How long of a drive (or vacation) is TOO long?

[wenrob]

I did leave out some of the "best" states we'd be driving through -- Montana, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, Colorado -- I'm just less in need of tips for those areas The randomness of it is why I started to think about driving though, I mean, when else am I going to be in South Dakota or Utah, lol

Idaho and Utah are not all that exciting. Some pretty scenery to be sure but you mention Salt Lake City. What is it that you hope to experience there? It's not a very pretty city, some parts are downright seedy and the traffic is comparable to LA. The temple is beautiful, especially at night but to maneuver through the city to get to it isn't worth it IMO.

 

[pryncess527]

Idaho and Utah are not all that exciting. Some pretty scenery to be sure but you mention Salt Lake City. What is it that you hope to experience there? It's not a very pretty city, some parts are downright seedy and the traffic is comparable to LA. The temple is beautiful, especially at night but to maneuver through the city to get to it isn't worth it IMO.

I hadn't really thought much about it yet -- just starting to dig into the details of what is along our path on roadtrippers.com -- but I've spent a lot of time doing family genealogy, so I liked the idea of at least stopping by their library. I know I wouldn't have time to do any meaningful research though. I have a friend at the University of Utah we might stop in to see. I hear the church is beautiful!

 

[xlxo]

Thoughts...

• road trips are great.... if you find the distance too far.... just turn around. Where abouts are you starting your 30 hour journey?
• pay attention to the news..... you may be rerouted due to forest fires
• You might find driving in the US as much as possible to take advantage of the lower fuel costs.
• One idea is head North from Seattle to Vancouver, but then go North to Whistler and then East to Calgary before returning to the USA. Check out the Columbia Glacier.
• Vancouver is worth it..... you need a few days to explore the area.
• If you are hauling a lot of stuff... try your best to hide it to avoid vehicle break-ins at attractions and overnight hotels.
• fyi.... there are TWO Vancouvers..... which one?

 

[wenrob]

I hadn't really thought much about it yet -- just starting to dig into the details of what is along our path on roadtrippers.com -- but I've spent a lot of time doing family genealogy, so I liked the idea of at least stopping by their library. I know I wouldn't have time to do any meaningful research though. I have a friend at the University of Utah we might stop in to see. I hear the church is beautiful!

Ah, okay. Just didn't want you to build yourself up for it and be hugely disappointed. Just a little FYI, the Churches and the Temples are two different things. If driving through Idaho and Utah, you will see many, many LDS churches, all rather plain and almost identical to one another. The temples are amazingly beautiful in comparison, the Salt Lake Temple in particular. The grounds are lovely but the only inside part you'd be able to see is the "tour" which is just as plain as the churches you see going through. The outside is worth seeing though if you're there.

 

[pryncess527]

Thoughts...

• road trips are great.... if you find the distance too far.... just turn around. Where abouts are you starting your 30 hour journey?
• pay attention to the news..... you may be rerouted due to forest fires
• You might find driving in the US as much as possible to take advantage of the lower fuel costs.
• One idea is head North from Seattle to Vancouver, but then go North to Whistler and then East to Calgary before returning to the USA. Check out the Columbia Glacier.
• Vancouver is worth it..... you need a few days to explore the area.
• If you are hauling a lot of stuff... try your best to hide it to avoid vehicle break-ins at attractions and overnight hotels.
• fyi.... there are TWO Vancouvers..... which one?

Kansas City, Missouri
Good call! I was grateful we'd be doing this in summer with no worry of snow, but didn't really think about fires.
thanks for the canada suggestions! My original path was mostly US, but I'd love to see more of Canada, we may explore that option
Vancouver BC -- for the Celebration of Lights. So we have 9 days in Vancouver and only have "plans" for 10pm+ on three nights, lol. I know I want to take go north and check out Squamish one day, but that's about all I've planned for Vancouver so far. We do have friends in the city we will visit.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

I'm surprised at how many posters said that 20 days was too long to be away from home. These are posters on a trip planning board.
Does no one take 3 week trips on a regular basis? Our trip to Florida last year was 19 nights. Yes we missed the dog when we were gone but we had a blast.

Unfortunately, I have neither the time nor budget to do this. And honestly, no it's not something I'd do on a rebuy basis even if I could. I HAVE and I WOULD, but it's a rarity.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

My SO wants to do a cross country trip one day and stop along the way to stop and see things. I would do it in an RV. And without little kids. I would think 3-4 weeks would be a good amount of time.

