Dream 16 day USA road trip itinerary
Ah, military life; it comes with plenty of ups and downs. One up that we’ve been considering recently is that it might soon give us a chance for some travel beyond Europe. Specifically the USA road trip itinerary that has, so far, been an unachievable goal on our bucket list.
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Now, the planets may have to align for this one to come off: Mr Tin Box’s being in the right place at the right time; the school holidays; and dog sitter availability. But all that hadn’t stopped using the Visit The USA trip planner tool to compile the ideal American road trip.
Read on to find out the route and sights that made our USA road trip itinerary.
Our dream USA road trip and flying holiday
We love a road trip and have enjoyed a few in the UK, Europe and Oman. But the USA road trip is the big one.
I hadn’t dared plan for such an expedition until Mr Tin Box said we might be able to squeeze in a couple of weeks State side in-between deployments.
We wouldn’t have as much time as we’d like but I’ll take a few weeks over nothing. Who knows when another opportunity might come up?
The road trip plan we have come up with is for the girls and I to fly out and meet Mr TB in Norfolk, Virginia. There are direct flights to Charlotte, North Carolina, from London Heathrow and Mr TB could take an internal transfer to meet us there.
So what would the following 16 days have in store?
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Our USA road trip destinations
The dream itinerary would tick boxes for both us adults and the girls.
We would:
- pick up part of the country music trail for Mr Tin Box
- satisfy the space geek in me with visits to space centers
- see friends in New Orleans
- and squeeze in some fun days for the girls.
But with just over two weeks in which to achieve it all, we couldn’t spend all our time on the road. I’ve sacrificed some of the longer road trip sections for flights to speed things up.
Want to stick to the road? Here’s a LA to Santa Cruz road trip that will keep your wheels firmly planted on the highway.
Here’s our 16 day USA road trip and flying holiday itinerary:
Day one – fly to Charlotte, North Carolina
The girls and I would board a flight from London Heathrow to Charlotte and arrive mid-afternoon.
Days two to four – Charlotte, North Carolina
We’d give ourselves a couple of days to readjust before travelling again. This would be the girls’ first long-haul flight and I have no idea how they’d cope with the time difference.
So a few days of gentle sightseeing would work best for us all.
A visit to the NASCAR Hall of Fame for Mr Tin Box and the Discovery Place Science Museum for children will easily fill a day.
We could then tick off our first national monuments at Kings Mountain National Military Park, which was where the first major patriot victory was won during the American War of Independence.
Day five – fly to Nashville, Tennessee
The following morning would start with an early flight to Nashville where we’d pick up a hire car for a road trip to Memphis the following day.
This is Mr Tin Box’s dream USA road trip. He loves country music and would spend days exploring.
This time he’d have 24 hours to see the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum and soak up the Nashville atmosphere.
Days six to seven – drive to Memphis, Tennessee
You can’t visit Memphis without seeing Graceland and the legendary Sun Studio.
But I’d also like to make time for a ride on the Main Street Trolley and a walk through the historic Beale Street District, which was a hub for Memphis’ civil rights movement.
Days eight to nine – fly to Houston, Texas
An early morning flight would take us to Houston, Texas where we’d spend some time exploring the city.
The Water Wall looks like a piece of architecture the girls would enjoy, plus they’d get a chance to run off some steam in the park in front of it.
They’d also enjoy Houston Zoo which is home to more than 6,000 animals. The following day we’d make a 30 minute trip outside the city to Houston Space Centre where I could engross myself in space exploration for a few hours.
Days 10 to 12 – drive to New Orleans, Mississippi
We’d continue our America road trip east along Route 10 towards New Orleans.
We have family friends in New Orleans so we’d leave ourselves plenty of time during the next fews days to see them as well as the city’s French Quarter and Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve for some time in the countryside.
Days 13 to 16 – fly to Orlando, Florida
After an evening flight we’d wake up in Orlando for the grand finale of our American holiday.
