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We are planning to travel from Australia to the US from the end of October 2009 for four to five weeks.  Neither of us have been to mainland USA before.

During this trip we will concentrate on the West Coast and see the East Coast another time.  We will be flying in to LAX.  We want to do the touristy things like Disneyland, Universal Studios, San Diego Zoo and perhaps a day-trip to Tijuana.  Any suggestions on what else to see would be appreciated.  We then plan to travel up the coast via Monterey to San Francisco, see Fisherman's Wharf, Alcatraz etc. then on through OR and WA to the US/Canada border.  From there we want to see Vancouver and Victoria Island, then make our way across (hopefully on the Rocky Mountaineer) to Calgary, then a couple of days in Edmonton.  We will spend a few days with my friend in south-east BC.  We want to spend a few days in Las Vegas, and also see the Grand Canyon.  We are used to long drives as we live about 740 miles north of Perth, Western Australia and drive to Perth in one day.  I have a friend I'd really like to see in Omaha NE, but I'm guessing it would be best to fly there and back.  Either before or after our visit to mainland USA, we will be stopping in Honolulu for three or four days.  I have been there before (20 years ago), and I think we'd be OK without a hire car.  I seem to remember that "The Bus" went almost everywhere in Honolulu.

 Hubby is not keen on travelling long distances on a bus, so we will be hiring a car in LA.  Can cars hired in the US be taken into Canada?  If the car cannot be taken into Canada, we would need to leave it probably in Seattle WA then get a bus to Vancouver, and vice-versa on the way back.  How do I find out about hire cars that are in, for example, LA and need to go to San Francisco or Seattle?  I believe these are cheap, if not free, but you have only a certain amount of time to get them from A to B.  Having looked at hire car prices, I think we will need to budget at least US$300 a week for a hire car.  We have thought about buying a car then selling it for what we can get for it when we are finished, however I am concerned about the possibility of not being able to get insurance without a permanent California address or California drivers licence. 

We are also looking for clean comfortable accommodation, preferably with breakfast included, without spending a fortune.  After all, we intend to be out most of the day and will be there only to sleep, shower, etc.  What are the Motel 6 and Super 8 accommodations like?

 Hubby is keen to see at least part of the old Route 66 and I have found directions for that, heading out of Santa Monica. 

 We would be really grateful for any information.  Thank you in advance.

Kudos to you!  I was so glad to read that you are being smart and keeping your trip to the western part of the U.S.  Very frequently we hear from folks who want to drive all over the U.S. in a very short amount of time.  But given that you are from Australia (another large country) and have experience with long distance drives, it looks like you will be sensible about your planning. 

The itinerary you've posted sounds good.  You've got many of the main sights in southern CA in there.  I would suggesting taking time to see some of the top attractions in LA - the walk of fame, hollywood sign, la brea tar pits, rodeo drive. 

Regarding taking a rental car into Canada, it should not be a problem.  This is the policy from Alamo Rentals:

Rentals originating in the United States (USA) can be driven throughout the USA and Canada. Vehicles cannot be driven into Mexico. *Please note: Canadian citizens cannot rent a car in the US and drive it into Canada.

Notice that you cannot take it to Tijuana.  You can check the other major rental car companies by following the links from our Car Rental Tips page.  www.usatourist.com/english/tips/carrental.html

To visit your friend in Omaha, you are right.  Flying probably would be best as driving will add on at least 2 additional days each way depending upon your route.

I am not certain what you mean about the hire cars from A to B being free or cheap.  I am guessing that you are referring to a drive away or auto transport.  This is where you drive a car for an individual or a company from point A to point B in X number of days.  This is not very common and only comes to mind because someone else just posted a question about this to our Forums.  You can read that post and my answer here:  http://community.usatourist.com/forums/t/921.aspx

And kudos again!  You are right about the buying/selling a car plan.  We state on USATourist to not do this because of the difficulty and high cost with insuring and registering the vehicle without a permanent US address.  Folks who read our page on this don't want to beleive us and will write us insisting they want to do it and they want us to tell them how they can cut through all the red tape.  Thanks for sparing me having to disappoint yet another traveler with my discouragements! 

