Possible Road Trip

Hi,

I%26#39;m in the VERY early planning stages of a possible road trip next year. I%26#39;ve done a bit of research on the forums and so far I%26#39;ve come up with the following:

San Antonio

Houston

Lafayette

New Orleans

Natchez

Follow the Natchez Trail to Jackson

We only have a couple of weeks and I don%26#39;t want to be in a car for every hour of every day. It would be nice to have time to enjoy the sights and maybe stop over a couple of nights in some places.

Do you think the above is far enough or should I stretch further?

I quite fancy getting to Savannah, Georgia but not sure if that is too much and where I would stop along the way?

Thanks

Possible Road Trip

We%26#39;re huge fans of southern Louisiana and live in SA so SA-Houston-Lafayette-New Orleans sounds great to me. I grew up in Beaufort, SC (45 minutes north of Savannah) and am a huge fan of the low country. If you%26#39;re heading there you ought to consider Charleston, SC too.

San Antonio - 2 days plus 1 day for each amusement park, 1 day for Schlitterbahnn, 2 days for hiil country 2 days for Austin

Houston - 2 days, plus 1 day for NASA and area, 1 day Galveston (2 if you include Schlitterbahnn)

Lafayette - 1 day plus 1/2 day swamp tour, 1/2 day plantation, another day for antiques around Washington and Ville Platte

NO - 3 days another day shopping Baton Rouge

Savannah - 2 days

Hilton Head - 2 days including a day for golf

Beaufort - 2 days (instead of Hilton Head) same less resorty more down to earth

Charleston 2 days plus 1 day for Plantations

Interests might be a determining factor here. What are you most interested in?

Possible Road Trip

This is a good itinerary.

There is alot to see in the San Antonio area, I would plan to spend the most time there. Houston, 2 nights at the most. What are you planning to see here? I

If Lafayette is just a place to stop, you might want to consider taking a Southwest Airlines flight from Houston to New Orleans (they have good fares) and then visit N.O. and Jackson, Vicksburg is also nice and not far from Jackson.

I love Savannah, GA. You could take a Delta Airlines flight from Jackson to Savannah, via Atlanta very easily.

Are you flying from the UK in/out of San Antonio? Maybe you could fly UK to San Antonio, return Savannah to UK.

I would recommend you plan this trip from March-May or October-November for more comfortable weather.

Welcome to the US!

you may want to provide more details about your interests - what are you interested in seeing in each place? I would definitely add a few plantation homes to visit in south Louisiana while on the way to New Orleans - namely Oak Alley oakalleyplantation.com (which has been used in some movies) and Nottoway plantation home www.nottoway.com - you can research these online.

Thanks for your ideas so far. We don%26#39;t have any particular interests we%26#39;re into and would just like to experience a broad range of things such as:

Outdoor activities

Local history

Good local food

Sports - would love to see a basketball or football game

Rodeo

Just want to get a good flavour of the areas we visit really so definitely no theme parks or anything too touristy that%26#39;s not unique to the area, although NASA could be cool.

Thinking it could be good to stay in the general area of some of the cities on route but maybe more out of town unless the city itself is a must see e.g. New Orleans. Maybe some of you have some suggestions?

I%26#39;m now thinking that Savannah is stretching it for one 2 week trip and we should save it for another time. It%26#39;s also cheaper for us to book return flights and pick up/drop off the hire car in the same place so thinking of flying in/out of Dallas and doing a circular route with all the places I mentioned above but need some suggestions for between Jackson and Dallas

Thanks

If you visit March 2010, you can visit the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. This is a huge event in Houston.

http://hlsr.com/

You mention flying in/out of Dallas. That is a good distance from the original cities you mentioned. Have you checked the fares into Houston , New Orleans or San Antonio. When are you looking to travel here? Something else you may want to look at, if you are not flying nonstop into Texas, is 2 round-trip tickets. One from UK-NYC, for example and another from NYC to Houston.

Check you car rental rates in one stop at bnm.com, you can do same rental city pick up/drop off, or one way rentals.

The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo sounds great. What%26#39;s the weather like in March? And will there be any sports on at that time e.g. basketball, American football, etc?

I can see that Dallas is quite far out so I guess it could mean a lot of driving and not as much time to see and experience other places. I can fly to San Antonio (via Philadelphia) so do you think it would be best to just book flights in and out of there and start my trip in San Antonio, end in Jackson and then get an internal flight between Jackson and San Antonio? Is this possible?

I agree that Savannah would be tough to do with everything else you want to see. Based on what you said you want to experience:

Outdoor activities

Local history

Good local food

Sports - would love to see a basketball or football game

Rodeo

I would fly to San Antonio or Austin, TX - spend time (probably 3 or 4 days) around San Antonio and Austin (only a one hour drive from each other) and experience the Texas Hill Country, Lakes, horseback riding, etc (outdoor activities, good Texas barbeque (especially the brisket) see some live music in Austin (live music is huge in Austin) they also have the Austin City Limits festival being held in early October this year (www.aclfestival.com)

then you could drive to Houston or Dallas (about 2 and 1/2 to 3 hours) to experience one of the big southern cities and a sports game for about 2 days.

then, you could fly from Dallas or Houston to New Orleans and stay 3 days or so. New Orleans is one of THE cities you must visit in the South - very unique culture and great food!

then, I would drive from New Orleans up to Jackson (since you stated that you wanted to see Jackson) and maybe go from there to Memphis, TN. Memphis has great barbeque also but are known more for ribs there - it%26#39;s the home of Elvis and they have a great nightlife scene on Beal Street. Memphis would be an easy city to get a flight back home from also.

I%26#39;m just trying to think of some great cities that have alot to offer so you can experience the southern charm, food, music etc that makes the South such a popular destination. Also, you don%26#39;t want to spend all your time driving around -

if you need more info just ask - hope you have a great trip!

Thanks nonnative Texan for some good ideas but I think we%26#39;d rather stay on the road and do a shorter route than take too many flights (too much time wasted in airports). Also we%26#39;re after some ideas out of cities as we don%26#39;t want to visit cities unless they%26#39;re ones we really shouldn%26#39;t miss e.g. N.O

the drive from Houston to New Orleans is about 6 hours and can be cool if you make some stops in the small towns along the way in south Louisiana if that%26#39;s what you want to do - I was just trying to keep you from driving alot during your trip - but driving is a fantastic way to experience the people/culture etc... I%26#39;ve actually always rented cars when visiting Europe and love it so I think that%26#39;s a great idea to drive more

Yeah, that%26#39;s exactly what we%26#39;re after. Maybe you could recommend a few small towns on the way from Houston to New Orleans that we could stop off at?