COAST TO COAST 2010
From Washington DC to Los Angeles
New York
Links
ContactNEW_YORK.htmlLINKS_%28EN%29.htmlhttp://www.c2c2010.com/gbook/gbook.phpshapeimage_3_link_0shapeimage_3_link_1shapeimage_3_link_2
 
Even though a C2C has always been viewed as
an adventurous road trip, a good planning is crucial to make it right!
our scheduled stands

The beginning of our journey will be on August 5th, departing at 8 a.m. with a British Airways flight from Milan Linate, destination London Heathrow. There, we’ll get on a Boeing 747 jumbo and we’ll arrive in Washington Dulles airport at 1.40 p.m., local time. We paid €800 for the ticket: we bought it on the British Airways website at the beginning of March.

At first, we decided we wanted a huge SUV, big beyond any reasons, like a Ford Tahoe or some of Jack Bauer’s “24” cars. Instead, at Dulles Airport, we’ll rent a much smaller Toyota Prius from Hertz (€1,200 for 22 days), just to be more environment friendly (and accidentally, to spend less in fuel). With any luck, she’ll be with us for more than 9.000 km thorough the immense US planes and deserts, all the way to Los Angeles, California, where we’ll leave her and rent a Ford Mustang Convertible (€340 for the final 4 days), much more thirsty on fuel but also more appropriate to Beverly Hills and Hollywood. We’ll leave L.A. on August 30th, after 26 days spent on the road.

In Washington, for ESTA reasons, we’ve already book the first two night in the hotel, very near to the White House (where, despite our pledges to the Italian Embassy in Washington and to the U.S. Embassy in Rome, we won’t be able to say hi to Barack).

To sum up, before even leaving  we’ve already paid €1,700.

From Washington, we’ll start our journey towards Los Angeles. We’ll visit metropolis like Toronto, Chicago, Las Vegas, San Francisco; natural beauties like Niagara Falls, Grand Canyon and a dozen other parks, so unique to be appear almost alien; all of this, driving on lonely roads in the middle of nowhere, from Oklahoma City to Albuquerque, or on breathtaking ones, like The California 1, from San Francisco to Los Angeles.


Since we thought New York would deserve a more in depth visit, we’ve spent 10 days during 2009 Christmas Holidays. So we could skip it in our coast to coast, saving our time for other places, and we could also better appreciate one of the most intresting cities in the world (click here to read about our New York trip).

East bound or West bound?

Maybe the first problem it will come to your mind when you first start thinking about a coast to coast is this, do I start on the East coast or on the West coast? NY to LA or LA to NY? It was a no brainer for us, we go West, like the pioneers in the old days, seeking for gold, explorers! We start form the most populated land, with those huge cities, and we go towards endless roads, deserts, natural beauties, to end our journey on California golden sand. We go West! The only downside we can think of this decision is that you plan on traveling mostly during the afternoon, very often you’ll have the sun in front of you, which can be annoying in the long run. But with those kind of landscapes, not seeing the sunsets could be even more painful!

HOMEPAGE        ABOUT US        THE ROUTE        TRAVEL LOG        PICS & VIDEOS        NUMBERS        INFORMATIONHOMEPAGE_%28EN%29.htmlABOUT_US.htmlTRAVEL_LOG.htmlPHOTOS%26VIDEOS.htmlNUMBERS.htmlINFORMATION.htmlshapeimage_12_link_0shapeimage_12_link_1shapeimage_12_link_2shapeimage_12_link_3shapeimage_12_link_4shapeimage_12_link_5
Toyota PRIUS
Ford
MUSTANG
Click to enlargeMAP.htmlshapeimage_19_link_0
2.0

Day 6 (Tuesday August 10th)

Chicago


Day 7 (Wednesday August 11th)

Chicago


Day 8 (Thursday August 13th)

Morning: St Louis

Afternoon: driving

Night: Tulsa


Day 9 (Friday August 13th)

Morning: Oklahoma City

Afternoon: driving

Night: Albuquerque

Day 18 (Sunday August 22nd)

Morning: Death Valley NP

Afternoon: Mojave Air & Space Port

Night: Porterville


Day 19 (Monday August 23rd)

Morning: Sequoia NP

Afternoon: Yosemite NP

Night: San Francisco


Day 20 (Tuesday August 24th)

San Francisco


Day 21 (Wednesday August 25th)

San Francisco


Day 22 (Thursday August 26th)

Morning: Monterey

Afternoon: driving

Night: Santa Barbara


Day 23 (Friday August 27th)

Los Angeles


Day 24 (Saturday August 28th)

Los Angeles (+ maybe San Diego)


Day 25 (Sunday August 29th)

Los Angeles


Day 26 (Monday August 30th)

Morning: Los Angeles

Afternoon: flight

Night: over the Atlantic

Day 27 (Tuesday August 31st)

Morning: flight

Afternoon: Milan

Night: home

EAST & CANADA

From Washington DC to Chicago

ROUTE 66

In the lands of the “Flyover People”

Day 1 (Thursday August 5th)

Morning: Milan, flight

Afternoon: flight

           arrival at Washington DC

Night: Washington DC


Day 2 (Friday August 6th)

Washington DC


Day 3 (Saturday August 7th)

Morning: Falling Water House

Afternoon: Pittsburgh

Night: Erie


Day 4 (Sunday August 8th)

Morning: Niagara’s Falls

Afternoon: Toronto

Night: Toronto


Day 5 (Monday August 9th)

Morning: driving (Detroit)

Afternoon: driving (Gary)

Night: Chicago

PARKS OF THE WEST

Through the canyons ‘till Las Vegas

P.S.: This Route is sort of a 2.o version of first route, cockier and more ambitious, which has been advise against to us, because it was too unbalanced in its first section, making a south deviation which was intresting but too time consuming considering all the better sites to visit in the West. Anyway, you can take a look to the “old” Route HERE: having additional 4 o 5 days, it would have been possible and it would surely have been a more complete tour of USA.THE_ROUTE_Old.htmlshapeimage_53_link_0

CALIFORNIA

Cruising on the Oceanic ‘till L.A.

Day 10 (Saturday August 14th)

Morning: Bisti Badlands

Afternoon: Mesa Verde NP

Night: Cortez


Day 11 (Sunday August 15th)

Morning: Shiprock

Afternoon: Canyon de Chelly

Night: Moab


Day 12 (Monday August 16th)

Morning: Arches NP

Afternoon: Natural Bridges NP

           Valley of the Gods

Night: Mexican Hat


Day 13 (Tuesday August 17th)

Morning: Monument Valley

Afternoon: Blue Canyon

Night: Tuba City


Day 14 (Wednesday August 18th)

Morning: Grand Canyon NP

Afternoon: Antelope Canyon

Night: Page


Day 15 (Thursday August 19th)

Morning: Coyote Buttes

Afternoon: Bryce Canyon NP

Night: Hatch


Day 16 (Friday August 20th)

Morning: Zion NP

Afternoon: Hoover Dam

Night: Las Vegas


Day 17 (Saturday August 21st)

Las Vegas

Los Angeles