RV trip in America

freddie1970

I'm trying to book a holiday for myself and the missus for next year ...its something i always wanted to do rent a rv and travel around california for 2 weeks ..
Anyways i have been quoted for 6 grand from trailfinders this is for flights RV and 3 nights in hotel...
We can only during peak season hence more expensive
..
Has anyone done this trip themselves and is it worth the expense ...

I looked into it, like you found out, it's ridiculously expensive.
So we rented a car & stayed in hotels & motels instead.
A hell of a lot cheaper

freddie1970

bubblypop wrote: »

I looked into it, like you found out, it's ridiculously expensive.
So we rented a car & stayed in hotels & motels instead.
A hell of a lot cheaper

Who did u rent the car with as the car rental seems to be quite expensive as well

freddie1970

What about booking the hotels and motels would this be difficult as we will be going in July and August peak season

Arguably the best holiday of my life was an RV trip in the US. There were.4 of us lads chipping in though rather than one family, so that lessened the damage a bit compared to your own expenses. We booked everything separately, but the RV rental was $2400 for 14 days in June 2008.

That was over 10 years ago now and not in California, but I'd highly recommend RVing in the US. The freedom you have, the variety of camper parks to choose from, it was a real adventure on the open road.

I've used Trailfinders for another US trip over 10 years ago, no RV, but found them to be a good company for a package.

freddie1970

Yeah from what i hear it is well worth it though

krissovo

There are ways you can do it slightly cheaper with one way rentals but it does take some planning. One example is Denver > LA or Portland > LA you can a get decent A class RV for under $1,600 with cruise America. It’s even cheaper the return direction some times. 12 hours drive at the start would get you in Northern California to start your holiday or enjoy a slow drive down and take in the sites.

When I lived in the Denver area a few years ago I used to get great deals returning RV’s back to their base location and then taking a cheap domestic flight home.

antix80

One-way trips (where pickup and drop off are in different cities) are usually a lot more expensive.

As previous poster suggested you could inquire about a return journeys but it might not suit your itinerary and there can be a time restriction.

CelticRambler

I looked into this when planning a USA road trip last year. Cost-wise, the best deals were to be had picking up new RVs from a production site in ... [can't quite remember - somewhere near Chicago, I think] ... and driving them one-way to rental agencies various parts of California. The rental cost was nominal, and the time allowed to get to the destination was reasonable. The main negative point was having to drive hundreds of miles through the Mid-West to get to somewhere interesting! As I was travelling solo, I decided to take the train instead, so didn't follow up on any of the leads - but it certainly sounded like a good deal for any kind of a group.

Edit: it might have been these guys https://www.apollorv.com/reloc.aspx 1$/night and some/all of your fuel paid. Just picked that one out of my browsing history, but not sure if that is the same one I referred to above.

freddie1970

That does sound good ..and I may look at it ...As this is my 50th holiday and we are short on time i may have just do the regular route

whippet

I was looking in to this for next summer with the kids .. RV for 3 weeks (decent spec) was coming in at about €4k ... I also have been checking out the car option and it is about 1.5k for a decent suv for the same dates .. so car it will probably be.

I’m going to get trailfinders to pice it up for me as I’ve found in the past that they were very competitive against booking direct when I went to New Zealand and another time I went to South Africa

freddie1970

For about 10 days it is coming in at around 2700 for me but that is peak season 27 july to 8 aug ...
Its a lot of money but this is something i have wanted to do for years ...
Everyone who has done it reckons its a great holidays..
Im just finding it hard to persuade the missus to stay in a RV ...

CelticRambler

freddie1970 wrote: »

Im just finding it hard to persuade the missus to stay in a RV ...

Try and get her to visit a motorhome showroom and/or expo-fair and make sure she gets to step inside one (or more) of the top-of-the-range models. When MrsCR saw that she'd be getting a bigger kitchen than she had at home, all hesitation went out the window!

freddie1970

CelticRambler wrote: »

Try and get her to visit a motorhome showroom and/or expo-fair and make sure she gets to step inside one (or more) of the top-of-the-range models. When MrsCR saw that she'd be getting a bigger kitchen than she had at home, all hesitation went out the window!

Not sure that will help she hates cooking

freddie1970

freddie1970 wrote: »

For about 10 days it is coming in at around 2700 for me but that is peak season 27 july to 8 aug ...
Its a lot of money but this is something i have wanted to do for years ...
Everyone who has done it reckons its a great holidays..
Im just finding it hard to persuade the missus to stay in a RV ...

As Celtic Rambler alluded to, they really are like apartments on wheels and are furnished and kitted out to very high standard.

One thing to be aware of is that there is a bit of servicing to carry out as you go - The water tanks will need refilling, the dirty tank will need purging. All campsites that take RVs will have facilities for tending to these duties.

antix80

[Deleted User] wrote: »

One thing to be aware of is that there is a bit of servicing to carry out as you go - The water tanks will need refilling, the dirty tank will need purging. All campsites that take RVs will have facilities for tending to these duties.

How much are campsites for RVs as a matter of interest? Sounds like a ridiculously expensive holiday.

circular flexing

antix80 wrote: »

How much are campsites for RVs as a matter of interest? Sounds like a ridiculously expensive holiday.

