Hot answers tagged road-trips
21
Buying option
For a one-month trip, I do not recommend buying and selling a car. Although it probably could be done, let me address some of the complications with that first, then I'll discuss rentals:
A $3000 car will be old, and probably not very reliable. I would not trust a car in this price range to get me safely around the country without thorough ...
13
The mordida (nibble) is unfortunately deeply ingrained in Mexico, although mostly a feature of local police and not the federal police or the military, and there are various anti-corruption initiatives at work in the larger cities.
Generally, the interaction involves being pulled over for a traffic offense like speeding or not wearing a seat belt. The ...
12
Sounds like you just want a list of more 21+ (not child type of guides) travel guides. I'm 27 and I understand what you're getting into. I've been to Vegas a lot for conventions (photography more specifically). Last time i was there was '09. Vegas grows so fast. There are already new hotels sprouting when I was there, like Aria (newest hotel / condo / loft / ...
11
I did a route like that last year with a friend of mine. We started in Belgium, went first to Ukraine, then down through Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, Syria and Jordan, where took the boat to Egypt, then went down to Sudan and Ethiopia.
We could easily have driven further down, but we ran out of time. (Planning to continue later on in my/our life.)
We ...
11
I am bit confused because you say "visiting las vegas" and "we don't want it to be to much of a tourist thing". Las Vegas is a tourist thing.
If you want to get drunk then visit the Hooters opposite the MGM. You find a lot of people handling out flyers for strip clubs on the main street (The Strip), and there is a place where you rent a ferrari or lambo ...
11
Unfortunately no, according to Wikitravel.
There is no road or rail system. The easiest way to get around
Greenland is by plane, particularly Air Greenland. In the summer,
Arctic Umiaq Line passenger ships provide service to destinations
between Narsarsuaq and Uummannaq along the west coast.
Of course, if you got a skidoo or dog sled, you could ...
10
If you have only the toddler (and not, say, a 6 year old and 12 year old as well) I don't think it matters much where you stop. A full on amusement park is wasted on someone who can get hours of joy from a cardboard box or a stick (or, luxury, a cardboard box AND a stick.) You're wise to plan a route that takes you into towns large enough to have parks with ...
10
Casual thieves will try to defeat the ignition/steering lock and either ride off with it or ramp it onto the back of a pickup. Professional thieves will bring a couple of bars of rebar and a buddy or three, pick up your ride and haul it into a truck.
Prefer covered/underground/garaged parking over uncovered/lot/street parking. If fewer people can see your ...
10
Well at 6400km for 28 days, that's around 250km a day (allow extra for finding hotels, seeing sights, etc). That's a LOT of driving.
In 2005, I did a trip around South Africa, where we drove 7100km in 23 days. We had some long days (800km) and many shorter days, and it was doable, but wow we did get a bit tired of the car ;)
At that rate, the 13 cities ...
10
(The last paragraph is the TL;DR version...)
I have bought a car in the US as a tourist four times, but twenty years ago.
The first time I was only there four six weeks but I expected to go to all kinds of odd places at odd times so never considered doing it another way given the country's bad reputation for public transport.
As pointed out in another ...
10
All taxes (federal, state, local) are already included.
Be careful though, it might get more expensive depending on where you go. One year ago, gas was ~$3,5/gallon around Las Vegas but in Northern California it was more $4. The lowest and highest I've seen were $3,3 and $4,2. So you should still have some margin in your estimate.
But like everywhere, ...
9
From 1995 to 2010 Italian Radio Television (RAI - Radio Televisione Italiana), conducted a series of road trips with a couple of trucks, usually starting in Italy, with the final destination on various continents including South America, (South) Africa and Asia.
So it would be possible to do, but you would need special trucks (not cars), a lot of money, ...
8
You can certainly go all over Asia. As for Africa, there's nothing in the way except politics, and the ruggedness of your vehicle. For other continents, you'll probably need a specialist vehicle to traverse the ice cap to get across from the top of Russia to the top of Canada. Once you're there, there's nothing physically stopping you driving down to ...
8
If you're driving along northern Ohio and Indiana, you'll be skirting the Great Lakes. Ohio abuts on Lake Erie, western Indiana touches the cleaner Lake Michigan just before you get to Chicago. If you want a "change of pace," it might be worth taking a small detour to see some lake views. There might be some parks along the way. It's been a number of decades ...
