Faq

The answer to all your questions (hopefully)

Frequently asked Questions, recommendations & usefull terms

You can start booking trips today, so come and join the adventures.

We do NOT recommend that you try to buy your own car to do your own road trip in America. On a “short” road trip like 3-4 weeks you are much better off with the safety of renting a car. Even though the insurance company wont let you take it off the paved roads. Buying your own car and using it for 4×4 purposes is a VERY expensive thing to do, trust us we know!

One-way drop off fee
There is a drop off fee on rental cars if you only are going one-way, let’s say from LA to SF. This is not advertised, but it is normally around 100-200$, but it can also be much more than that.

Mobile homes
If you are looking to get a mobile home and you start your search early, you can be lucky to find a sweet drop off deal. Some companies need to get their vehicles transported back n’ forth, so sometimes they make one-way deals and they are very affordable.

INSURANCE

Basically all you ever need when you travel is a travel insurance that you are sure covers the US and you also need your home insurance in case your personal belongings gets lost or stolen.

If you are travelling more that 60 days, you might want to check if your insurance covers that. Not all do.

Also altitude can be an issue with insurance companies, like hiking in high altitude etc.

For you own sake make sure you know you are covered, and covered correctly.

TIME

Plan ahead so you do not waste your valuable vacation time on driving 200miles to see a point of interest or visit a park, just to find out it is closed for the remaining of the season. Also remember that distances in the US are so vast that driving is a very big factor to calculate in when planning your road trip.

CAR RENTAL

There is a fair amount to save on the car rental fees if you do it from home, sites like rentalcars.com offer good deals year around, just be aware if you travel from point A to point B and you don’t do “a loop”, then there’s a drop off fee and it’s not always advertised.

One other thing to keep in mind is space. Depending on how many you are in your party, you do not want to be over crowded in a vehicle driving long distances.

MOTELS

The price and quality of Motels can vary a lot, trip adviser, booking.com and such sites are a really good tool to figure out where to stay and it works incredibly well in the US, also the use of common sense applies when choosing a motel, it is not always “cheapest is the best”.

PERMITS

If you want to go hiking in places like the grand canyon, the half dome in Yosemite or maybe the wave in Utah. Study up on which permits you will need. It is defiantly not everywhere you will need a permit, but most of the big parks you will need one if: you want to overnight camp out or go to places that are very popular.

Sometimes these permits can be via a lottery that is drawn a few day before the permit date.

GEAR

Know what gear you need and buy it in the US, you can quite possibly get cheaper and way better gear in the states than Europe. You might want to check out places like REI to do a good deal for your next adventure.

DISPERSED CAMPING?

Many people enjoy the solitude and primitive experience of camping away from developed campgrounds and other campers. Dispersed camping is the term used for camping anywhere in the National Forest OUTSIDE of a designated campground. Dispersed camping means no services; such as trash removal, and little or no facilities; such as tables and fire pits, are provided. Some popular dispersed camping areas may have toilets.

There are extra responsibilities and skills that are necessary for dispersed camping. It is your responsibility to know these before you try this new experience. Camping rules and regulations apply to make your experience safe, and to keep the natural resources scenic and unspoiled for other campers.

NATIONAL FOREST?

The National Forest Service (NFS) is a classification of protected and managed federal lands in the united states.

National Forests are largely forest and woodland areas owned collectively by the American people through the federal government, and managed by the united states forest service.

In these National forests it is legal to do dispersed camping, if you follow the rules and regulations of the given forest.

BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT?

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an agency within the United States Department of interior that administers more than 247.3 million acres (1,001,000 km2) of public lands in the United States which constitutes one-eighth of the landmass of the country. President Harry S. Truman created the BLM in 1946 and most BLM public lands are located in these 12 western states: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.

Like national forest it is also legal to do dispersed camping in BLM areas if you follow the rules and regulations of the given area.

OFF THE GRID?

“Off the grid” is defined by: Not requiring utilities such as electricity, water, etc. or unrecorded, untraceable through normal means. Also meaning no service or cell phone reception.