Flying/driving road trips in USA

[jalapeno_pretzel]

We have done the fly/drive out of Seattle. That’s a great one for summer. You can go into Canada and see Vancouver, take a ferry back across from Victoria, see all the places others mentioned. If you look at a road atlas of the area, it’s pretty inspiring.
Have fun, wherever you land!

This is what we're getting ready to do. Seattle to Whidbey Island to N. Cascades National Park to Mt. Baker wilderness area, up to Vancouver, over to Victoria, to Olympic Peninsula to Portland OR, Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Rainier and back to Seattle.

 

[cedricandsophie]

Speaking of driving trips - how do you all do your planning? I was on google maps, but it only lets me map out 10 locations per trip. I was able to do it on AAA but couldn't figure out how to save it and retrieve it so I just took pictures of the map and plans I made. (I'm a member, but it's been quite a few years since I've needed to map out a big trip and their website has changed.) I really like to have everything mapped out and need to start making reservations for my Southwest trip.

We do it the old fashioned way. We have several atlas of the US. The maps aren’t big but yiu can see across states and follow the roads. There are driving times between cities, etc. and scene routes are green.

 

[Stratman50th]

I didn't respond earlier since you only asked for "fly to then drive" trips. I'll toss my hat in even though we drive everywhere, both to the location then back. The info might be helpful to someone.
I select our stop points from several sources, usually around 6 hours apart. I use Google Maps to plan routes and we also have the large trucker road atlas. We use a combination of on line resources, Google Maps, and member sites we belong to to chose our stay at location and branch out from there for sightseeing.

 

[Frwinkley]

This is what we're getting ready to do. Seattle to Whidbey Island to N. Cascades National Park to Mt. Baker wilderness area, up to Vancouver, over to Victoria, to Olympic Peninsula to Portland OR, Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Rainier and back to Seattle.

That sounds great! How many days in each place?

 

[Frwinkley]

Fly into Seattle for a day or so. Drive down to see Mt. St. Helens on the way to Astoria on the Oregon Coast. Stay a couple of days in Seaside or Cannon Beach, OR. Then drive east through the Columbia River Gorge. Gorgeous waterfalls. Turn south to see Mt. Hood then continue to Bend, OR. Stay a couple of days there then spend a day driving around Crater Lake. If you have time, head down to the Redwood National forest in No. Cal.

We did essentially this trip last fall and only regret is not spending more time in each place.

This sounds like a wonderful trip! How many days did you spend in each place?

 

[Mrs.AMC]

Driving Route 66 is fun. We've only done pieces of it. I don't enjoy long car trips so I doubt driving the whole thing is ever in my future but for someone who does, I can see it being a fun trip

 

[Mrs.AMC]

Right now I think I would avoid any trip involving a rental car. Over the weekend the network news was profiling the people who had reservations for a rental car only to find out the rental agency had no car for them. Even folks with confirmed pre-paid reservations.
We've done a couple of 1,000 mile round trips with a third next week where in the past we would have flown and rented a car. Now we drive out car.

Eh, there's always horror stories out there. and trust me, it would suck to be without a rented car. But I bet they didn't bother with reporting on the hundreds of others who had cars and were perfectly happy. Which is the vast, vast majority of car rental customers. There is not a huge shortage of rental cars like there was 2 years ago. And even then most had cars when you rented them, it was hard to rent them.

Are there hiccups and do the media like to find and exploit their stories? You bet the do. Anything that sound sensational for clicks and views. Wish they'd include the total numbers by percentage though, to present the entire picture. Just what percentage of total car rental customers are being left without vehicles? That's the part they leave out because that makes the story not so news worthy.

 

[Mrs.AMC]

New Mexico. Fly into ABQ, rent car, and explore.

