Immigration to the United States tour of the United States: Planning and implementing a self-driving tour on the West Coast of the United States began during the Spring Festival and has been in preparation for about 6 months, which has been quite a challenge with meticulous planning. Now that the departure is imminent, I plan to keep a record of the journey in words and photos to preserve beautiful memories and also hope to provide a reference for like-minded friends. This diary will continue until our return, documenting the entire 20-day journey…
After 6 months of preparation, we are now in the countdown phase, and I must admit I feel a bit anxious…
Let’s summarize the work done in the past few months:
1. Route Design
(1) Abandoning Yellowstone
Initially, I was very much looking forward to "Yellowstone National Park," after all, it was rumored to disappear in 2012, haha! So I initially planned to head straight to Yellowstone, but due to its distance, it became difficult to include the Grand Canyon and Yosemite in the same itinerary, which forced me to extend the trip to 16 days. However, for various reasons, it was rejected. I had to give up on Yellowstone… Ah, Yellowstone! Let it be my next goal!
(2) Abandoning Hawaii
Many people's free travel in the United States starts from Hawaii, but I did not include it from the beginning. There are three reasons: first, the extravagant romance, which I do not like; second, the high cost of flight connections; third, I feel there will always be an opportunity to visit it separately. Therefore, unlike others, Hawaii is not on this itinerary.
(3) In-depth West Coast
For more than ten days, we will only travel along the West Coast, which should be quite straightforward. I started designing the entire route with 11 days as the standard; it was too short to be satisfying, but too long would make people lose interest, haha! So 11 days should be a good duration…
Car Rental
Having just immigrated to the United States, I did not have time to buy a car, so renting a car was quite a hassle. I initially chose several rental companies, but none were ideal; either they did not have the desired model or the costs were too high. In the end, I booked an SUV from Alamo through Holiday, which proved to be a wrong choice. Booking through an intermediary led to double charges, and the issue has yet to be resolved satisfactorily, which is disappointing. Alamo's efficiency is very high; large companies are indeed different, but there are many issues when booking through intermediaries…
This self-driving trip involved booking hotels online, which was very convenient. I made reservations a day in advance, fearing changes in the itinerary, and online hotel bookings require pre-authorization on credit cards. To avoid unnecessary conflicts, booking a day in advance felt secure. It turned out to be a wise decision; the hotel prices were also reasonable, averaging less than $50 per night.