About $35 to $50 per night for full service site (with water and electric).

freddie1970

circular flexing wrote: »

About $35 to $50 per night for full service site (with water and electric).

Did you do the trip yourself ..how did u find it

freddie1970

Does anyone know what it is like booking motels at peak season on this trip would you need to prebook or would there be plenty available

CelticRambler

antix80 wrote: »

How much are campsites for RVs as a matter of interest? Sounds like a ridiculously expensive holiday.

Quite the opposite. One of the reasons I decided not to do this kind of a road trip in the US was because I spend several months of the year doing exactly the same here in Europe (ref your other thread) and I wanted someone else to do the driving (it was a 50th birthday treat for me too).

With a full-spec RV, you're not obliged to stop in a campsite. As long as local rules allow it, you can park overnight in some of the most magnificient locations, sure that you've got high quality accommodation to come back to after a day's hike.

For reference, myself and SonNo.1 did an African road-trip this year on the same basis, but with a (roof-top) tent instead of an RV. Other members of the family, staying in a 5-star villa at greater expense, were jealous of us sleeping within sniffing distance of all the wildlife they only got to see in a brochure.

solerina

freddie1970 wrote: »

Does anyone know what it is like booking motels at peak season on this trip would you need to prebook or would there be plenty available

I was in Cali a few years ago and we booked hotels and motels night to night with no trouble at all, even along highway 1 which we were told would be difficult.

Kathnora

Reasonably priced hotels and motels are easy to come by in July and August. Chains like Motel 8, Best Western, Holiday Inn etc are all of a good standard. In saying that though it may be wise to book ahead online before your trip especially for the more popular tourist areas. We (husband and I) always planned our US road trips well ahead and booked all our hotels before leaving home ....gave us security and saved a disagreement on where we would stay and also saved us time looking for a place too. The flip side is of course that you've got to stick to your planned itinerary and you therefore don't have the same flexibility of staying longer in a place that interests you. So, you win some and you lose some. Booking hotels in advance from home allows you to avail of "no cancellation" deals on hotels ....again a bit of a risk but a worthwhile one! On hotels.com you can collect points and get one night in every ten free ...worldwide!

bridster007

RV is great but only if both of you like that lifestyle - certainly would avoid it if either party was not keen and therefore cost becomes irrelevant to the decision. It does involve some work ( 30 mins / day for services and securing stuff before moving off) and you generally won't be heading out at night. Once you park up for the evening that is it as most sites are well outside towns. But you get to eat your own food which is great, as the thoughts of eating out 10 nights in a row in the US don't bear thinking about. Your food costs will be where the big savings are compared to hotels but all in all it does not work out cheaper. State parks are cheapest and would have full services but sometimes a bit isolated which is ok for the locals who carry arms to protect themselves.

smurfjed

I rented this in LA a couple of years ago, 9.5 meter long just for the two of us, but it was a bucket list item



PROS:
Awesome sense of freedom
Beautiful scenery viewed through that massive window
Personal toilet when stuck for hours due to road closure.
Big enough for 6

CONS
Bloody nightmare to drive on highways as laterally unstable
I wasnt confident enough to park overnight in "walmart" so paid $30 - $100 per night for camp sites

COSTS
I went in October so the rental was cheap, I put 100% on it, paid for gas and camp sites for 10 days, total cost around $2700

My wife wouldn't do it again in such a large vehicle, but getting to visit the Joshua Tree national park, the PIMA air museum and Davis Monthan AFB, Grand Canyon, horseshoe bend, Page Arizona and Vegas as well as some great little places along route 66 was well worth it.

Muahahaha

Is that Antelope Canyon smurfjed? Ive an urge to do a three week jaunt across Arizona & Utah, the national parks there look absolutely stunning. It seems a pricey holiday though between RV rental and then paying more in some locations to park it up.

smurfjed

Yes it is Antelope Canyon, that was pretty much as far north as we went, but I would have loved to have continued into Utah. The next plan would involve something smaller that was easier to drive and therefore more fun to drive, or a full size tour bus motorhome (When i win the lotto).

I could have saved money by not parking in camps, but not knowing the cities or the areas that we were in, I was too scared to try it

Muahahaha

Its a really stunning photograph, I really need to get there.

re: parking up when I researched it I came across the American term 'boondocking', basically parking up somewhere for free. There are threads on RV forums dedicated to the topic where posters share GPS locations of some spectacular sites you can park for free. When I do eventually go there I reckon I'll use that info, I think it would kill me to be paying $150+ a day to rent an RV and then having to stump up another $100 to park the bloody thing! I cant get over the prices the RV parks charge for a bit of water, electricity and a parking spot. It doesnt help that the dollar has been so strong against the euro for a good few years now either.

donatmoto

Traveling by RV is much more convenient than other ways, and you save a lot of money, which allows you to increase the length of your vacation. Every year we go on a two-week RV trip with my family. This year, I plan to go to the gulf coast rv park as I have read many reviews about this park, and many people have recommended it. The main advantage is the bay, you will see a beautiful view of the bay and the rising sun in the morning. I think it will be awesome.