• Santa Fe, NM - deserves probably 3 days all on its own. There's some spectacular museums here, and an amazing chocolate shop with the best hot chocolate you've ever had. There are different Native American artisans selling their wares daily outside at Palace of the Governors.
• There's an adorable little town next to Las Cruces called Mesilla which is like stepping back in time.
• White Sands
• Carlsbad Caverns
• stay overnight in Tucumcari, NM, which has some cute old Route 66 motels complete with neon signs & everything
• If you go in the fall, you could catch part of the hot air balloon festival in Albuquerque.
• late August in Santa Fe is a big Santa Fe Indian Market.
• about an hour north of Santa Fe is Taos, NM which is a fun combo of artist & mountaineer town.
• don't miss the Navajo Nation and 4 Corners monument.
• there are ancient pueblo Native American structures that you can see up close at the Aztec Ruins National Monument.
• Bandelier National Monument
• over Labor Day weekend in Hatch, NM, is their annual chile festival.
• if you pass through Gallup, NM, don't forget to stop at the Richardson Trading Post, which has been in operation for almost 100 years.
• Chaco Culture National Park is supposed to be pretty spectacular, but a rental car might not be allowed on the dirt road you have to drive on in order to get there.

I did this trip, more or less, when I was 12. My Grandmother and I bused (yes, took the Greyhound bus, she didn't fly) from Memphis to Albuquerque to visit my Uncle. We hit every one of these stops, but seeing how it was 47 years ago and safer, we also walked over to Juarez. Point here is, even 47 years ago I remember this trip vividly.

 

[tvguy]

Eh, there's always horror stories out there. and trust me, it would suck to be without a rented car. But I bet they didn't bother with reporting on the hundreds of others who had cars and were perfectly happy. Which is the vast, vast majority of car rental customers. There is not a huge shortage of rental cars like there was 2 years ago. And even then most had cars when you rented them, it was hard to rent them.

Are there hiccups and do the media like to find and exploit their stories? You bet the do. Anything that sound sensational for clicks and views. Wish they'd include the total numbers by percentage though, to present the entire picture. Just what percentage of total car rental customers are being left without vehicles? That's the part they leave out because that makes the story not so news worthy.

It is still a problem. https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/a...hortage-and-soaring-prices-keep-getting-worse

 

[Mrs.AMC]

It is still a problem. https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/a...hortage-and-soaring-prices-keep-getting-worse

Sorry, Bloomberg or not, don't buy it. It is spot happening? I'm sure it is. Widespread? Not buying it. Not what I've witnessed with my own eyes.
We returned a rental car to MCO 2 weeks ago and it was almost impossible to fit another vehicle in the garage they had so many cars. DH and I both remarked that in all our years renting we'd never seen so many cars in the garage at one time.
Cars were just as plentiful when we picked ours up a week before that. We had our pick of about 15 in the row of our category
We've been renting about 6 times a year and have yet to run in to a problem.
No, not all have been in Orlando either.
We struggled with reserving a car in Wyoming for late last summer for a while but all the sudden inventory increased and when we landed had no issues with a car being there. Now, the guy next to us did. Because he rented a car in Jackson MS instead of Jackson WY. So he had no car but was it the agency's fault?

 

[tvguy]

Sorry, Bloomberg or not, don't buy it. It is spot happening? I'm sure it is. Widespread? Not buying it. Not what I've witnessed with my own eyes.
We returned a rental car to MCO 2 weeks ago and it was almost impossible to fit another vehicle in the garage they had so many cars. DH and I both remarked that in all our years renting we'd never seen so many cars in the garage at one time.
Cars were just as plentiful when we picked ours up a week before that. We had our pick of about 15 in the row of our category
We've been renting about 6 times a year and have yet to run in to a problem.
No, not all have been in Orlando either.
We struggled with reserving a car in Wyoming for late last summer for a while but all the sudden inventory increased and when we landed had no issues with a car being there. Now, the guy next to us did. Because he rented a car in Jackson MS instead of Jackson WY. So he had no car but was it the agency's fault?

Well, I think if you do some more research you might change your mind. The video of people lined up at rental counters at airports in major cities was amazing. And they get to the front of the line, and yes, they have a reservation, but there are no cars.
The auto industry can't catch up with demand for cars let alone the fleet orders. Look at a Hertz Used Car websites and look at the mileage on the cars they are selling. They used to retire them before 30,000 miles, now it is about 90,000 miles because they can't get replacements.

