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After a lot experience of hiring cars and road tripping across the US, including driving in LA on our way to Disneyland Resort California, we have come up with the best pieces of advice for driving in the US. So, if you are planning the most amazing American road trip, here is some advice to make the experience as easy and enjoyable as possible.

1. Choose your hire car carefully 

Bigger is always better in the US, so if you can afford it, go for an SUV or a Minivan type affair.

This gives you bags of room to spread out in and also gives you options when it’s time for nappy changes, food storage or napping space, should you need it.

Don’t be afraid to ask if there’s any chance of a free upgrade. More often than not, car companies will want to give you the cars they have on site. So, there may be times when an upgrade does them a favour as well, especially if the car you arranged is not there!

2. Google Maps App – American road trip advice

Generally, hiring a sat nav is still a pretty expensive thing to do.

Don’t panic though! There is a better and free solution. Download the Google Maps app from the App Store! Once you have it on your phone, you can download sections of Google Maps on to your phone. Then you can use it offline just like you would normally, however, you don’t need internet connection. This worked brilliantly when I was trying to find the sea lions at La Jolla Cove in San Diego.

I download a map on every trip, and to be honest, I found it worked much better and I could be more accurate with it.

Once your finished with the maps, delete them off your phone to free up the space again.

3. Booking Hotel Rooms on the Road

For us, a road trip usually means we don’t know where we are going or where we are going to stay till about 24 hours before hand.

Sounds expensive right? Wrong! We do our best to be as thrifty as possible and get the best deals available. I use the Booking.com app and also one called Freehotelcoupon.

For a nights stay with two queen beds with an occupancy of four, we were paying between $60 and $130 a night using the two apps mentioned. We could have made this even cheaper. However, we chose a beach side hotel and a hotel in a marina, which meant we paid a little more. I did notice by using the Freehotelcoupon app, our rooms were often upgraded, so we had some really nice stays through this one.

4. Lunch from Breakfast

One of my favourite things about a California road trip, is the continental breakfast hotels offer.

My word! There is always so much food and they nearly always have my absolute favourite thing of all time – a waffle iron! I am always bitterly disappointed if they don’t have one. The point is, you and make a lunch from breakfast if you don’t have anything else or to save a bit of money!

5. Patience – American road trip advice

Make sure you and your partner have lots of patience for each other.

Driving in a different country can be stressful and as the driver or the navigator you are bound to make mistakes – we do, believe me!

Do your best to forget them quickly and just keep going. It always works out in the end. Some might say it’s not about the destination but the journey. Unless your three year old is desperate for the toilet, then there definitely needs to be a destination!

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