Experience is sometimes won the hard way, and we are no exception. We had thought through many things in planning our trip across America but inevitably we learned a few lessons along the way. So for any of you that aspire to make such a trip, here are a few pointers.
First of all when planning your trip use any resources you can obtain for nothing. We are members of AAA and their free Travel Guides and maps were invaluable. I am told that if you are a member of the AA in the UK you can also get the AAA's guides and maps for nothing, but don't hold me to that. State tourist offices in the UK will happily also mail you brochures and maps. In addition to the AAA Travel Guides, which contain a wealth of information on hotels, we also made a point of picking up a copy of the hotel discount coupon books in each state. The Florida Homes and Travel website has a link to websites where you can print off coupons or order the books. We also always stopped at State Welcome Centers to add to our collection of free maps, guides and hotel discount books.
However a cautionary tale. Don't get too obsessed by low hotel prices in either the AAA guide or the discount coupon books. Neither wish to upset their advertisers, so they give no hint that would alert you to hotels in questionable areas. We made this mistake in Montgomery, Alabama on the second night of our trip. The Day's Inn looked fine and the immediate area didn't look run down, but as soon as we were unloading our things to put them in our room we were accosted by a black man whose opening words were " Don't worry I'm not going to rob you". He was a beggar and sent him on his way, but we kicked ourselves for letting our guard down and for missing the obvious signs. What signs? We soon worked out that the better restaurant chains are never on the wrong side of town. First find the likes of Outback, Red Lobster, Olive Garden, etc., and then look at the hotels in the vicinity. We discovered that the hotel chains own guides usually list adjacent restaurants, so as we gathered them on our travels it got easier to find the right side of town. It's like a secret code, but no one had told us.
From our earlier articles you will know that we were taking a big coolbox with us complete with our breakfast cereals, as we can't stand a cooked breakfast every day. It proved to be unnecessary and we wouldn't do it again. A free continental breakfast was provided by all but 4 of the 24 hotels that we stayed in. It seems to be a very common thing now. Mind you the breakfasts certainly varied, some being little more than a muffin or doughnut and a coffee, while others were lavish spreads. Including taxes we spent an average of a night on a hotel, equating to about a night before taxes. Apart from Monument Valley, which cost us 7 in the only hotel there, the highest we paid was and the lowest was . In general we found that we got a much better room and a far better breakfast in a three star hotel such as Hampton Inn or Comfort Suites than in a two star property such as Ramada or Super 8, though we had good examples of both. Our worst experience was in a supposedly three star Ramada. We preferred to make an early start so that we arrived mid-afternoon and could explore a place in daylight and be relaxed enough to search out an acceptable hotel and not worry if it took us a while. We always insisted on seeing the hotel room before we committed.
While we wouldn't take our big coolbox again, our small one was invaluable. That and our electric kettle and mugs, etc., ensured that we could make ourselves a hot drink in our hotel room when it suited us. In the sparsely populated dessert areas our Thermos flask was also a lifesaver. We filled it with hot water before leaving each morning so we could stop and make ourselves a coffee or tea if we couldn't find anywhere to buy one, as surprisingly often proved to be the case, even on Interstate highways. It can be a long distance between places out west and some rest areas have no toilets let alone food or drink machines. By the way it is essential to carry plenty of water or other drinks in case you were to breakdown. Police patrols are almost non-existent in the dessert so we were grateful for our trusty Tracfone that never once lost a signal. How else could you call for help if you broke down? I guess you would have to raise your car's bonnet and hope someone stops.
We organised our clothes into three groups. With good weather an emergency set of cold weather gear stayed in the holdall in the car boot the whole trip. We had a smaller suitcase that we used for the clothes we planned to wear for the next three days. We found the weather forecasts remarkably accurate! The other case held all our other clothes. That way most nights we only needed to take one suitcase into the hotel. The dirty washing accumulated in a plastic bag in the car boot between a once a week wash. When that was due we ensured that we chose a hotel with a guest laundry. To keep the car boot reasonably tidy we also had a bin for spare shoes, and another for storing the collection of maps and travel guides that we accumulated.
We preferred to have a cold lunch, such as a sub or a salad and then have a cooked meal in the evening once our day's travels were completed. Dinner cost us an average of . Lunch costs are buried in the a day we spent in cash. Petrol for the 7,827 miles cost us 1 an average of less than a day, something of a contrast to UK prices! The show we went to in Las Vegas, entrance fees to various things and the odd souvenir added a further a day to make an average daily cost for the whole trip of 3. Owning our own car meant we didn't have to hire one, so anyone renting would have to allow for this additional expense.
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