done. Keep researching. Best wishes on whatever adventure you decide.

And remember, the people who you found insulting were simply trying to give you guidance. They took time out of their day to offer suggestions.

gail

For those unaware, Peter Griffin is the name of the main character in the popular animated TV show "Family Guy".

OP/Peter Griffin - aside for some mild snarkiness, we are really all trying to help you plan your post-grad adventure. I think there is a consensus that renting an RV, van or car is not going to work out because of rental rules.

I am happy to help with suggestions for an alternate plan

utahtea

I'm sorry to say that at your groups age you are not going to be able to find a place that will rent you an RV or any other vehicle. Even if you rent from a less known place or a private party, I doubt they will allow one way travel.

Do any of any of you have an older sibling that could go with you on this adventure or even one parent?

Good luck to you all. I hope you find a solution. Once you do, please come back and we'd love to help you plan your trip.

Utahtea