I'll explain our route, the tools we used to prepare for it, how much everything cost and any tips we picked up along the way.
If you have a poor attention span; skip halfway down to view a YouTube video of our trip.
To start off, here was our route (although, we did ditch the hire car and flew from Dallas to Las Vegas to save some time and to give us a break from the road):
New York to San Fran on Roadtrippers
The route
- New York (2x nights)
- Philadelphia (1x night)
- Washington DC (2x nights)
- Boone (1x night) to breakup the drive
- Nashville (2x nights)
- Memphis (2x nights)
- Dallas (2x nights)
- Las Vegas (4x nights)
- Lone Pine (Alabama Hills) (1x night)
- Yosemite National Park (1x night)
- San Francisco (2x nights)
There were four of us on this journey, so obviously this helped in bringing down some of the travel and accommodation costs. But... we roughly worked out the below costs:
Accommodation/flights £1400 ($1850) per person
Car hire £400 ($530) per person
Spends £1000 ($1300) per person
Total £2800 ($3700) per person
Obviously, we could have done this much cheaper (but also much more expensively). We feel we got a good mix of budget versus bourgeois experiences.
If we'd have known it would cost that much beforehand, we may have thought twice about the whole trip. But because we staggered our payments over about a year, it didn't feel too excessive - we tried to book a bit each month (a hotel here, a flight there...)
The Trip (in brief)
Here's the YouTube video...
New York
Nights: 2
Accommodation: We stayed at Millenium Broadway which was fine. Nothing of note about this hotel really. Generic hotel in a decent location.
Food/drink: Porterhouse Brew Bar, Ellens Stardust Diner, Carraghers Bar
Top Sights: Times Sq, Central Park, Dakota Building/Imagine Memorial, Greenwich Village, walk across Brooklyn Bridge, The Oculus, Ground Zero, the Friends apartment
Summary: We spent our time whizzing around trying to take in as many of the top-tourist-sights as we could. Unfortunately, we didn't do as much as we'd liked in the time we had as it's a big place.
Times Square is seriously busy. All day. All night. Watch out for the CD sellers around here too; they'll offer you a CD and if you're unlucky enough to even touch it, they'll try and charge you for it. If you refuse, they have a few "friends" who will appear out of the crowds encourage (threaten) you to pay.
We went in August and it was scarily HOT.
On our last day in New York we picked up our first hire car. Tip: get your hire car early to avoid the queues. We waited almost two hours to collect our hire car. The queue was out of the door. Driving out of Manhatten was pretty crazy, but once you're on the freeway - it's all good.
We set off for Philadelphia on the I95. There were quite a lot of tolls on the east, but our hire car had an E-ZPass installed, so you can just drive straight through and any tolls get charged to your card.
Philadelphia
Nights: 1
Accommodation: We used an AirBnB apartment in Old City Philadephia. It came with a rooftop area, which was great for evening drinks with amazing views. Old City had lots of craft beer bars and cool restaurants in this area. Parking was approx $30 per night.
Food/drink: 2nd Story Brew House. Go there for happy hour! We had to sample a Philly Cheesesteak too, so we grabbed one each at Campos.
Top Sights: Elfreths Alley is worth a look.
Summary: After the crowds of New York, Old City Philly was a welcome break. Things were a little more relaxed here, with lots of open space. We booked our first AirBnB "Experience" here too, which was a 5k run around the city labelled as the "Rocky Run". You get to take in all of the sights and learn a little history about the city and it ends with the 72 steps which feature in the Rocky film (I won the race up to the top!)
We left Philadelphia and drove 3 hours to Washington DC. We had booked to stay in a hostel here (Capitol View Hostel), but when we were only a few miles away, the hostel emailed us saying we no longer had our booking, but they'd accommodate us in their "sister hotel" which was a few miles in the opposite direction (Hostel DC Lofty). We decided to check it out. When we arrived at this alternate hotel it was nasty. As we pulled up outside there was an arrest being made. There was a guy taking a leak up the hotel wall. The rooms were disgusting. We werent going to stay here and luckily we hadn't paid for the accommodation yet. We all jumped on our phones and booked the first hotel we could find on Expedia.
