By car along the East Coast of America — from Washington to Orlando Florida
It’s easy to rent a car in America, it’s even easier to return it back, you just drive up to the return parking lot and while you’re taking out your things, a smiling young man takes the keys and GPS, and «OK», you can be free, we didn’t even realize that the car had already been accepted… but we’ve gotten a lot ahead of ourselves…
If you are over 21 years old and under 65 years old, all options for cars for rent in the USA are at your disposal, your imagination is limited only by the thickness of your wallet 🙂
Car rental prices in America are as follows: — economy class (for example, Toyota Yaris, Nissan Versa, Toyota Corolla and similar) $14-16 per day — business class (for example, Toyota Camry, Hyundai Sonata, Nissan Maxima, Dodge Avenger and similar) $20-34 per day — SUV (for example, Ford Escape, Toyota RAV4, Jeep Grand Cherokee, Chevrolet Tahoe, Chevrolet Suburban and similar) $30-80 per day
Although America’s roads are good and you can travel comfortably in any class of car, we preferred the Ford Explorer. Firstly, the journey is not close, we have a journey of 846 miles, which is equal to the more usual 1362 km, secondly, we needed 3 full passenger seats in the back, thirdly, the Ford Explorer is not considered an expensive car in America, well and fourthly, America is famous for its large and comfortable cars, as well as inexpensive gasoline, so it would be a sin not to take advantage of the situation and afford yourself a little more comfort and safety on the road.
I’ll immediately make a reservation that it’s better to take and return the car in the same place, otherwise the amount for «driving the car back» will be added to the rental cost, which can amount to 100-300 dollars, and this is extremely unpleasant when the total cost of renting a car in America is the same 300 dollars. But… it all depends on your travel route…
A lot has been written about roads in America, there is no point in repeating myself, I can only confirm that everywhere we drove the roads were good, comfortable when traveling at a speed of 120-130 km per hour, with signs for the permitted speed limit, exits and entrances and numerous recreation areas, which are warned of by signs several kilometers away. Conclusion: if you plan to travel around America by car, you are guaranteed to enjoy the romance of the road and the performance of your cruise control 🙂
Our family car route was deliberately built on the basis of overnight stays in cities, in order to quickly become acquainted with them at the level of «getting a superficial impression» and continuation of movement.
As a result, our Ford Explorer left Washington for the next 4 days with the goal of arriving in the city of Charlotte, North Carolina, in about 6 hours. The estimated distance according to maps.google between Washington and Charlotte is 384 miles, or 617 kilometers.
From personal experience, we have established that traveling by car over a distance of 600 km per day with stops certainly tires us, but does not kill the desire to hit the road again the next day.
Charlotte North Carolina
Charlotte is a typical American city with Downtown and Updown. Charlotte is the largest city in North Carolina with a population of about 800,000 people. Bank of America’s headquarters is located in Charlotte. Bank of America Corporate Center — the tallest building in the city. Charlotte is considered the second financial center of the United States after New York.
Charlotte is also home to the famous outdoor American football stadium — Bank of America Stadium, and 24 km from the city center — Charlotte Motor Speedway — a circuit well known far beyond, where prestigious car races and other events take place every year.
In Charlotte we stayed at the Crowne Plaza Charlotte Executive Park 4* good comfortable hotel, within a 10 minute drive from the NASCAR Hall of Fame and the Coin Museum courtyard, the children especially liked the indoor and outdoor pools 🙂 30 more best hotels in Charlotte from booking.com with guest reviews
Not far from Charlotte there is a center for active recreation and water sports beloved by children and adults National Whitewater Center usnwc.org, so if you happen to stay at Charlotte, be sure to spend a day there for a few days.
And so, in Charlotte we didn’t see: — Aviation Museum (Carolinas Aviation Museum) — Charlotte Trolley Museum in South End — NASCAR Hall of Fame — Discovery Place Science and Technology Museum — Mints Museum — Bechtler Museum of Modern Art — Billy Graham Library
… but it is not possible to embrace the immensity… Let’s not get upset…
The next destination is the city of Jacksonville, in the northern part of Florida
Georgia
I would also like to talk about my road impressions — the picturesque bayous of Georgia! Even driving by in a car, it’s hard not to see and admire the bays, spills and expanses of water in Georgia.
