Return to New York

The day to return the Subaru Outback arrived quickly, and we scarpered out of Vermont and through New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Connecticut rather more quickly than we would have preferred. The scenery through these states was great, but we didn't have much time to stop and enjoy it. We especially liked the frozen lakes with people wandering around on them, presumably safely.

We had specifically booked a Subaru from Avis, because that would guarantee "all wheel drive" which is highly desirable on the snowy roads we expected. This was after our experience in the Rockies two years ago when we discovered (several states too late) that, in the USA, SUV does not mean 4-wheel drive!

In the 40 days we had the Outback, it performed without a hitch. We travelled 5880 miles (9408km) through 16 states. Petrol (gas) prices were between $US2.90 and $3.20 per US Gallon, which translates to $A0.89 to $0.93 per litre, so they haven't got much to complain about, have they?

On the driving trip, we followed our usual US travel procedure and did not book hotels ahead. In the jargon of the trade, we were "walk-ins", and this lets you get good deals and make use of those discount coupon books you get from state welcome centres and McDonalds stores. We deviated from this strategy only twice, in Key West FL (where, worried about limited options in high-season, only Cuba, we rang 2 hours ahead, and just as well, because the town was full when we got there) and in Alexandria VA (where we had to tell a friend where we were going to be staying). We almost had a wheel fall off once, in Rutland VT, a ski resort town on the Presidents Day long weekend, but we managed to pay more and avoid having to sleep in the car.

Depending on opportunities, we stayed at Days Inn, Best Western, Hampton Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Holiday Inn, Quality Inn, Comfort Suites, Fairfield Marriott, La Quinta and one independent as well as two friends, of course. We like these chain hotels, because they not only provide the essentials and decent comfort, but also complimentary broadband (for this blog!) and breakfast. Three hotels let us down in the breakfast stakes, but we managed to avoid starvation.

Our reseach is anecdotal, of course, but we noted that, within any chain, the quality of the accommodation can vary widely. As someone said to us, look for recent construction or renovation! Our award for the most consistenly good hotels on this segment of our trip goes to Holiday Inn Express.