Roadtrip USA: New Orleans –> San Francisco

Background

For full disclosure, we first visited the United States, for about two weeks, back in December 2016. We spent the first half, until Christmas, in California and Nevada (in Los Angeles, Las Vegas and San Francisco), and the next half on the East Coast, with my cousin and her husband who live in New Jersey.

And this is probably not going to be our last visit. Due to its sheer size and the fact that we have close relatives residing on both the East and West coasts, there are still many places on our USA bucket list, and possibly even more road trips to go, not to mention more family reunions to be had!

The rough plan for the Great USA Road Trip (as we like to call it), was conceived sometime in November, between Nana, her sister in the Philippines, and her auntie in Los Angeles, when it became more and more likely that our long-term plans for staying in Montenegro would not happen, and we were getting ready to leave the Balkans after traveling for more than four months in the area. More details of our Montenegro plans and how it died a slow death will be revealed in a later post.

We arrived in the US on December 2, but the “road trip” really started when we finally (and a little reluctantly) left the comfort and safety of my cousin’s home in New Jersey (where we stayed for two marvellous and restful weeks), and bought a one-way bus ticket to Boston.

Itinerary

The plan was simple – meet in New Orleans, then drive westward all the way to Los Angeles, spend a few days in Tita Chai’s home, then off to San Francisco, collecting memories along the way that I’m sure we will talk about for many years to come.

The Great Road Trip Team

The road trip in more detail (currently being written). Links will be provided as each blog becomes available.

So why start in New Orleans?

We decided on New Orleans for two main reasons: the food and their iconic streets (think Bourbon Street, Royal Street, Julia Street, and many more). We wanted to taste the food, walk the streets, and soak in the atmosphere of a city that we’d only seen in the movies. Plus, none of us had been there before, even our aunties, who have lived in the States for decades, and it was just far enough from Los Angeles to make it a real multi-day trip.

Looking at the map of the entire journey – literally from the very east of the United States, all the way to San Francisco – it is still hard to believe what we actually did. A journey of over four thousand miles, about two-thirds of it in a Dodge Grand Caravan containing six adults, our luggage, and additionally, some Christmas shopping, we experienced all sorts of weather on this journey, drank lots of wine, ate so much meat (steak!), not to mention got into a near mishap along the way.

The map above shows the entire journey Nana and I made, starting in Boston, before joining the group in New Orleans for the rest of the journey.

Overview of Road Trip

Not including the bus from NYC to Boston, and the flight from Boston to New Orleans, the actual road trip in which we were all actually together began in New Orleans and ended in Los Angeles. After several days in LA, we took another trip (minus Tita Gina), to San Francisco, to visit Tita Chai’s daughter and fiancé, who’d both just purchased a house in Livermore, not far from downtown San Francisco.

From New Orleans, we rented a van which the team took turns driving (except me and Nana, since we did not have valid drivers licenses). We slept in motels and hotels throughout (except on two occasions, which will be covered in great detail in a future post), until we reached Los Angeles.

After two days in New Orleans, we drove westward to Houston, where we spent the night. From Houston, we drove to Lubbock, a small and very sleepy town, and the next day, we headed to Albuquerque.

After a night in Albuquerque, we continued driving to Sedona where we spent another night. From Sedona, on our way to our hotel at the Grand Canyon, we got stuck in a heavy snowstorm and had to turn back. Unable to find alternative accommodation, we ended up spending the night, in the van, at a Chevron gas station in a little town called Cameron, Arizona (population less than 1000).

The next morning, after a quick breakfast at the Burger King gas station (where we also had the previous night’s dinner), we decided to cut the trip short and head back to Los Angeles, to our aunt’s house, where we would spend about a week, then to San Francisco for a few days to visit Alisa and Sergio in their new home.

Road Trip Essentials

Road trips of this length need a few things: a vehicle, gas, and places to stay.

Our ride for this journey was a Dodge Grand Caravan, which surprisingly fit 6 adults quite comfortably, on top of suitcases, backpacks, and a continuously growing stash of Christmas shopping the team did along the way.

Aside from the one night at the gas station, we slept in an assortment of hotels or motels, mostly sharing a big room with at least two queen-size beds and a sofa-bed. Since we didn’t have to drive, Nana and I slept on the sofa-bed! There was only one time when we didn’t have to sleep on the couch, and this was in Albuquerque, when we booked three rooms side by side, because it made more sense, price-wise, to do so.

As for gas, we typically filled up the tank every day, when we got closer to our hotel, so we’re ready for the next day.

Money matters

We’d agreed before the start of the trip that we would use our credit card to pay for all purchases, and divide the bill into three. At the end of the trip, we would divide the total bill accordingly and we’d be reimbursed in cash for what was owed us. It worked out pretty well, since we would need cash to continue our journey to South America, and at the same time, we’d be able to gather points which would go towards our miles points, which will help to offset our future flight costs.

A complete and accurate breakdown of all costs associated with this trip will be covered in a future blog.

Overall Impressions

We met the road trip team on the 21st of December, and reached Los Angeles on the 29th of December. So, in total, we were on the road for eight days, and by the time we reached Tita Chai’s house, we’d traveled just under 2000 miles, through five states. In a few days we traveled another 367 miles to Livermore, near San Francisco. So, all in all, not including the flight from Boston to New Orleans, we clocked almost 2300 miles on the road.

If we go on another road trip, we would probably allocate more days (at least two) for each location we visited. It can get really tiring arriving in a place, rushing out to explore the town or city, and having to wake up early the next day, so we could reach our next destination with enough time to explore.

In the following posts, I will go into more detail about each location we visited, stuff we did, and have more pictures (promise!).

See you soon!