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    Things you'd really quite like to do

    I'd like to do that thing where someone pays you to drive their car from somewhere like Maine or Connecticut to somewhere else like San Francisco. Mainly because I've enjoyed my road trips in America and planning out a route that took in some interesting places would be fun.

    I don't know if this is really a thing, I'm probably too old to goof off for a few weeks to do it, and it would probably end up insanely tiring and boring. But it's still one of those things I think about and think how I'd like to do it.

    #2
    Driving across America is awesome as long as

    (a) you have time, and no set schedule
    (b) you stay off the interstates except if you're going into a big city
    (c) you avoid big cities as much as possible
    (d) you just set aside one day for 14 or 16 hours on the road to get across the eastern half of Colorado/New Mexico, and all of Kansas/Oklahoma/Nebraska, because that bit genuinely is insanely boring.

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      #3
      Learn to ride a horse in the way I can get out in the wild and just make us go crazy fast across whatever's in front of us.

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        #4
        An 18-year-old I know managed to buy a camper van for just a few thousand and is going to take about six months, after he works and saves some more money, to see America in it, focusing on the national parks. Sounds great.

        Taking interstates is ok in some places, like Nebraska and eastern Colorado. You can see what there is to see from the interstate and maybe a few stops for gas. But there are some states I'd like to see via slower roads.

        We did some epic road trips with a pop-up camper as a kid and I've done a few solo trips in my younger days, but its been a while. I really need to do a trip to the Northwest plus western Canada. There are a number of people I know out there I can stay with and, of course, lots of good places to camp. But to do it right would take at least two or three weeks and I don't know when I'll be able to take off that much time from work.

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          #5
          Originally posted by Patrick Thistle View Post
          I'd like to do that thing where someone pays you to drive their car from somewhere like Maine or Connecticut to somewhere else like San Francisco. Mainly because I've enjoyed my road trips in America and planning out a route that took in some interesting places would be fun.

          I don't know if this is really a thing, I'm probably too old to goof off for a few weeks to do it, and it would probably end up insanely tiring and boring. But it's still one of those things I think about and think how I'd like to do it.
          It used to be a standard way of paying your way across the country in Canada. Delivering a car Toronto to Vancouver, three people driving in shifts forty-eight hours.

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            #6
            I've met a few old cops / firefighters who regularly do paid drive-aways from Toronto down to Florida each fall, and then back each spring. Wealthy old snowbirds fly down and want their own car there. They says there's really no money in it, but they love a) driving b) road trips and c) going south for free a half dozen times a year.

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              #7
              I used to want to do the drive across the US. There was something romantic about it. But then I realised that there was that long section in the middle that would just be tedious. Why is it that British people who dream of it don't just drive across Europe? It's easy (nb: until next March anyway) it's endlessly fascinating and there really aren't any dull bits, and you can do it in your own car, not have to source one when you get to NYC (or wherever).

              Is it simply because of the lack of books, songs, films about the European open road?

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                #8
                The car is a far more potent American symbol of freedom than it is in Europe. Plus there's always an implied destination — one coast or the other. In Europe there's no obvious start or end point.

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                  #9
                  I've made the drive from Baton Rouge to Boston a couple of times, solo. It's a good two days drive if you're by yourself. I've also driven to/from New Jersey to Nashville a few times--a couple of times solo and a few times with other people (however, one of those times was with young nephews, so that's like being solo). It's only about 11 hours, IIRC, but some stretches of interstate are brutally boring. If you're tired, it's a struggle to stay awake.

                  I don't know what I would like to do. I've been working so hard lately that all I really want is a week off work.

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                    #10
                    In 2001 we bought a friend's old Volvo estate for £150 and drove it from Banbury to Tirana, where it became my works vehicle. We took a week and stopped in some awesome places - Trogir, Ljubljana - and drove down the magnificent Dalmatian coast. We actually discussed this two nights ago, and have decided that next year's family holiday will be a two-week drive around Europe, with no pre-conceived plan. The only question now is whether to take our beloved old Saab converrtible for a goodbye fun drive before selling, or the boring but more practical Hyundai i20 with a top box and stick our camping equipment in it.

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                      #11
                      Originally posted by ad hoc View Post
                      Is it simply because of the lack of books, songs, films about the European open road?
                      Exception that proves the rule it may be and I appreciate it hardly constitutes a canon on its own, but, ooof.