We've done the drive from NJ to FL (with kids and minimal stops) and it's ok but by 12 hours I'm very much over it and start to get very antsy.

RV's are work. Set up & pack up every day. Take on water, empty the toilet, and they're no joy to drive. Unless you're really into camping, I would pass. Rent a minivan & stay in hotels/motels every night instead

 

[J.C.&ALI'SMOM]

We have driven to WDW many times. It's 12 hours if we don't have a problem with traffic or more than gas stops. We have driven to Fort Lauderdale once but we stopped and stayed in Savannah overnight. I would probably drive 14 hours straight. Any more and I feel like it would not be safe.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Kansas City, Missouri
Good call! I was grateful we'd be doing this in summer with no worry of snow, but didn't really think about fires.
thanks for the canada suggestions! My original path was mostly US, but I'd love to see more of Canada, we may explore that option
Vancouver BC -- for the Celebration of Lights. So we have 9 days in Vancouver and only have "plans" for 10pm+ on three nights, lol. I know I want to take go north and check out Squamish one day, but that's about all I've planned for Vancouver so far. We do have friends in the city we will visit.

I don't remember the exact route she took but my mother-in-law years and years ago went with her mom straight up basically from KCK into Canada then went towards Vancouver. Now in the next couple of years she plans on doing more touring of the U.S. (specifically National Parks) with their 5th wheel.

Either way sounds good to me..explore the U.S. or explore more of Canada.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

RV's are work. Set up & pack up every day. Take on water, empty the toilet, and they're no joy to drive. Unless you're really into camping, I would pass. Rent a minivan & stay in hotels/motels every night instead

Never thought of that. Point taken! I will surely do that instead. I've never been camping a day in my life and have no desire.

 

[Hikergirl]

RV's are work. Set up & pack up every day. Take on water, empty the toilet, and they're no joy to drive. Unless you're really into camping, I would pass. Rent a minivan & stay in hotels/motels every night instead

I don't think I'd do it my travel trailer, but if I had a Class A or a Class C I would do it.
Besides, its dh that does the driving and has to take care of all the setting up and taking down stuff, especially the black water tank

 

[amberpi]

I'm surprised at how many posters said that 20 days was too long to be away from home. These are posters on a trip planning board.
Does no one take 3 week trips on a regular basis? Our trip to Florida last year was 19 nights. Yes we missed the dog when we were gone but we had a blast.

I think a lot of the disagreement is in regard to the drive. I've done 35 days in Europe, but there's NO way I'd spend 30 hours in a car.

 

[Westcoastwild]

I'm kind of wondering about your math. You say 1500 to fly, 5 days to drive one way. But that's at least 100 a night in a hotel. So that's 1000 in just lodging, plus gas, plus food on the road. Add in dog boarding because even if you pay a family friend, 20 days of that will add up.

So I think it's much more expensive than flying and probably more aggravating. I've done one similar road trip as an adult, mostly because there just wasn't transit options that worked with hiking plans. I loved it, but would not do it with kids in the backseat.

I'd fly, and if you can really spend 20 days, spend the extra time over there. Plenty to keep you occupied for 20 days between BC, Wash, and OR. And that's not even adding Alaska or California!

But then again, I'm one of those weirdos that likes airports and planes. Wasn't even mad over my last 24 hour delay because it was like mini holiday including wine tasting at the airport!

 

[22Tink]

Yes! this is what we are going for. We have a hotel room with a balcony overlooking the Bay, so honestly were hoping to avoid crowds by watching from there I've been trying to find out if that's an impractical plan though and did consider booking seats. what do you think?

I say enjoy your balcony!! It's crowded mayhem on the beach!!

 

[amberpi]

LOL. 1 hour before departure? Anything less than 2 hours before and I am sweating, 3 hours for international flights, and 4 hours if it it MCO.
I flew to and from Phoenix on Southwest last week and we all got TSA Pre-Check, and got there 2 hours early, had a bite to eat before boarding. Was surprised to get TSA Pre-Check again because I thought they had stopped the "free" trials. We have never signed up.