Washington DC
Nights: 2
Accommodation: We completely struck lucky with the new hotel we booked on the fly. Kimpton Hotel Monaco was awesome. We arrived to happy hour where drinks and snacks were free between 17:00 and 18:00. Tip: load up on as many free drinks as you can handle at 17:55! This place was probably the best hotel we stayed in during our entire time in the states. We got it at a bargain price too; because Expedia hadn't sold the rooms we got them at about half the price (I think Expedia guarantee to sell rooms for hotels, and if they go unsold, Expedia take the financial hit - hence why it was offered so cheap).
Food/drink: Wok N Roll, District Taco, Dirty Habit (bar in the Kimpton)
Top Sights: Whitehouse (spot the snipers and constant helicopters), Washington Monument, Georgetown, US Capitol.
Summary: Washington DC was actually really good. I wasn't expecting to enjoy this city, but it was great. The first thing you notice is how clean the place is! It was strangely spotless. Our hotel offered free bike hire, so we cycled around the whole city and took in all the top sights on the bikes.
After Washington DC we had our longest drive ahead of us... 6 hours into the Blue Ridge Mountains to a town called Boone. On the way we stopped off at Hampton Cherokee National Park for a dip in the lake. During this long drive we discovered how cheap gas is in the states!
Boone
Nights: 1
Accommodation: We used AirBnB again here and found ourselves a great little cabin in the woods.
Top Sights: We didn't get to explore the area much as our time was limited here. We simply chose Boone as it was a good halfway point between Washington DC and our next destination, Nashville.
Summary: Driving through the mountains was great and the scenery was unreal. This was the first time we had to be conscious of bears. Apparently they frequent the area, but we didn't spot any. However, we did notice some muddy bear prints on the AirBnB door when we arrived.
Nashville
Nights: 2
Accommodation: Another AirBnB. This time we stayed in a condo with a pool which overlooked the Cumberland River.
Food/drink: Broken Egg cafe, Delano Pizza, HonkyTonk Central, Swinging Doors, Roberts Western World, AJs Karaoke
Top Sights: Broadway, Johnny Cash Museum (wasn't worth it though).
Summary: So far in our journey we had taken in a lot of sights, history, culture. When we arrived at Broadway in Nashville, it was time to get stuck into some drinking. The nightlife here was great! Just like one huge party. So many bars and all with live music. Excellent night (dreadful hangovers though).
It was a 3 hour drive to our next stop; Memphis. On the way, we stopped off at Natchez Trace State Park (Cub Creek Lake).
Memphis
Nights: 2 (although one would have been plenty)
Accommodation: A 1960s themed AirBnB.
Food/drink: Silky O'Sullivan (bar with resident goats), Tap Room, Coyote Ugly (avoid), BBQ Central Downtown (awesome)
Top Sights: Shelby Farms Park (a huge nature area with lots of wildlife), Peabody Hotel (go and see the duck march), Graceland.
Summary: Memphis wasn't what we were expecting. It felt a little hostile. There was a large police presence everywhere (presumably to keep the tourists safe and keep some money flowing into the city). Lots of poverty here.
We left Memphis and started our 7 hour drive to Dallas. It was a long drive, but as I've mentioned - driving in the states is simple. The time went quickly, especially as we all took turns with the driving.
Dallas
Nights: 2
Accommodation: A swanky AirBnB high-rise apartment with rooftop pool.
Food/drink: Big Guys Chicken & Rice (the best meal I had during the entire trip), The Woolworth (cocktail bar), Cloud 9 (rotating cafe at the top of Reunion Tower)
Top Sights: Reunion Tower
Summary: We spent most of our time here whizzing around on the Bird rental scooters. You can sign up on your phone, scan a scooter (which are left in various places around the city) and you pay per minute of travel. Excellent idea, but I think the locals hate them.