8
Careful here. If Google says "8h drive" this means absolutely no red lights, no traffic jam, going max allowed speed all the time and no pit stops. I would double that for a realistic estimate, or plan 3x as much if you want to stop for roadside attractions every now and then.
I have been to Toronto during winter. The area on the Canadian side is pretty ...
8
I traveled most of the Panamerica by public bus in 2008-2010. A normal car should be sufficient for the main road even though south of Mexico is is usually a 2-lane affair and can be pretty windy in the mountains and you can't go too fast. However you may want to leave the Panamerica for some side trips and the smaller roads are often not in the best ...
8
There are some great opportunities along you're route. First of all I would go back to Girona or even Barcelona. Both are very interesting cities. From there you can go on to Andorra. In Andorra you can't do a lot of things, but hey your country-counter will increment by 1. If you're into mountains/hiking you can spend some time there. From Andorra I would ...
8
IMHO, driving yourself is the way to do it if you want any freedom at all once you get there.
I've been to Yosemite several times - the most recent just over a week ago. The drive from the San Francisco Bay Area depends a little on where you start out, and what time of day/week you go, but if you plan for about 4 hours you'll be close to the mark.
Once ...
8
The mythical, even mystical, route I think of, is not by car but by foot. It is not even a single route but a network of paths from everywhere in Europe to a single place: This is the Way of St. James.
I never heard of something close to Route 66 in Europe. Though car has an essential role in today's Europe, its history is relatively young. Famous paths are ...
8
Yes, there are many modern roads and highways - especially in Italy - that follow the old roads. They were some seriously industrious workers - with roads throughout Europe, over mountains, across the UK and in the Middle East and Africa!
Firstly, voila, Wikipedia to the rescue!
Italy
Major roads
Via Aemilia, from Rimini (Ariminum) to Placentia
Via ...
7
In addition to the casino rounds, food, Grand Canyon day trip and other entertainment, don't miss out on the Cirque Du Soleil shows in Vegas. Expensive, but if you are making a 'once-in-a-lifetime' trip, you can't afford to miss these. I would recommend O at the Bellagio and/or Ka at MGM
7
I'll just mention that you are not likely to experience any problems in crossing the US/Canada border by car. As long as the car is legally registered in one of the countries, you can drive it in the other. There should not be any "import/export hassles" at the border, as long as you are only going for a short visit and not taking up residence.
The only ...
7
One popular place for hiking and nature views—as far as Finland's peaks go—is the Saana fell. It's located far in Finland's northwestern "arm", close to the point where the Finnish, Swedish and Norwegian borders meet. (On the other hand, at that point you'll surely have seen far more impressive views while driving up the Norwegian coast.)
There are also ...
7
A nephew of mine witnessed a shooting at a gas station in Northern Mexico when driving from Mexico City to Texas, but then again that can happen anywhere. I saw a shooting last time I was in L.A.
When I was in Mexico in 2008/2009 the northern states felt just as safe as the rest of the country. I did not drive but used public transport and walked a lot.
I ...
7
You don't need US driver's license, just your national one.
Some of the insurances are mandatory, some are optional. This article on WikiTravel gives a good overview. Details differ between different rental companies, so read the fine print on their web sites.
You usually have to be 25 or older and need a credit card.
7
I'll answer your first two questions:
Technically, the road can be done with a normal car, but practically it can't. Too many bad patches, particularly between southern Egypt and northern Kenya or Uganda.
That same stretch is also the most insecure. People are kidnapped, robbed and murdered on that stretch, though plenty, particularly locals, do travel the ...
7
I suppose the only real European equivalent is the ill-defined 'grand tour'. But you'll be hard pressed to actually find it.
Here's another question on the grand tour.
That said, there are plenty of semi-epic drives around Europe. In fact, much of Europe is so compact, that you can easily come up with your own epic ride in pretty much any part of Europe, ...
7
There are a lot of different questions in here. I tried to answer at least some of them:
1) Apart from a fully functioning car I would recommend to take a GPS navigation device with you. Check if the maps are up-to-date. Additionally, you should inform yourself, if you need any additional gear if you want to travel through foreign countries. If I remember ...
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