Attracted by numerous houses on the water shore, piers, fishermen moving on boats and just vacationers…
Nature of Georgia — We need to come back 🙂
Jacksonville Florida
From Charlotte to Jacksonville our favorite 624 km or about 6 hours on the road.
In fact, our original plans were to stay in a hotel on the Atlantic coast; getting to know the Ocean was the dream of the whole family! But life and nature made their own adjustments: the media actively scared about a hurricane that was either coming or had already arrived in Florida and showed pictures one more terrible than the other… In short, we, burdened with responsibility for children, decided not to run into unnecessary adventures and chose a hotel in the very center of Jacksonville, not on the ocean, but at least on the banks of the river that flows through the entire city.
Jacksonville is located along the banks of the wide, navigable St. Johns River — the longest river in Florida.
For an overnight stay, we chose a hotel right on the river bank, the Hyatt Regency Jacksonville Riverfront Hotel with stunning views from the rooms! To the list of excesses I can add our overpayment of 20 dollars for a room with a view of the river side from the window, and we have never regretted it!
Hotel Hyatt Regency Jacksonville Riverfront Hotel with Wi-Fi, breakfast, fitness and pool on the upper floors of the hotel.
Jacksonville — large city in northern Florida with a population of 842,000 people. There are not many attractions in Jacksonville, one of the most famous is the Museum of Contemporary Art Jacksonville or MOCA Jacksonville. The city has numerous restaurants, bars and nightclubs, and a very pleasant promenade, the Jacksonville Riverwalks, with paths for walkers, joggers and bikers, where you can combine a walk with shopping.
We didn’t see in Jacksonville:— zoo — Jacksonville Museum of Contemporary Art — did not visit the Adventure Landing amusement park www.adventurelanding.com/parks/jacksonville-beach and Shipwreck Island Waterpark www.adventurelanding.com/parks/jacksonville-beach/home /shipwreck-island-waterpark, which is located on the ocean coast on Jacksonville Beach.
In fact, the distance from the center of Jacksonville to the ocean is not at all great, only about 30 km. There are picturesque and popular beaches — famous Atlantic Beach — 25 km from Jacksonville, Neptune Beach — 25 km from Jacksonville, Jacksonville Beach — 27 km from Jacksonville, and of course, attracting vacationers Hotels on the ocean coast and in the city of Jacksonville
The next and final point of our road trip along the East Coast of the Atlantic USA — city-kingdom of entertainment Orlando!
From Jacksonville to Orlando is only 141 miles, or 226 km, so we decide to get to know the Ocean better and make our old dream come true 🙂 Highway 95, which travels from Jacksonville to southern Florida, passes very close to the coast in some places, so we chose Flagler Beach for a stop, which is the shortest distance from the highway, only 6 km to the side.
Fragler Beach beach on the map:
Atlantic Ocean
The ocean shocked us! That is, we expected that it was not just water, but a huge water force and element, but we did not expect such imperturbable hidden power, even oppressing a weak little man…
Of course, there was bad weather on the coast, we were warned, but we didn’t see anything that would knock us down, people were calmly relaxing on the shore, enjoying the views of pretty decent waves rolling in, there were even some people trying to swim… but the rescuers on the towers were not asleep…
By the way, brightly colored rescue towers were located at the same distance along the beaches as far as the eye could see.
But I won’t talk more about the ocean, it’s hard to describe in words, I’ll post a video and photo 🙂
Our video of the Ocean coast of Fragler Beach Florida on youtube — this must be seen and heard!
Ocean — We DEFINITELY need to come back 🙂
From Flagler Beach to Orlando there are only 88 miles left, or 142 km. We’re there!
Orlando Florida
It was Orlando, and not the famous Miami, that was chosen as our destination because we dreamed of seeing: 1. Universal Studios Park 2. Disney Park 3. Sea World amusement park and killer whale show and of course 4. Crocodiles And we saw it all! But first things first…
