Road Trip - USA, Canada and Mexico

Don't know how much you are planning to see but you need to check the scale on the map before you imagine that you will see much of Canada, the US, and Mexico in 12 weeks by car. The distances you are looking at are way bigger than what you are used to in N.Z. Looking at a map a lot of visitors think "Okay I will spend a couple of days in New York, drive over to Chicago, take a half day in Toronto, then on to Denver" etc. What they don't realize is that by car you have just used up well over a week just driving without stopping anywhere between.

Unless you are planning to limit your stops in the US and Canada to just a few or to just a single part (such as the west coast) your plan is impractical. Unfortunately in the US and to a lesser extent in Canada public transport other than by air is miserable. Unless you have an unlimited budget you will need to either drastically limit the areas you visit before entering Mexico by car or pick a select few spots, travel by air (or by the poor quality bus system, or by a very limited rail service) and concentrate your visit to those spots.

Upon entering Mexico things change dramatically, there a car is a hinderance compared to the excellent bus system. You will find the bus to be much less expensiveand more convienient than driving and also find that it goes virtually everywhere with easy connections. What is the same is that again the distances are vast, not as vast as in the US or Canada but still those dots on the map are many hours and even days apart. In the time you have you will need to focus your attention on specific spots.

The distances are, indeed, huge, and it will take a lot of driving, but what a road trip!

We've had two posters in here (back in mid January) who made long road trips -- one from Dallas to Tierra del Fuego (on a motorcycle, at age 70+!) and a couple from Ontario driving through to the Yucatan. I was really impressed with both their reports and posted on them with a few more details, here. .

No, you won't be able to see everything, but you'll see a lot on the journey. Focusing on what's absolutely positively necessary (and recognizing that it's the journey, not the goal that's the point of the adventure) isn't a bad idea.

Wow... you guys are ambitious.

Thanks for your respective replies. I certainly tried to factor in the distances bwtween destinations and used 'google maps' as a basis for determining the viability. Can I ask you then - would your response be the same again if I said (in more detail) the 'proposed' trip basically/roughly went as follows:

Los Angeles - San Francisco - Denver - Yellowstone National Park - Seattle - Vancouver - Toronto - New York - Louisville - Memphsis - Houston.....down into Mexico (travel around here by bus).

Just out of interest - why would a car be a hinderance in Mexico?

Regards

Los Angeles - San Francisco - Seattle - Vancouver - Yellowstone - Denver - Albuquerque - Mexico. Why would a car be a hindrance in Mexico? It is expensive to drive in Mexico (gas, toll roads, corrupt cops), plus there are complications at the border. If you want to get way off the beaten track (there are such places), a private vehicle makes some sense; if you just want to cover a lot of ground, buses are probably a better option.

You might want to ask us where you should go in Mexico . . .

Huge distances, driving around the clock, shitless road food, expensive lodgings, touring the US could be a fantastic but time consuming and tiring ordeal. Have you calculated what car rental will cost and $50-75 per night lodging in the US? One person driving 1000 miles per day + food lodging = at least $150 per day with an economical car. That would not include any of the car purchase, insurance or rental costs. With more than one person it would lessen the per person costs. Of course you would have to find someone else just like yourself, who had similar funds and similar travel style and location interests. If all that went well then go on to Mexico where the rules change and using the bus system is the only way to go. I would say 8 weeks in the US and 4 weeks in Mexico would make for a fantastic trip if you could make it work. Buena suerte

I don't think 12 weeks is unreasonable to cover that much territory.