I’m not the biggest Disney fan but I think I’d die a little inside if we didn’t visit Disney World with the girls while they are at that magic age.
Saying that, I’m very aware that there’s more to Orlando than Disney. We’d want to make the most of the non theme park things to do in Orlando too.
Firmly on our itinerary for this part of our USA road trip is a day at Kennedy Space Center, an air boat tour and some down time at one of Florida’s beaches.
Days 16 to 17 – fly to London
There’s nothing else for it but a red eye flight home from the USA.
Fingers crossed the girls would be suitably exhausted and sleep most of the way. That may be wishful thinking after all the excitement of the past fortnight in America?
However, having Mr TB free for the return journey would mean I might get a little shut eye myself.
But even if the return transportation to the UK is free with Mr TB, I might need another way to transport the US goods I bought to the United Kingdom.
Generally, importing goods from the US to the UK requires the submission of some paperwork and the payment of certain custom taxes. Failing to do so could mean the goods might not be legally sent to the U.K.
Moreover, settling the custom taxes imposed on goods coming from the US to the UK may be costly on the part of the shipper. Thankfully, there are reliable international shipping companies like UPakWeShip UK and other similar options that provide shipping services at a reasonable cost.
They can also help shippers like me on how to reduce or avoid custom charges associated with the goods shipped from the US to the UK.
On the other hand, if you’d prefer a trip that includes more of the South West then check out this Southwest USA road trip itinerary.
How I planned my dream American road trip and flying holiday
Planning an American road trip can be challenging if you don’t know what to do and where to start. But since an American road trip is a dream for me and my girls, doing so has become an easy experience for us.
Well, aside from our budget, we also pack some essential stuff to make our adventure more comfortable and convenient. These can include sets of clothing, electronic gadgets, chargers, important documents, and other items crucial for a US road trip.
But on top of these things, I also use a great planning tool to streamline our itinerary. Basically, Visit the USA have an awesome planning tool for international visitors to use to plan their holiday.
I blinking loved using it to create our trip. You start by adding your destinations, the dates for your trip, the type of experiences you want to have and what kind of pace you’d like to keep.
The planner comes up with a customisable route and day by day plan including activities that fit your preferences. You can view your day to day itinerary as a timeline, on a calendar or a map with plenty of clickable points to give you more detail.
I have to admit that I made quite a lot of tweaks to the suggested plan, playing with the route, modes of transport, what we would do at each destination and building in some much needed down time. But it was all so easy to do.
With a few clicks you can see whether flights, a bus or a road trip might be better for parts of your route and select activities that might appeal more to your travel companions.
Things I really like about the Visit the USA planning tool are:
- it tells you how long it will take to get between sights and how long you should allow when you are there. This is all meaty information that’s essential when planning a personalised itinerary, especially with kids.
- it tells you if there’s a better way to organise your trip to save time.
- it introduces you to off the beaten track attractions and sights as well as the must-see points of interest.
- you can add in your exact travel plans, like flight details.
It’s a bit addictive but I’m sure saves a lot of time trying to plan everything on paper or a spreadsheet.
Disclosure: This post has been written in conjunction with VisitTheUSA but all thoughts are my own.
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27 days in the USA
New York, Jersey, Washington too,
a trip to Philly where Ill eat Buffalo stew!
#WanderlustWish I’m going to Nashville for 4 nights before flying to Los Angeles and then going on a roadtrip that takes me to San Simeon and Avila Beach. I’ll then fly to San Francisco before finishing up in Las Vegas. I would absolute love that trip! I’d most look forward to walking along Santa Monica State Beach and seeing the Elephant Seal Rockery.