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                        #12
                        I’d certainly like to drive America. I’m a huge fan of old neon signs, ‘modern’ architecture etc
                        But a personal daydream ( or more accurately, insomnia headfiller) is to get sponsorship and cycle from Tannadice to Borussia Park. A minor detail, I know, but with a sponsor I could even get a half n half jersey.
                        Could be done without being retired if I went during Easter vacation, or by special request I could take holiday in May. Cos obviously I’d need to plan to leave on one home game and arrive at another.

                        To cycle into the centre circle and give a wave.

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                          #13
                          My then fiancee and I did that "drive someone's car across the US for them" back in 1991, from San Francisco to the outskirts of Boston. Maybe we were unlucky with our choice of agency, but the contract conditions were appalling. No pay (or gas allowance), the deal was just free car hire, maybe with minimal insurance thrown in, can't remember about that. We were totally ripped off on the time limit - the distance was something like 3,100 miles and we were supposed to get 1 day per 400 miles so 8 days. But in fact they counted both the days of arrival and departure. With a noon departure and a 3pm arrival deadline, then a 3 hour time zone time loss, we had EXACTLY seven days, so needed to average not far short of 500 miles per day. You can imagine how much time that left for seeing anything other than interstates and motels. By dint of speeding and a breach-of-contract divergence from our contractually tightly specified route, we were able to spend about 2 hours in Salt Lake City and maybe 4 or 5 hours in Chicago. Otherwise, we saw landscapes, that's all*.

                          One curious observation: across vast distances on largely empty roads through the west and mid-west where high speed would be safe, virtually everybody kept to the then 55mph speed limit. Get near a big city (e.g. Chicago) where the traffic is heavy, and there are plenty of drivers driving dangerously fast.

                          * well, except for a very brief stop in some historic village or other in Iowa I think.
                          Last edited by Evariste Euler Gauss; 20-07-2018, 07:15.

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                            #14
                            The Mrs and I did Seattle down to Long Beach via Crater Lake a few years ago. We took the long way round where possible (Astoria, Highway 1, Monterey). It was a lot of driving - though thankfully we got a free upgrade from a Dodge SUV to a fully specced BMW X5. Would definitely do it again, probably skipping LA - which I hated.

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                              #15
                              Originally posted by Pietro Paolo Virdis View Post
                              Learn to ride a horse in the way I can get out in the wild and just make us go crazy fast across whatever's in front of us.
                              Rattlesnakes, and or, stroppy horses who are scared shitless of rattlesnakes. And that desert is full of little rocks, which tend to break horse's legs. See, they never tell you this in the history of... you know, horses.

                              Doesn't work. Sore arse, and no-one looks good in chaps.

                              I'd quite like to go on 'Masterchef' and fuck it up on purpose, just to see the look on Wallace's face, just before I twat him when he calls my food shit. (I do realise that is not in the spirit of the opening post. OK. I'd love to go to Antarctica. And I think I can. Insanely expensive for a fucking snow holiday. Yes, the expense is to stop knobs like me dying.)
                              Last edited by Gerontophile; 20-07-2018, 08:40.

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                                #16
                                Travel is mine too. A few years ago I set myself a goal of having visited 50 countries by the time I was fifty, something I will complete with a bit to spare next year where my 50th will be Guatemala, of all places. All the talk of Brexit these last two years led to a side ambition (wrapped into the first) of having been to all 28 EU members, something I completed recently with trips to Sofia and Cluj. However in all that I have yet to cross the equator or see the Pacific, so something round the globe is calling me, maybe for my 50th itself. I've never been to India, China, Australia or South America, so loads to go yet. I'm now aiming for 70 countries by 70.

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                                  #17
                                  Once upon a time I too dreamed of taking road trips, or often, during stressful times at work, simply leaping on a train to get away to somewhere...anywhere.

                                  Nowadays I’m in a better place so I like to travel vicariously.

                                  There, see. I’ve just discovered I’ve been to all 28 EU member countries. Thanks, Rogin.

                                  In 12 months across 2016/17 I drove 40,000 miles. Most of it seemed to be spent in the 50mph section of the M6 between junctions 16 and 19. I fantasised about never having to drive again.

                                  I remember a mate from Rochdale raving excitedly about his plans to drive Route 66 in the US. He returned from his trip somewhat dispirited, the reality falling some way short of the dream.
                                  Last edited by HORN; 20-07-2018, 09:16.

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                                    #18
                                    Driving the 1 from Key West up the east coast, but mindful that it would take a while to get through the cities.

                                    Tamiami Trail (the 41) from Tampa to Miami can be done in a weekend, ending in Little Havana.