 

[disykat]

I figured out the triptik on AAA! The website just wasn't working last night. I was able to route the whole trip, save it, and send it to my phone. Now I just need to set dates and start making reservations.

 

[marthachick]

South Dakota is a great trip. We flew into Denver, spent a night in Cheyenne, WY, then went to the western part of South Dakota. The Badlands, Mt Rushmore, Custer State Park, Deadwood, and Devil’s Tower and areas around these are awesome.

 

[tcufrog]

I second Pacific Coast Hwy 1 and New Mexico. We started the PCH in San Francisco and spent a few days there. We then crossed the Golden Gate Bridge, went to Muir Woods, and then went to Sonoma. We then went north on the highway and ended up at Fort Clatsop (the westernmost stop for Lewis & Clark) on July 3rd for their special activities. We spent July 4th in Portland with some friends.

Some of the places we visited in NM were White Sands, Ruidoso, Santa Fe, Taos, Ghost Ranch, New Mexico Museum of Space History, Valley of Fires Recreation Area, and Roswell. There's such a variety of things to do in New Mexico.

 

[Travel60]

This sounds like a wonderful trip! How many days did you spend in each place?

We were out there for a wedding in Portland. Week before was coast, week after in Columbia Gorge, Mt. Hood, Bend, Crater lake and Redwoods. Could have used more time everywhere!

 

[jalapeno_pretzel]

That sounds great! How many days in each place?

We'll be there 11 nights total. Several places we just stay 1 night, but we are in Vancouver 3 nights (2 in downtown and then we relocate closer to the ferry we'll take early the next morning), 2 nights on Olympic peninsula, and 2 nights near Mt. Rainier.

 

[Mrs.AMC]

Well, I think if you do some more research you might change your mind. The video of people lined up at rental counters at airports in major cities was amazing. And they get to the front of the line, and yes, they have a reservation, but there are no cars.
The auto industry can't catch up with demand for cars let alone the fleet orders. Look at a Hertz Used Car websites and look at the mileage on the cars they are selling. They used to retire them before 30,000 miles, now it is about 90,000 miles because they can't get replacements.

I’ll trust my first hand experience over anything I read. But thank you any way

Maybe all those folks need to change the agencies they use? They aren’t all created equal. Some are better than others. I don’t pick the cheapest, or most expensive, but do pick the ones I trust and they’ve not let me down yet

 

[tvguy]

I’ll trust my first hand experience over anything I read. But thank you any way

Maybe all those folks need to change the agencies they use? They aren’t all created equal. Some are better than others. I don’t pick the cheapest, or most expensive, but do pick the ones I trust and they’ve not let me down yet

These were airport locations, and all the rental agencies (Hertz, Avis, Budget) were sold out.
HOWEVER, if you are correct, then folks reading this have no problem. If I am correct, they could be stuck somewhere without a car. My point is, when planning a trip with a rental car, take the extra step to see if the city you are renting car is impacted by car shortages.

 

[Frwinkley]

We'll be there 11 nights total. Several places we just stay 1 night, but we are in Vancouver 3 nights (2 in downtown and then we relocate closer to the ferry we'll take early the next morning), 2 nights on Olympic peninsula, and 2 nights near Mt. Rainier.

Just wondering if you've taken this trip yet. How was it? It's really something I am considering for next summer.

 

[leebee]

Northern New England? You could fly into Boston, see some things (or do so at the end of the trip) and then mosey up the coast. See Salem, MA, then north to Portsmouth NH for a couple of nights. Then on to Portland, ME which is a terrific little city; great food, drink, tours, etc. It's a 3.5 hour drive from there to Bar Harbor, ME if you take the highway as much as possible, but there are great coastal towns all along the way where you could spend a night and poke around town (Camden, for example). After a couple of nights in Bar Harbor, go through Bangor and over to Quebec, then Montreal. Drive south, cross Lake Champlain by ferry into Burlington, VT, cut across to Conway, NH... there are beautiful mountain passes (notches) in NH, and VT is lovely. Then back to Boston and fly home.

>>Here ya go, 1100 miles. If you could do this in early October, it'd be a STUNNING drive!