I have always wanted to do Route 66, my friend did it this year on the back of a motor bike and it sounded amazing, however, I would prefer to ride the route in an open top car, tad more comfy. Here’s to planning 🙂 #WanderLustWishlist
#WunderLustWish https://trip-planner.visittheusa.com/trip/15-days-in-florida-itinerary-with-kids-outdoors-relaxing-romantic-beaches-shopping-and-wildlife-d6bc0a31-e406-4b5f-85d7-50bc3c12c906?utm_source=plan-share-link&utm_medium=link&utm_content=shareplanlink&utm_campaign=plan-share-link
What an amazing trip. Florida has so many special memories for me. Family holidays with my lovely sisters, a pre kids, pre wedding carefree time with my then boyfriend now husband and a very special two weeks in Key West and Miami for our honeymoon. I would love to take my children and share with them all of those very special memories as well as creating new ones of our own in an incredible part of the world.
https://trip-planner.visittheusa.com/trip/31-days-in-united-states-itinerary-with-culture-outdoors-relaxing-hidden-gems-historic-sites-museums-and-wildlife-91b3f744-ffdf-4a0a-9ef2-6e0a11d6e3ff/overview this would be the trip I would have loved to take with my Dad, who was from the US. #WanderLustWishlist
#WanderlustWish My dream destinations are Florida and the Keys. Around 20 years ago we set off from Orlando to spend a week exploring the Keys but only got a little bit past Miami before it became obvious that the ‘potential’ hurricane warnings the news channels had warned of were obviously becoming a reality! We had a brief hour in Miami to eat, refuel and take a quick photo (in which we are the only people on the usually standing room only Miami beach!) before exiting back to the north of the state at hyper speed!
https://trip-planner.visittheusa.com/trip/16-days-in-united-states-itinerary-with-culture-and-historic-sites-3abbd043-fe89-43a5-8698-e6dec86a4c30/overview
P.S. Love the trip planner tool!
https://trip-planner.visittheusa.com/trip/15-days-in-united-states-itinerary-in-april-08ddf982-204d-47a7-aeb9-9780cd806923/overview
I’d love to do this trip- it’s a lot of variation, from national park to city but that’s just how I like it! #WanderlustWish
I love holiday dreaming so this tool is fantastic for inspiration for me! I’ve been to the US a few times before we had our two girls, but not braved the flight with the girls yet despite the regular Disney talks! Our itinerary is Conch Republic, Key Colony Beach, Miami Beach, Orlando – wow that would be a fantastic trip. I love the way that the tool gives you lots of things to do in each of the destinations too which you may or may not have heard of. I’ll do a sneaky other itinerary in case the girls fancied a trip to Nanny and Grandad’s and we had a grown ups only holiday 😉 #WanderlustWish
#WanderlustWish Start: London 1 night. Los Angeles
— 2 nights. 2 San Francisco — 3 nights 3 New Orlean — 1 night. 4. Key West — 1 night. 5. New York City — 3 nights
End: London. This would be fantastic.
#WanderlustWish My trip goes all over the place, Starting in Las Vegas & ending in New York, well I can dream can’t I?!
I think I was over-achieving with 5 destinations in 2 weeks, but it’s doable: Boston, Seattle, New York, Florida, New Orleans. I think I’d rather do 2 or 3 places well rather than spend a night here and there. Sounds great, though: plenty of beaches and museums to explore. #wanderlustwish
Just retiring time to start living
I’d love to travel from Washington through New Jersey, Philadelphia and finish the trip in New York. The trip planner tool is amazing for someone like me (I’m an itinerary queen) & I love that it breaks down your trip into a day by day plan even highlighting what to do in the evenings. The tool has recommended I try out the metropolitan opera for my evenings in New York after a full day exploring the landmarks like Central Park. Thank you for an inspiring site that has definitely increased my #WanderlustWish to travel America
#WanderlustWish. wow what a trip of a life time, your tool is amazing,
as a mum of nine now grown-up children, i was only bite on the bum by the wonderlust bug 2years a go
but New Orleans, ARIZONA, Florida and im sure my partner would like to pick one or two places himself,
we was thinking of going back to costa rica before i found this tool, Oh well!!! beans on toast for the next six months it is.
https://trip-planner.visittheusa.com/trip/12-days-in-united-states-itinerary-with-culture-outdoors-relaxing-beaches-historic-sites-museums-and-wildlife-68e427bf-12c0-4e93-a28f-cd42d1e17fcc/overview
#WanderlustWish I would go with my husband and visit his Aunt in Virginia, I would love to see the museums in Washington DC especially the Space museum. Got to visit New York too! Would be wonderful to go in the Fall and still good weather to go to the beach at Ocean City, perfect!