Here's the YouTube video...
New York
Nights: 2
Accommodation: We stayed at Millenium Broadway which was fine. Nothing of note about this hotel really. Generic hotel in a decent location.
Food/drink: Porterhouse Brew Bar, Ellens Stardust Diner, Carraghers Bar
Top Sights: Times Sq, Central Park, Dakota Building/Imagine Memorial, Greenwich Village, walk across Brooklyn Bridge, The Oculus, Ground Zero, the Friends apartment
Summary: We spent our time whizzing around trying to take in as many of the top-tourist-sights as we could. Unfortunately, we didn't do as much as we'd liked in the time we had as it's a big place.
Times Square is seriously busy. All day. All night. Watch out for the CD sellers around here too; they'll offer you a CD and if you're unlucky enough to even touch it, they'll try and charge you for it. If you refuse, they have a few "friends" who will appear out of the crowds encourage (threaten) you to pay.
We went in August and it was scarily HOT.
 |
| "Here it is, heart of New York City, Times Square. Named for the good times you have when you're in it." - Michael Scott (The Office) |
We set off for Philadelphia on the I95. There were quite a lot of tolls on the east, but our hire car had an E-ZPass installed, so you can just drive straight through and any tolls get charged to your card.
Philadelphia
Nights: 1
Accommodation: We used an AirBnB apartment in Old City Philadephia. It came with a rooftop area, which was great for evening drinks with amazing views. Old City had lots of craft beer bars and cool restaurants in this area. Parking was approx $30 per night.
Food/drink: 2nd Story Brew House. Go there for happy hour! We had to sample a Philly Cheesesteak too, so we grabbed one each at Campos.
Top Sights: Elfreths Alley is worth a look.
Summary: After the crowds of New York, Old City Philly was a welcome break. Things were a little more relaxed here, with lots of open space. We booked our first AirBnB "Experience" here too, which was a 5k run around the city labelled as the "Rocky Run". You get to take in all of the sights and learn a little history about the city and it ends with the 72 steps which feature in the Rocky film (I won the race up to the top!)
We left Philadelphia and drove 3 hours to Washington DC. We had booked to stay in a hostel here (Capitol View Hostel), but when we were only a few miles away, the hostel emailed us saying we no longer had our booking, but they'd accommodate us in their "sister hotel" which was a few miles in the opposite direction (Hostel DC Lofty). We decided to check it out. When we arrived at this alternate hotel it was nasty. As we pulled up outside there was an arrest being made. There was a guy taking a leak up the hotel wall. The rooms were disgusting. We werent going to stay here and luckily we hadn't paid for the accommodation yet. We all jumped on our phones and booked the first hotel we could find on Expedia.
Washington DC
Nights: 2
Accommodation: We completely struck lucky with the new hotel we booked on the fly. Kimpton Hotel Monaco was awesome. We arrived to happy hour where drinks and snacks were free between 17:00 and 18:00. Tip: load up on as many free drinks as you can handle at 17:55! This place was probably the best hotel we stayed in during our entire time in the states. We got it at a bargain price too; because Expedia hadn't sold the rooms we got them at about half the price (I think Expedia guarantee to sell rooms for hotels, and if they go unsold, Expedia take the financial hit - hence why it was offered so cheap).
Food/drink: Wok N Roll, District Taco, Dirty Habit (bar in the Kimpton)
Top Sights: Whitehouse (spot the snipers and constant helicopters), Washington Monument, Georgetown, US Capitol.
Summary: Washington DC was actually really good. I wasn't expecting to enjoy this city, but it was great. The first thing you notice is how clean the place is! It was strangely spotless. Our hotel offered free bike hire, so we cycled around the whole city and took in all the top sights on the bikes.
 |
| Lincoln memorial |
Boone
Nights: 1
Accommodation: We used AirBnB again here and found ourselves a great little cabin in the woods.