                                    We drove the 61 up to Memphis in 2001. Genuinely scary in the areas I imagined to be Klan. Mainly a blues homage on my part. Detour to Robert Johnson's gravestone, which I visited in the same year as Nick Drake's in Tanworth in Arden. Elvis's grave site at Graceland was also very moving; the only part of the place that wasn't incredibly tacky. Sun Studio: I was struck by how tiny the recording space was.

                                    Ideal rail journeys: India, Vietnam.

                                    Agree with Snake that LA is shit. I really like San Diego, though, and did the zoo as a Pet Sounds homage (cover photo was shot there)
                                    Last edited by Satchmo Distel; 20-07-2018, 09:41.

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                                      #19
                                      I notice nobody's offered to sponsor me yet. Or tell me where to get a half n half jersey made....

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                                        #20
                                        Originally posted by Rogin the Armchair fan View Post
                                        Travel is mine too. A few years ago I set myself a goal of having visited 50 countries by the time I was fifty, something I will complete with a bit to spare next year where my 50th will be Guatemala, of all places. All the talk of Brexit these last two years led to a side ambition (wrapped into the first) of having been to all 28 EU members, something I completed recently with trips to Sofia and Cluj. However in all that I have yet to cross the equator or see the Pacific, so something round the globe is calling me, maybe for my 50th itself. I've never been to India, China, Australia or South America, so loads to go yet. I'm now aiming for 70 countries by 70.
                                        I'd like to:
                                        - go back to Japan, to spend at least a full week in Kyoto
                                        - take another cruise to Antarctica, but this time include a visit to South Georgia and the Falklands
                                        - visit Bhutan
                                        - drive around Iceland
                                        - do a coast-to-coast road trip in the USA
                                        - drive the pacific coastline in the USA
                                        - visit Botswana and Namibia, to see Victoria Falls, the Okavango delta, and the Kalahari desert on the same trip
                                        - tour Morocco
                                        - tour New Zealand
                                        - see some more of Europe

                                        That last point will probably have to wait until I'm a bit older, since now I am still young and vital enough to go on these big trips.

                                        My fiancée would like to visit India and Mexico. So I guess I want that too. Must win the lottery to make all of this happen, though.

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                                          #21
                                          Oh yeah, I'd like to do Vancouver Island too, at some point.

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                                            #22
                                            Since winning the lottery was mentioned- as well as giving loads to Charidee and seeing my friends/family and comrades all right, I'd like to buy the derelict 'North East Rubber Company' factory on N. Shields quayside and convert it into an independent cinema with a bar/cafe and meeting rooms.

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                                              #23
                                              Originally posted by HORN View Post
                                              I remember a mate from Rochdale raving excitedly about his plans to drive Route 66 in the US. He returned from his trip somewhat dispirited, the reality falling some way short of the dream.
                                              It's surprising how often that comes up when you say to people you're doing a driving holiday in the US - people will say 'oh are you doing Route 66 while you're there?' as if you can knock it off in half day, and as if it is still a thing in itself. Admittedly these are the same people who 'can't understand why you'd go somewhere cold for your summer holiday' when you say you're going to Eastern Europe.

                                              Anyway I'm doing a drivey holiday in the US next month (and no, not doing Route 66) and I can't wait. Haven't done coast to coast in one go but was saying to my kids recently we'll do it sometime.

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                                                #24
                                                Well, if you can't do an American road trip in person, do one through music.

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                                                  #25
                                                  I did the driving in America thing last year and loved it. Drove from Idaho to Grand Teton National Park, then on to Yellowstone. Then From Vegas up through Lake Mead to Zion National Park and Bryce Canyon. Then from San Francisco down to Big Sur, the last point on the Pacific Highway before the road closure. It was fucking stunning, and driving is a pleasure on the wide, long, straight roads. We got upgraded to a Ford Mustang, which ate petrol like I eat Haribo, the thirsty, sexy little bastard (don't care what anyone says, air-con coming out of your seat in the Nevada dessert is essential).

                                                  The big thing about the National Parks is rationing your experiences otherwise you'll never make it round. We were stopping every 20 metres or so in Yellowstone to take a picture of a waterfall, or tree, or bison, or big volcanic thing. We'd never have got round if we kept that up. Still one of the greatest things I've done and will ever do. The scale of it all. Magnificent.

                                                  I've also driven round Vancouver Island. Doing the whale watching and hearing and seeing Orcas hunt was, well, I dunno the word for it. I got to wear a yellow Rains mac and breton strip t-shirt for the full nautical kit wanker look. Plus we visited a diner on the way up where people have definitely been murdered. Everything was wrapped in clingfilm, there were saws hanging on the wall and a massive locked chest freezer in the corner.

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