#WanderlustWish
Las Vegas for 4 nights to take in the sights of the Bellagio Fountains, Fremont Street and a meal at the top of Eiffel Tower Hotel.
New Orleans for 3 nights to hopefully catch an NFL game to watch the mighty New Orleans Saints
Miami for 5 nights to relax and chill out on Miami Beach
Orlando for 5 nights to visit DisneyWorld and Universal Studios
New York for 5 nights to end our trip cycling through Central Park, visiting the World Trade Center memorial and sampling the best New York Deli sandwiches!
#WanderlustWish I would love a US west coast road trip, starting at Seattle, travelling down to Portland, then to San Francisco and on to LA (via the Big Sur), finishing in fabulous Las Vegas! Pretty sure that would be the trip of a lifetime!
Oh wow! I absolutely LOVE this planner! I’ve had a good play around and our #WanderlustWish perfect trip would be 3 nights in Orlando, 1 night in Bryson City, 2 nights in NYC, 1 night in New Orleans, 4 in San Fran (with a trip to the Mrs Doubtfire House and the street where the greatest car chase was filmed). Then we’d head home for a rest!
#WanderlustWish Myself and my partner would love to see the south! Could fly into New Orleans (which is no. 1 place on my list to see in America) – head up to Memphis, then Nashville, a quick stop at Florida to visit a few parks and then finishing up in Miami! That would be our absolute dream trip 🙂
#WanderlustWish a Great Lakes road trip sounds fantastic, plenty of gorgeous place so to visit such as Wisconsin, Illinois, Ohio, Indiana and Michigan
#WanderlustWish I would love to visit a few cities across the USA. My top 5 would be New York, Washington DC, Boston, Vegas and Orlando. My favourite would be Vegas as everyone i know has been said how amazing it is and how much i’d love it
#WanderlustWish. We want to visit the Grand Canyon, ARIZONA, new ORLEANS, mEMPHIS AND nASHVILLE and then the Florida Keys
#WanderlustWish. I have to admit I would have to start in Vegas purely so I could get to see Imagine Dragons hopefully perform 🙂 The grand Canyon I have been told is a must as is Yosomite and New York so lots of sight seeing, shopping and a little bit of history all chucked into a week would be fabulous! https://trip-planner.visittheusa.com/trip/8-days-in-united-states-itinerary-with-culture-outdoors-romantic-beaches-historic-sites-and-shopping-33bcb7bf-bece-4f4c-8ae5-90371a27ef39/overview, fingers crossed x
We would be off on a music road trip from Nashville, to Memphis and New Orleans #WanderlustWish
#wanderlustwish as a teenager I went up and down the East Coast so want to do the same with the West!! We’d start in Portland OR (home of one of our fav bands) and check out Seattle after – this planner was cool as it gave me the idea t o fly to Hawaii at that point THEN fly back to see Carmel and San Francisco – I hadn’t thought of that!!
My plan is to head to Las Vegas to play some poker, maybe also have a helicopter around and see the Grand Canyon. I would also go to San Fran, check out the bridge and also I would check out the tech hub space around there.
#wanderlustwish
Would love to visit California-trip planner suggested Yosemite Park, San Francisco including Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz and seeing sealions at Fisherman’s Wharf. Sounds amazing!
#wanderlustwish the planner tool was unreal! It allowed me to customise the trip of a lifetime to visit Seattle, Oregon, Lake Tahoe, Yosemite and San Francisco! So easy and you can customise any part if you want! Really amazing tool!