Many hotels in the U.S. do offer a free continental breakfast.  This means a buffet of coffee, cereals, fruit (apples and oranges), and baked items like muffins or danishes.  The quality can vary.  You may get lucky and find hotels that do provide hot items like scrambled eggs and bacon.  But for the most part, you can expect this to be very simple.  Other hotels will offer a nicer breakfast for a fee. 

Of course the best accommodations and breakfast can be found at a B&B.  However in the U.S. these can be quite expensive at $200 on up per night.

Motel 6 is an economy hotel chain.  They are very popular among the cross-country big-rig drivers.  I stayed in one of these years ago and it was neither clean nor comfortable, but it was cheap!  It was a long time ago, so perhaps they have changed.  They do certainly advertise a lot on U.S. tv, so perhaps they've made some improvements over the years.

I would consider Super 8 to be a small step above a Motel 6. 

Generally you can be fairly certain that you will have a clean room if you stay in one of the other, slightly higher cost chains like Comfort Inn, Holiday Inn or Best Western.  You can view a listing of these chains on our Budget Hotels page www.usatourist.com/english/tips/budgethotels.html.  Our moderate hotels page lists the chains that cost a bit more but aren't luxury level.  www.usatourist.com/english/tips/moderatehotels.html.

Some hotel properties (particularly on the budget chain level) are privately owned.  So the cleanliness and quality can vary, depending upon how well the owner manages the place.  Also, cheaper hotels are generally less likely to offer anything other than coffee in the morning.  I recommend using our hotel search engine.  www.usatourist.com/english/reservations/reservations-hotels.html.  You can read reviews from past guests to get a better idea of how clean, comfortable and quiet that hotel is.  And in the property description you can see of a breakfast is offered.  It is possible that a hotel will offer breakfast and not list it as an amenity.  But in most cases they will list everything that they feature.  And knowing if you will be getting a free breakfast at the slightly more costly hotel than at the cheaper, and possibly less nice hotel can be a decision maker.

Good luck with your trip!

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Hi Michelle,

We're planning the same type of road trip from L.A. to Vancouver for 2 weeks in early August.  My question is, do you know approximately how much driving time is entailed and if this will allow for sufficient time to sight see?  We'll be renting a car as well from LAX, and returning it in Vancouver, or Seattle if we have to.  Do you have any idea how much it would cost to rent a car for 16 days?  We're planning on getting an economy hybrid, which may be a bit more expensive to rent, though cheap on gas, but we're not sure of the cost or who is best to rent from.

Our route will be the coastal Rt. 1 all the way through California.  We want to see the coast, stopping to camp along the way.  We'd like to definately see San Simeon, Big Sur, San Fran., the redwoods, and napa valley.  In Oregon and Washington, we'll travel interstate 5 to see Eugene, Portland, and Seattle.  We only want a day or two in and around Vancouver.  Please feel free to suggest more places to see in central California, as this is where we'd like to spend the bulk of our trip.  We don't care to spend more than a day and a night in the Oregon and Washington cities, so that should free up good time for California early in the trip.  Do you think this is feesible?  I'm looking for advice on the timing of the trip and good places to see with campgrounds near by.

Any advice you have would be a great help!  Thanks for your time and attention!

-Jenn and Matt

Regarding the hybrid.  I don't think that these multi-searches will give you the option of renting a hybrid.  But taking a quick look at the rates on one rental companies site, it looks like the rental fee for a hybrid is about 70% more than for a compact.  Whether that is more cost effective would depend upon the number of miles you plan to drive.  If it really matters to you, you can try to estimate your gas expense by figuring out how many miles > to how many gallons of gas you'd buy > then figuring out the average price per gallon.  Of course the prices in August can be greatly different than today.  And the prices on the west coast states are a bit higher than the national average.  Today in Seattle the prices is about $1.99 for economy grade gas.

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