Elliott_Soderberg

Right, here's the plan:
In a few years (when I'm 21) I want to go over to America for a bit of a road trip, the route I'm planning to take is

New York - Philadelphia
Philadelphia - Washington D.C.
Washington D.C. - ?
? - Jacksonville
Jacksonville - Miami

Miami - San Diego (flight)

San Diego - Los Angeles
Los Angeles - San Francisco
San Francisco - ?
? - Portland
Portland - Seattle

It's a bid journey I know, I hope to spend about a week in each city.
Has anyone got any suggestions for the '?' and things to do in the city's and along the way?

tomfuller

First question mark would be either Myrtle Beach or Charleston depending on what you want to see.
I would consider flying from Miami to New Orleans for a day or two. Don't you want to see any of the middle of our great country?
For your second question mark, I would pick Crater Lake National Park with a detour through Bend Oregon.
The other option for ?2 would be somewhere on the Oregon coast north of Brookings. Take the time to see Redwood NP in northern California.

nytraveler

If by rod trip you mean driving - it can be very difficult/expensive to rent a car if yuo are under 25. Also there is no way I would do a road trip that length alone.

For some of it - NY/Philly/DC train makes more sense unless you are headed out into the countryside. Other than that - trains are few, far between, often many hours late and expensive. do look into flights - which can be very cheap - esp for DC to FL. (Are you sure youwant to go to Jacksonville?) also yuo haven;e included any of the major national parks - do yuo want an all city trip?

For what to see and do - get some guidebooks - Let's Go and Rough Guides for your age group - and have a loot at the Thorn tree section of the Lonely Planet web site. Also - a lot of this will depend on your interests - which you haven;t told us anything about.

Placename

You are going to need to start saving money. The US is an expensive country in which to travel. Start by budgeting about $120 a day. See how it all adds up.

Get ahold of a guidebook and start reading it. There are many out there. Fodors makes a USA guide, so does Lonely Planet. That will be useful in getting an idea of what to do.

janisj

21 + road trip is a HUGE problem unfortunately. Can you travel w/ an older friend or relative? Even someone just 25 or 26 will make everything easier. Or even have someone else join you just for the western part of your trip where a car is more essential-- especially in most parts of California except for specifically IN San San Francisco. Most of the eastern legs are easy by public transport.

Also most car rentals are limited to 29 or 30 days --insurance won't cover you for longer. So you may have to turn in one car and either re-write the contract or pick up a different car.

You have a long time to plan so think about these sorts of issues..

tomfuller

If you are solo and under 25, it seems to me that the Amtrak trains are your best option. New York, Philadelphia, Washington DC then 1 of the Silver Service trains overnight to Florida. I would skip a stop in the Carolinas since the train stops there in the middle of the night. Jacksonville and Miami are both served by Amtrak. Fly from Miami to either New Orleans or Chicago. Take an Amtrak train from whichever all the way to California. You have your choice between Emeryville (San Francisco) or Los Angeles. If you can rent a car in California, you can see a lot more. The best deal you can get with Amtrak is the USA Railpass. Depending on the length of your trip you can get either a 30 day (12 segment) or a 45 day (18 segment) Pass. Currently, the 30 day pass is $649 and the 45 day pass is $829. These prices will almost certainly go up in the next 2 years.

Tomsd

How old are you now? Admire your working toward a goal and planning ahead.

Elliott_Soderberg

thanks to all I will take into consideration all of your points, the route was just a basis for a trip. looks like I may have to rethink a few things but that's fine.
I have always wanted to see America and I like the idea of a coastal trip, I don't have anything against the middle of the county, its just a matter of time and money, but one day I will probably visit again (I hope).
In answer to Tomsd's question, I'm 16 at the moment. I like to have a goal, I am not particularly academic, so a goal helps me work hard through exams and all that.
Thank you again, I'm sure I will have more questions soon.

Elliott_Soderberg

Also, just out of interest does anyone know anything about the township of Evesham just out side Philadelphia. I would like to visit as I live in Evesham, England and we are twined towns so I wanted to visit but I don't know if there is much to see/do there

Amy

Most of Evesham Township (in the State of New Jersey) is referred to as Marlton, which is a district within it. It's got a Main Street with a variety of shops, some lovely houses, and you can get a bus in center city Philadelphia that gets there in about an hour and a half. It's not a place that I'd go out of my way to see, but it would give you a view of residential East Coast and it would be fun to contrast, I'm sure.

www.googlemaps.com will give you a street view if you enter Marlton, NJ; you might get some idea from that.

Elliott_Soderberg

Haha, sounds like this Evesham, not somewhere you would go out of your way to see, oh well could be fun

Dukey1

I agree with the idea of an Amtrak pass for both coasts. I'd try to find a cheap way to get from Miami to San Diego or perhaps Miami to Los Angeles and one relatively cheap way would be to fly from Fort Lauderdale non-stop to Phoenix on Southwest and change there for another non-stop flight from Phoenix to San Diego.

janisj

I've been to your Evesham MANY times (I'm from California but lived outside of Oxford for 5 years long before you were born ) Last time I was there was in 2010 driving through (around really) enroute to the M6.

Unfortunately - Amtrak on the west coast isn't nearly as useful for touring as on the east side of the USA. You can get around a bit - but the trains aren't all that convenient for amazing places like the California and Oregon coasts or the redwoods - pretty useless. But if you just want to hit the cities - then Amtrak is fine.

Elliott_Soderberg

I am liking the sound of this amtrak, it sounds like a pretty cheap way of getting round and unless I win the lotto in the next few years its going to have to be cheap. and I have just looked at this amtrak map:
http://www.zachshaner.ca/wp-content/...Pocket-Map.jpg
and it goes through most of the places I want to go except San Francisco, but San Jose is close enough.
Janisj, what did you think of our Evesham?

tomfuller

The California Zephyr (from Chicago) ends in Emeryville California with a bus trip from the EMY station to any of several locations in San Francisco. The bus trip does count as one segment on the Rail Pass even though you could go all the way from Chicago to Emeryville without a layover night on 1 segment.
The interactive map on amtrak.com is better than the one you posted

bbqboy

Rideshare on craigslist is a great way to get around the country, especially if you can contribute to driving.

traveler2005

I love your goal. When I was young, I wanted to do the same thing in reverse (go to Europe).

If you want to find out more about Evesham, you might put it in its own topic to catch attention. When you do come, you might want to notify some of the city officials or newspaper. I'll bet they'd enjoy making a big deal out of a visit from someone from their twin city.

Elliott_Soderberg

@traveler2005 -
Did you end up going to Europe?
If so where abouts did you go?
Also that's a great idea, I might do that. I was thinking of doing a video everyday while I was out there, so if I can get something interesting while I'm there.