#WanderlustWish. I’ve done Florida 4 times and every time I have loved it. I’d like to do San Francisco and visit Alcatraz Island and the Golden Gate Bridge. Then go on to San Diego and finish in Los Angeles and see the Hollywood walk of fame and visit Dissneyland. I’d love to finish the holiday in Las Vegas and take a tour to visit the Hoover Dam and the Grand Canyon!
#WanderlustWish Fantastic tool. I am planning to take a whole month out to hire a RV and do the whole length of Route 66. I would spend most of my nights staying in the vehicle, but would like to experience the odd roadside motel.
For eating, I would try whatever came my way and visit snake farms just to mix things up.
This is a great tool, thanks for bringing it to my attention. We’re planning an American road trip for our honeymoon. Nashville, Memphis, and New Orleans. So pretty similar to yours!! My fella wants to add in some other places but I don’t want to do too much driving, this tool should help us plan it all!
The holiday planner tool wasn’t working. But, as an American, I have a pretty good idea of how we’d do a 2 week trip. First, to Orlando for Disney and Kennedy Space Center. Then on to Dallas to meet a friend and see her pottery collection. Then Disneyland California for the comparison. Then to Seattle for a couple days to meet some friends in and around the area. And finally to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to drive up to meet my family for the last few days. It would be a fantastic opportunity to see friends we haven’t seen in 8 years, along with meeting their children. And the theme parks would be wonderful for my daughter. #WanderLustWish
I got the tool to work. But I don’t think I’d be spending over 40 hours driving. That’s too much for a child, so we’d do some flights.
#WanderlustWish I visited NYC a few years back and have always wanted to go back! I’m hoping to do a road trip in 2019, as long as my mums health is okay.
#WanderlustWish This trip planning tool is genius. I would love to go to Los Angeles and visit Venice Beach and Santa Monica Pier, as well as go shopping and sight-see in Hollywood.
#WanderlustWish what a clever tool. We have relations who live near Austin so it’s good to see how we can explore the Southern States and this really does help – it’s such a big country and I love how you can add places in and join the dots. I could get quite carried away but I’d need a year to explore!
Clare Mackenney recently posted…Comment on Where to Find Pick Your Own Pumpkin Patches by Clare Mackenney
My plan would be to go to sanfransico and walk across the gate bridge! I would take in the sights of Alcatraz too! Next stop Las Vegas for a helicopter ride of the Grand Canyon #WanderlustWish
My plan started in New York, checking out the popular sites from all the films, Statue of Liberty a must! We then fly to Orlando and of course visit all the theme parks! Once in a lifetime! Love a thrill ride! Finally and last stop Florida keys, great place to relax after sights seeing and trailing the parks, endless roads of lovely beaches, key largo looks like my favourite! Great planning tool #WanderlustWish
#WanderlustWish Here we go!
I have plugged cities on my bucket list into the Visit The USA holiday planner tool and it has come up with a perfect itinerary for exploring the Southern states!
A few chilled nights in Atlanta, Georgia, then onwards to Nashville for 4 days of music and sightseeing. Hot on the heels of that we’re off to Memphis, the birthplace of rock & home of the blues!
Next up, the planner suggests a spot of shopping in Dallas, Texas and maybe a trip to a local wildlife park (Yes!).
To finish off the adventure we head to The Big Easy, good ol’ New Orleans, for a festivity filled farewell with lashings of Creole cuisine and culture!
BRING IT ON!!!
https://trip-planner.visittheusa.com/trip/26-days-in-united-states-itinerary-with-culture-outdoors-hidden-gems-historic-sites-and-wildlife-1a9f3b39-97a6-4055-96c2-cf03a698e205?utm_source=plan-share-link&utm_medium=link&utm_content=shareplanlink&utm_campaign=plan-share-link
fly to charlotte, drive to charleston, then to savannah. drive to gatlinburg then on to chatanooga and nashville. Drive back thru N.Georgia to Charlotte for flight back to UK
I would love to visit some of the amazing craft breweries in America and the USA Craft Beer Trail Itinerary is probably what I would like to steal ideas from! Beautiful scenery and mountains in Montana and Wyoming and of course a stop in the heart of craft beer land, Colorado! Finishing the trip by heading south to New Mexico and finishing in Phoenix, Arizona. Perfect!
