Another US Road Trip - Car and Journey?
Discussion
The OH and I have been lucky enough to win a holiday to Cancun in May, and have booked an extension in to travel around the West of the USA for 8 days afterwards. We will be flying into LA, staying there for a couple of days, then driving across to Vegas, spending a few days there (including getting married) then drive across to Santa Barbara for a couple of days to see friends, then down to LA. So far we've got arranged:
LA - Stay in the Hilton Universal City, then see Universal City and Studios, Hollywood, Sunset Boulevard etc
Vegas - Staying in the Hilton there, only the wedding arranged so far (at The Little White Chapel where Britney got married - classy!)
Santa Barbara - Think we're at the Hyatt, going to spend a couple of days relaxing, probably head down to Carpinteria to the world's greatest brewery.
Now obviously with the wedding we want to make this as special as possible, so there's a couple of things I was looking for advice on:
Car - We've pretty much got our hearts set on a Dodge Challenger - doesn't have to be a Hellcat, or even an SRT8, but after a mispent youth watch Vanishing Point too often it would feel wrong to do the journey in anything else. We've had a look through the usual suspects but haven't really found anything, but have found one through Turo for $50 a day - has anyone booked a car through Turo before? Is it worth it to get a Challenger or are they best avoided?
If we couldn;t get a Challenger I'm afraid I would be incredibly dull and get a 4 Series from Sixt which appears to be around $60 a day, but would much rather have a Challenger.
Journey - we will be leaving LA fairly early (about 11am) but want to arrive in Vegas after dark so the Strip is illuminated when we arrive, so were looking for the best way to get from LA to Vegas, maybe seeing a few things on the way across. If there's a way to go avoiding the Interstates where possible that would be great, and we definitely want to see Death Valley and Area 51 if possible - is this doable?
We're also looking for ideas for day trip away from Vegas - we're already looking at the Grand Canyon, seems pricey to do it by helicopter, but too long a journey to go by car.
Apologies if this is yet another US Road Trip thread, didn't want to hijack anyone else's.
LA - Stay in the Hilton Universal City, then see Universal City and Studios, Hollywood, Sunset Boulevard etc
Vegas - Staying in the Hilton there, only the wedding arranged so far (at The Little White Chapel where Britney got married - classy!)
Santa Barbara - Think we're at the Hyatt, going to spend a couple of days relaxing, probably head down to Carpinteria to the world's greatest brewery.
Now obviously with the wedding we want to make this as special as possible, so there's a couple of things I was looking for advice on:
Car - We've pretty much got our hearts set on a Dodge Challenger - doesn't have to be a Hellcat, or even an SRT8, but after a mispent youth watch Vanishing Point too often it would feel wrong to do the journey in anything else. We've had a look through the usual suspects but haven't really found anything, but have found one through Turo for $50 a day - has anyone booked a car through Turo before? Is it worth it to get a Challenger or are they best avoided?
If we couldn;t get a Challenger I'm afraid I would be incredibly dull and get a 4 Series from Sixt which appears to be around $60 a day, but would much rather have a Challenger.
Journey - we will be leaving LA fairly early (about 11am) but want to arrive in Vegas after dark so the Strip is illuminated when we arrive, so were looking for the best way to get from LA to Vegas, maybe seeing a few things on the way across. If there's a way to go avoiding the Interstates where possible that would be great, and we definitely want to see Death Valley and Area 51 if possible - is this doable?
We're also looking for ideas for day trip away from Vegas - we're already looking at the Grand Canyon, seems pricey to do it by helicopter, but too long a journey to go by car.
Apologies if this is yet another US Road Trip thread, didn't want to hijack anyone else's.
I have no direct experience of Turo, though what I've heard/learned about this app is less than positive.
Bear in mind that a car may appear to be available for rental, but either isn't - or the owner is quite selective about who they are prepared to hand the keys to.
Because of the way Turo deals with damage claims (i.e. slowly) most renters don't risk foreign tourists, because, by the time a damage/late return/smoking in the car/knackered tires claim is processed, the renter is long gone, with no real means of chasing them down.
Because of the risk of theft of the vehicle, I've read that US identification (US drivers license, mailing address, SSN and US issued credit card) is required, so not sure how non-US tourists get around that issue.
Google Turo complaints - and set a day aside to read through them (from both sides of the transaction). Nobody in their right mind would rent a decent performance car that they own, to some nobody who's going to beat the living piss out of it.
There seem to be some big question marks regarding insurance coverage also.
Bear in mind that a car may appear to be available for rental, but either isn't - or the owner is quite selective about who they are prepared to hand the keys to.
Because of the way Turo deals with damage claims (i.e. slowly) most renters don't risk foreign tourists, because, by the time a damage/late return/smoking in the car/knackered tires claim is processed, the renter is long gone, with no real means of chasing them down.
Because of the risk of theft of the vehicle, I've read that US identification (US drivers license, mailing address, SSN and US issued credit card) is required, so not sure how non-US tourists get around that issue.
Google Turo complaints - and set a day aside to read through them (from both sides of the transaction). Nobody in their right mind would rent a decent performance car that they own, to some nobody who's going to beat the living piss out of it.
There seem to be some big question marks regarding insurance coverage also.
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