Should You Road Trip When You Visit the U.S.A.?

How to Have an Amazing Road Trip Across America

The United States is a pretty large country, and some international travelers don’t realize it would take several days of car travel to cross it from one side to the other. For Americans, road trips have been a popular way to explore vast stretches of the country, and families have gotten in their cars and routinely driven thousands of miles to see some of the country’s greatest sights.

However, for the international traveler not used to getting behind the wheel of a car for hours on end, is it truly possible to take a road trip in the United States and really experience everything like a native? I’ve often heard that residents of some European countries find it pretty amazing that you can drive for several hours in the United States and not even reach the next state, but not to worry, you don’t actually have to cross a state line to have a great road trip.

In fact, the key part of planning a great American road trip is understanding your own tolerance for driving, the cost of getting from one place to another in a car, and the amount of time you have for your journey. If you have three days to spend, you’re not going to be able to drive from Chicago, Illinois, in the middle of the country, to Miami, Florida, in the extreme southeast part of the country, and have any time to see anything of note.

Even most Americans haven’t been to most of the states around the country, and a majority actually live within a few hundred miles of where they were born, so even the natives know that a lot of planning and resources have to go into traveling around the country. Let’s go over a few things that can help you plan your trip, especially if you’re keen on seeing some of the best natural wonders the United States has to offer its tourists.

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Don’t Try to Drive From New York City to Los Angeles in a Week

Just to give you an idea of the sort of distances you’re dealing with in the United States, you’d need to cover 1,796 miles or about 2,890 kilometers to drive from London to Moscow, and you’d travel across the borders of several countries along the way. To drive from Los Angeles to New York City, on the other hand, you’d need to drive 2,790 miles or a whopping 4,490 kilometers.

You’d travel across several states in doing so, and you’d cross all manner of environments, from deserts to mountain ranges to forests to grasslands and every other manner of environment. I feel like it can’t be overstated how different various parts of the country look in relation to others. The humid, wet palm tree-lined streets of Miami share absolutely nothing in common with the sand-blasted rocks and pine trees of Sedona, Arizona.

You might as well consider the different corners of the United States as entirely different planets. Not only are you looking at completely different weather patterns, but you’re seeing entirely different plants, animals, and natural geologic formations. The people who inhabit each major area in the country are also quite different. Yes, you can talk to an American in Wichita, Kansas, as easily as you can in Boston, Massachusetts, but the change in accents may throw you for a loop.

As you look at the different places you want to visit in the United States, just remember that you’ll probably need to choose a region and stick to it unless you’re thinking about spending several months here to get a real personal and in-depth view of each state. You can’t realistically visit the United States for a week and expect to visit a half dozen states, several national parks, and tons of tourist sites. The distances are just too vast.

How to Plan Your United States Road Trip: Divide the Country into Smaller Regional Sections

If you’ve never visited the United States, I’d recommend taking a look at each of the major places you’d like to visit and just choose one based on your personal interests. Are you interested in beaches and national parks? California is an incredibly large state with everything from palm trees and Hollywood to skiing and deserts. And you can literally see all of those things in, like, three days if you hustle. (but who wants to hustle? take your time!)

On the other hand, if you want to eat good food, relax, and enjoy a leisurely tour of the country, you might consider a road trip along the Gulf Coast states of Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida. You’ll probably gain ten pounds during the journey, so the trip won’t help your waistline, but you’ll meet all sorts of interesting people and experience a totally different vibe from busy urban places like NYC, Miami, and Los Angeles.

You’ve got the Rocky Mountain states of Montana, Wyoming, and Colorado if you want spectacular views and want to spend some time outdoors skiing, hiking, or mountain biking. The Pacific Northwest states of Oregon and Washington are gorgeous for some quiet, introspective time on the road. The Northeast, with Boston, New York City, and Philadelphia, is super for history buffs.

But those are just a few of the places you can focus your time. You can even branch out from those areas and travel to areas that would probably be even less known to the average international traveler. The mid-Atlantic coastline states like the Carolinas and Virginia are a sublime mix of history and beaches. States like Tennessee and Missouri are super for good food, activities like fishing, and a good dose of classic Americana and history.

Should You Drive Electric On Your United States Road Trip?

After you’ve narrowed your road trip down to a particular area based on the amount of time you have to spend and the sort of things you want to experience, you might want to think about whether driving electric is a good idea. I drive an electric car as my daily driver, and I’ve also rented electric cars when I’ve traveled (only in the United States though – I haven’t had the opportunity as of this writing to rent an EV while traveling abroad).

I’ve found that the Tesla supercharging network is pretty much the gold standard for road trips. If you have zero experience driving an EV, those cars take out a lot of the guesswork of figuring out how to get to your next destination. Tesla has built oodles of supercharging stations all across the nation, and you can literally drive on every single interstate in the country and always reach a charger when you drive a Tesla. I don’t even drive a Tesla, and I haven’t had any issues on my road trips yet.

Further, it’s become really common for hotels and motels to have one or two charging stations available on their properties. When you’re traveling, it’s pretty easy to call ahead or do a quick Google search to see if your next stop has a charger you can put the car on overnight. I’ve driven all over California and into Nevada with my personal EV, and I’ve also rented one in other states, and it’s been pretty easy, given my years of experience driving EVs.

And that’s probably important: if you’re already used to driving an EV, then I’d wholly recommend renting one here for your road trip, too, for all but a few areas of the country. It can get a little dicey with range if you’re visiting some of the more rural, hilly areas of the country, but if you’re willing to put in some time before you depart to look at the charging locations on your route, there’s very little chance you’ll end up running out of range.

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