Coming to America (Cultural Learnings to Make Benefit Australia)

[Alidar Jarok]

Yeah, it's usually not a problem. Rent from a national chain and you should be ok. LA to Michigan should doable even with a detour in Arizona. That or Yellowstone would be my recommendations. Chicago is a good weekend trip. Skip the east coast until next time.

ETA: 5 hour drive to Niagara Falls if you don't mind going through Canada.

Also, make sure it's ok to drive with an Aussie drivers license.

 

[USS Triumphant]

Is it possible to hire a car in one place and return it in another?

Yes, it absolutely is. We have a few rental chains that offer that as a fairly standard option. And, sir? One of them... is called Enterprise.

 

[USS Triumphant]

Also, make sure it's ok to drive with an Aussie drivers license.

I checked the laws on this (I'm not a lawyer, advice worth what is paid for it, yada yada), and it would seem that if you're from a country that is a signatory to the Convention on Road Traffic Treaty (Australia and the U.S. both are) and your license is in English, you can drive and you can rent from Enterprise, Avis, Hertz, and probably others without any problem. If your license is in any other language, you need an International Driver's Permit to carry in addition to your license. Also, if you plan to go to Florida, get an IDP regardless of the language of your license, because they have a state law that says you have to have one even though that is in contradiction to the international treaty we signed - they aren't supposed to be enforcing their requirement pending a decision from the courts, but better safe than sorry. Or better yet, just don't go to Florida. Fark.com has a special tag for stories that come out of that state for a reason.

 

[Spot's Meow]

I definitely recommend San Francisco, but that wouldn't mix with your desire to drive from L.A. Well, if you do get the opportunity, you won't be disappointed.

 

[gturner]

Kayak.com rental search for LA to Lansing. The date is wrong but you can change what's there.

Be advised that in the US we drive on the right-hand side of the road, and don't normally use crossbows in traffic.

As for things to see while you're here, the top three most dangerous neighborhoods in the US for getting robbed at gunpoint, raped, or murdered are in Detroit, just an hour and a half from Lancing. It would be an adventure! You could do the whole Crocodile Dundee thing.

 

[Gaith]

I'd imagine that much of the LA to Michigan driving scenery wouldn't be all that different from what you'd get in Australia, give or take a Grand Canyon, of course. Call me a snobby coastal type if you must, but I think you'd have more fun hanging around California a few days, then flying to Michigan. You could road-trip LA to San Francisco, for example, then fly from there. We do call the middle of the country the "flyover states" for a reason.

 

[Mary Ann]

ETA: 5 hour drive to Niagara Falls if you don't mind going through Canada.

I know you didn't mean this in a negative way, but I found your phrasing amusing.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

Canada is cool.

No really, the one thing a Canadian friend of mine used to bitch about was "we have NO FLORIDA!"

 

[Alidar Jarok]

ETA: 5 hour drive to Niagara Falls if you don't mind going through Canada.

I know you didn't mean this in a negative way, but I found your phrasing amusing.

Yeah, it was kind of deliberate

That being said, the Canadian side of the falls is the side worth seeing anyway.

 

[RoJoHen]

ETA: 5 hour drive to Niagara Falls if you don't mind going through Canada.

I know you didn't mean this in a negative way, but I found your phrasing amusing.

Yeah, it was kind of deliberate

That being said, the Canadian side of the falls is the side worth seeing anyway.

The Canadian side of the falls is worth seeing over the US side. I stopped at Niagara Falls during a road trip a few years back, and we were barely there for 20 minutes before we got bored and hopped back in the car.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

Apparently that's the most common reaction to the Grand Canyon as well. With Niagara, you can do the Maid of the Mist and go to a Ripley museum or something like that so it's more than showing up, starring at it, and leaving.

 

[Captain Ice]

You can also do a Fred Harvey Rim tour or two once you get into the park at the Grand Canyon. These tours will drive you along the South and East rims of the Canyon so you can get different views.

Also, stopping in Williams, AZ and riding the train from there to the Grand Canyon is very entertaining.