#WanderlustWish
#WanderlustWish We would love to fly to San Francisco and hire a car. We would head to the Sonoma Valley and then head on south down through the Big Sur. Maybe catch a few waves and do a little bit of camping on the way. We would visit LA, Hollywood and go to Disney World and then drive inland to Las Vegas for a couple of nights of living the high life!
#WanderlustWish My Dream USA Vacation – Miami Florida, Houston Texas, Baton Rouge Louisiana, Los Angeles, Las Vegas.. Wow what a trip.. I would love to visit Miami to soak up some of the wonderful sun that Florida gets.. then enjoy a trip to the Houston Space Centre to see the Apollo mission control after that visit Baton Rouge and have some fun at the Blue Bayou water park and visit the Old Capitol Building for some scenic photo’s.. Then grab some glitz in Los Angeles and visit Hollywood and take a stroll along the walk of fame then take a look at how the other half live in Beverly Hills and Rodeo Drive shopping boutiques.. Then finally off to Las Vegas for a poker game in Caesars Palace followed by a nice meal in Gordon Ramsey’s restaurant… After that take a tour to visit the Hoover Dam and The Grand Canyon how epic is that!
#WanderlustWish New York 2 nights, Charlotte 1 night, Orlando 1 night, San Antonia 1 night, Malibu few hours. Visiting Central Park, the Bank of America stadium, Walt Disney world resort, the Alamo and Zuma beach. I would love to go on this trip! Sounds awesome
Oh my gosh I am so excited that I’ve found this planning tool !!
Thankyou so much for posting about this !
Last year we traveled to 3 different places and it took so much planning if only I’d have known about this planning tool.
I’m so excited to use it when we go back to the USA one day.
https://trip-planner.visittheusa.com/trip/23-days-in-united-states-itinerary-with-kids-culture-outdoors-relaxing-beaches-museums-shopping-and-wildlife-372ffdde-d549-4f9e-9f56-82bb2f386155/overview
This was the itinerary I came up with and it sounds perfect !
#WanderlustWish
I’d love to take my partner and his girls on a looooong road trip. Combine taking the girls to DisneyLand/Disney World, with visiting the big music cities of the USA – New Orleans is a must for me and New York – I’m a jazz hound!
Blues in chicago and plenty of relaxing activities in the big State Parks!
#WanderlustWish I am lusting and wishing for a wonderful holiday in Las Vegas! I am engaged, but would love to get married in the Little White Chapel! We could then enjoy our honeymoon seeing the Grand Canyon!
How did you know that we were planning a post GCSE USA road trip? We fancy Seattle to San Francisco with a spot of Big Sur and Yosemite, but now I’m exploring the possibilities of Yellowstone. Great tool. #WanderlustWish
Would be a dream come true to go on this trip. Not been before but would love to. The tool is a great and fun to see where you can go so many options. Hopefully one day! #WanderlustWish
#WanderlustWish I love the USA and have had several trips to various regions, I would advise people to visit one area at a time as distances can be huge and deceptively time consuming. Look for the main areas that you want to visit and be aware that there will be lots of other places to visit and things to do when you get there so plan in lots of extra time so you do not rush and skim the surface of a fascinating continent.
Actually am planning to make a road trip with my family. I love to feel the adventure while traveling.
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This would be a family trip of a lifetime Claire! Although I would thoroughly recommend extending your stay to take in Charleston in South Carolina and my old home city, Savannah in Georgia, (well worth an extra few days at the very least!) The holiday planning tool sounds really easy to use. Not come across it before so I’ll definitely be checking out. Thanks for the heads up;)
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