Top Sights: We didn't get to explore the area much as our time was limited here. We simply chose Boone as it was a good halfway point between Washington DC and our next destination, Nashville.
Summary: Driving through the mountains was great and the scenery was unreal. This was the first time we had to be conscious of bears. Apparently they frequent the area, but we didn't spot any. However, we did notice some muddy bear prints on the AirBnB door when we arrived.
 |
| Our cabin in the woods and the hire car (which we loved!) |
Nashville
Nights: 2
Accommodation: Another AirBnB. This time we stayed in a condo with a pool which overlooked the Cumberland River.
Food/drink: Broken Egg cafe, Delano Pizza, HonkyTonk Central, Swinging Doors, Roberts Western World, AJs Karaoke
Top Sights: Broadway, Johnny Cash Museum (wasn't worth it though).
Summary: So far in our journey we had taken in a lot of sights, history, culture. When we arrived at Broadway in Nashville, it was time to get stuck into some drinking. The nightlife here was great! Just like one huge party. So many bars and all with live music. Excellent night (dreadful hangovers though).
 |
| Nashville, Broadway (view from HonkyTonk Central) |
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| Cub Creek Lake |
Memphis
Nights: 2 (although one would have been plenty)
Accommodation: A 1960s themed AirBnB.
Food/drink: Silky O'Sullivan (bar with resident goats), Tap Room, Coyote Ugly (avoid), BBQ Central Downtown (awesome)
Top Sights: Shelby Farms Park (a huge nature area with lots of wildlife), Peabody Hotel (go and see the duck march), Graceland.
Summary: Memphis wasn't what we were expecting. It felt a little hostile. There was a large police presence everywhere (presumably to keep the tourists safe and keep some money flowing into the city). Lots of poverty here.
 |
| The main strip in Memphis. Like a poor mans Nashville really. |
We left Memphis and started our 7 hour drive to Dallas. It was a long drive, but as I've mentioned - driving in the states is simple. The time went quickly, especially as we all took turns with the driving.
Dallas
Nights: 2
Accommodation: A swanky AirBnB high-rise apartment with rooftop pool.
Food/drink: Big Guys Chicken & Rice (the best meal I had during the entire trip), The Woolworth (cocktail bar), Cloud 9 (rotating cafe at the top of Reunion Tower)
Top Sights: Reunion Tower
Summary: We spent most of our time here whizzing around on the Bird rental scooters. You can sign up on your phone, scan a scooter (which are left in various places around the city) and you pay per minute of travel. Excellent idea, but I think the locals hate them.
 |
| The view from the top of Reunion Tower |
We said goodbye to our hire car and dropped it off at Dallas airport. We decided to fly from Dallas to Las Vegas to avoid a 10 hour drive of nothingness. It gave us a break from driving and bought us some extra time in Vegas.
We also had to say goodbye to our bag of ice and cool box which we picked up at the start of our journey and used all the way down to Dallas. This kept our food, water and beer cool and meant we could make sandwiches before long drives (to avoid the cost of roadside diners).
Las Vegas
Nights: 4
Accommodation: Luxor
Top Sights: The Gun Store (a gun range where you can shoot a variety of weapons, albeit quite expensive and doesn't last long), Cirque Du Solei LOVE (The Beatles show at Mirage). This was amazing. Highly recommend.
Summary: Gamble, drink, win, lose. Gamble, drink, win, lose. Occassionally sleep.
Also, it was crazy hot. There were some breezes though, but they were like having a thousand hairdryers shoved in your face.
We collected our second hire car in Vegas and spent a day visiting the Grand Canyon (West Rim). The drive out there was jaw dropping. Pure desert roads. We saw genuine cowboys, cows in the road, tumbleweed and dust devils.
Another long drive From Vegas to Lone Pine/Alabama Hills. It was here where we discovered how bad our latest hire car was. It had a slow puncture, so we constantly had to fill up with air. It also couldn't handle going uphill. This made our next 6 hour drive through Death Valley quite difficult.