Yep - I have friends like you. I just don't. If they want to hang at the airport, fine. I just go seperately. 4 hours at MCO sounds like hell to me. I spend enough time in airports. I get some people are nervous about "OMG, missing the flight." I'm not one of them, so I don't. Its the same thing with how to do Disney, not everyone would enjoy how I do it, but I'm not going to be miserable to do a different way, nor am I going to get to the airport early to make someone else happy. I can meet them on the plane and we can all be happy together!

 

[aprilgail]

I would take that drive in a heartbeat! Two summers ago my 15 year old daughter and I took a 6 week road trip - 11,000+ miles from NY -across the top of the US to Washington, down through California, across to Vegas, down to Arizona then over to Texas and cut back up to Tenn, W. Virginia and back to NY- It was the BEST time ever spent together! We had such a blast that not a day or two goes by that we don't mention something or someone that we saw on that trip. Every time a clue comes on Jeopardy with a place in the US we both say "we went there" if it was a place we stopped at. We stayed a day or two in most places we stopped, LOVED South Dakota and stayed 3 in Yellowstone. It was something I dreamed about doing with my daughter her whole life and the month after I retired we took off on our adventure! One thing we did learn was to stick to Marriotts- if none around a Best Western would make due but never ever ever stay in a Motel 6 again LOL.

 

[pryncess527]

I'm kind of wondering about your math. You say 1500 to fly, 5 days to drive one way. But that's at least 100 a night in a hotel. So that's 1000 in just lodging, plus gas, plus food on the road. Add in dog boarding because even if you pay a family friend, 20 days of that will add up.

So I think it's much more expensive than flying and probably more aggravating. I've done one similar road trip as an adult, mostly because there just wasn't transit options that worked with hiking plans. I loved it, but would not do it with kids in the backseat.

I'd fly, and if you can really spend 20 days, spend the extra time over there. Plenty to keep you occupied for 20 days between BC, Wash, and OR. And that's not even adding Alaska or California!

But then again, I'm one of those weirdos that likes airports and planes. Wasn't even mad over my last 24 hour delay because it was like mini holiday including wine tasting at the airport!

the dog boarding is a cost we only have if we fly. We take the dogs if we drive.
But honestly, your math is about the same as mine. We have a friend to stay with 1 night each way, but the hotels I priced out were just under $1000, AAA estimates my gas at around $500.

So the cost of driving vs flying is comparable. Driving is going to be a bit more expensive, but we also get more vacation out of it. We will spend more on food than we would if we were home those days, so that is a factor. Budget isn't really the concern here TBQH, I just thought we might get more enjoyment out of the same dollars by driving.

 

[pryncess527]

I say enjoy your balcony!! It's crowded mayhem on the beach!!

Yay!! I'm glad someone who has been thinks our plan is feasible. My FIL does not like crowds

 

[Westcoastwild]

the dog boarding is a cost we only have if we fly. We take the dogs if we drive.
But honestly, your math is about the same as mine. We have a friend to stay with 1 night each way, but the hotels I priced out were just under $1000, AAA estimates my gas at around $500.

So the cost of driving vs flying is comparable. Driving is going to be a bit more expensive, but we also get more vacation out of it. We will spend more on food than we would if we were home those days, so that is a factor. Budget isn't really the concern here TBQH, I just thought we might get more enjoyment out of the same dollars by driving.

Didn't catch the time of year. But if it's summer, you're heading into some really hot territory. And dog can't hike in any National parks plus many state parks. Pet fees at hotels can add up. Also consider that you need vaccination records to go over the border. Leave puppy at home!

Other than that...I'd stretch it out a few more days if possible. Lots of great stuff to see and it sounds like a blast. Except Salt Lake City. Most boring city I have ever been to. Skip it and hit one of the amazing National Parks- I think Utah has 4 or 5. I haven't been but there are renaissance fairs in the Midwest at that time of year. Kansas City BBQ and the brown vs board of education historic site in Topeka, KS. A western themed theme park in northern Idaho, plus beautiful mountains and lakes. The Hiawatha bike trail on the Idaho/Montana i90, it's amazing! Great carousels in Spokane and Missoula. Missoula's is funky, Spokane's is one of the oldest and most beautiful in the country.

 

[Kitty 34]

Back in the day (like 30 some years ago).............We road tripped it several times back and forth from Michigan to Colorado. Now anything over 6-8 hours we would fly in a heartbeat. But that's age speaking.