The scenery through Death Valley was probably our favourite driving experience. We stopped off at Badwater Basin which is the lowest point in North America (-85 meters below sea level). Brisque View was a fantastic unexpected stop off. Furnace Creek was red hot!
Lone Pine
Nights: 1
Accommodation: Dow Villa Motel. This was lovely drive in motel, with a pool which looked out on the surrounding mountains.
Food/drink: Seasons restaurant (great steak)
Top Sights: Alabama Hills
Summary: This is a place where a lot of wild west films were shot back in the day and filming still happens here. The town has a few awesome restaurants and bars. But the real attraction are the Alabama Hills which are a 5 minute drive away.
From Lone Pine we had another enjoyable drive to Yosemite National Park.
Yosemite National Park
Nights: 1 (would have loved to have stayed much longer)
Accommodation: Half Dome Village aka Curry Village/Camp Curry. We booked a 4 person tent and it was loads of fun.
Food/drink: The onsite bar and pizza place were decent.
Top Sights: We barely scratched the surface here as our time was limited, but we managed small hike to the top of Vernal Falls.
Summary: On our approach to Yosemite we were made well aware of the bear threat. We took this information on board, but didn't actually expect to be faced with a bear. Within 5 minutes of settling into our tent we were made aware that there was a bear in a tree a stones throw away from our tent! This was an incredible welcome for us!
We collected our second hire car in Vegas and spent a day visiting the Grand Canyon (West Rim). The drive out there was jaw dropping. Pure desert roads. We saw genuine cowboys, cows in the road, tumbleweed and dust devils.
Another long drive From Vegas to Lone Pine/Alabama Hills. It was here where we discovered how bad our latest hire car was. It had a slow puncture, so we constantly had to fill up with air. It also couldn't handle going uphill. This made our next 6 hour drive through Death Valley quite difficult.
 |
| Death Valley (Brisque View) |
Lone Pine
Nights: 1
Accommodation: Dow Villa Motel. This was lovely drive in motel, with a pool which looked out on the surrounding mountains.
Food/drink: Seasons restaurant (great steak)
Top Sights: Alabama Hills
Summary: This is a place where a lot of wild west films were shot back in the day and filming still happens here. The town has a few awesome restaurants and bars. But the real attraction are the Alabama Hills which are a 5 minute drive away.
 |
| Life on Mars? |
Yosemite National Park
Nights: 1 (would have loved to have stayed much longer)
Accommodation: Half Dome Village aka Curry Village/Camp Curry. We booked a 4 person tent and it was loads of fun.
Food/drink: The onsite bar and pizza place were decent.
Top Sights: We barely scratched the surface here as our time was limited, but we managed small hike to the top of Vernal Falls.
Summary: On our approach to Yosemite we were made well aware of the bear threat. We took this information on board, but didn't actually expect to be faced with a bear. Within 5 minutes of settling into our tent we were made aware that there was a bear in a tree a stones throw away from our tent! This was an incredible welcome for us!
 |
| Half Dome Village |
The air in our tyre was getting seriously low when we left Yosemite, and the gas stations are limited here so it was a nervy drive. When we finally reached a gas station our tyre was down to about 20psi (down from 40psi) and to our horror the air machine was our of order. We had to continue our drive for another hour before coming across another gas station where we could finally top up and continue our final drive to San Francisco.
As we approached San Francisco we noticed that the drivers suddenly got aggressive and the traffic jams started. We hadn't hit any traffic previously during our entire drive, so this felt quite odd. We battled our way through the roads and eventually dropped off our hire car and spent the last few days on foot.
San Francisco
Nights: 2
Accommodation: We struggled finding a reasonably priced hotel in San Fran, but we settled on Hotel Diva. Shortly after booking we were told it was located in the area of Tenderloin, which is notoriously dangerous. So we were fully expecting to be on the wrong end of a stabbing/mugging/murder, but in all fairness it was fine.
Food/drink: Fog Harbour Fish House, Bota Tapas (avoid), Honey Honey Crepes.
Top Sights: Alcatraz, Golden Gate Bridge.
Summary: The most fun we had was hiring bikes and cycling across the Golden Gate Bridge. Probably took us roughly 2 hours to go there and back. Alcatraz was surprisingly interesting too - but you do need to book tickets for this well in advance. We got the first ferry over so the island was empty when we arrived - but was getting really busy when we got the ferry back.
...and that was the end of our journey.
Things to consider
- If you're hiring a car, try to make sure the hotel has free parking.
- Major attractions should be booked well in advance (e.g. Alcatraz becomes available to book approximately 90 days in advance and sell out pretty quickly).
- You'll probably need an ESTA if you're non-American. The website doesn't scream "official", but this is where you can get it sorted beforehand. https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov/esta/
Driving in America (as a non-American)
It's easy.
We were a bit apprehensive about driving in America (wrong side of road, automatic, road signs) but it was surprisingly easy! The whole road system is so straightforward. Interstates are basically flat and straight (although a bit monotonous). It's worth bearing in mind that unlike the UK motorways, you can overtake and undertake on any side (i.e. there's no fast/slow lane as such). So you can happily sit in the middle lane and plod along happily.
General Road Trip Tips
Monzo - Seriously, get yourself a Monzo bank account. It's an online bank account which allows purchases all over the world with no fees! You can withdraw up to £200 overseas each 30 days, before you incur any charges. But making card payments are free and are as straight forward as doing it at home. It has a great app interface and lots of cool features too. Check it out here: www.monzo.com (at time of writing this is available to UK users only).
SatNav - Get yourself an American one, or load USA maps onto your current one. Car hire firms charge a ridiculous daily rate to hire these, so works out loads cheaper to pack your own.
SIM/Phone - To save yourself lots of data roaming charges, unlock your phone and get yourself a Three SIM card. When you land on foreign soil, throw in your new SIM card and you're good to go! I got a 12Gb 30 day plan and only used about 4Gb of my allowance in a 3 week period (including using Google Maps/Spotify/social media on 3G connections). See 12Gb 1 month Advance plan (£23) www.three.co.uk/Store/SIM/Plans_for_phones.
Travel Checklist
Check out a video of our journey below...
It's easy.
We were a bit apprehensive about driving in America (wrong side of road, automatic, road signs) but it was surprisingly easy! The whole road system is so straightforward. Interstates are basically flat and straight (although a bit monotonous). It's worth bearing in mind that unlike the UK motorways, you can overtake and undertake on any side (i.e. there's no fast/slow lane as such). So you can happily sit in the middle lane and plod along happily.
General Road Trip Tips
Monzo - Seriously, get yourself a Monzo bank account. It's an online bank account which allows purchases all over the world with no fees! You can withdraw up to £200 overseas each 30 days, before you incur any charges. But making card payments are free and are as straight forward as doing it at home. It has a great app interface and lots of cool features too. Check it out here: www.monzo.com (at time of writing this is available to UK users only).
SatNav - Get yourself an American one, or load USA maps onto your current one. Car hire firms charge a ridiculous daily rate to hire these, so works out loads cheaper to pack your own.
SIM/Phone - To save yourself lots of data roaming charges, unlock your phone and get yourself a Three SIM card. When you land on foreign soil, throw in your new SIM card and you're good to go! I got a 12Gb 30 day plan and only used about 4Gb of my allowance in a 3 week period (including using Google Maps/Spotify/social media on 3G connections). See 12Gb 1 month Advance plan (£23) www.three.co.uk/Store/SIM/Plans_for_phones.
Travel Checklist
- Print all flight/rental/accommodation/visa documents
- Check and print travel insurance
- Road map (in case Sav Nav fails or no service)
- Pre-load iPad/device with films/music for flights
- If your schedule is relatively "solid" then pre-book any tours in advance (i.e. Alcatraz needs booking months in advance)
- Charge up your USB power banks
Check out a video of our journey below...
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