John Cletheroe's
USA and Canada Holiday Hints

Summary of Costs of a Fly/Drive Holiday from the UK to the USA and Canada in the Summer of 1998

In May and June 1998 we flew from Norwich to Amsterdam with KLM UK (previously called Air UK) and from Amsterdam to San Francisco with Northwest Airlines, using a Northwest Fly/Drive (subsequently called Fly Drive USA and now called Holiday-America) package which was booked direct with them.

We spent four weeks touring (in alphabetical order) Alberta, British Columbia, California, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington State and Wyoming.

The following costs are for the four weeks, for three adults. Where relevant all the costs are for all three of us combined, NOT per person. Please bear in mind that your costs in the USA and Canada may vary considerably depending on your lifestyle.

Paid to Northwest Fly/Drive

Flights (UK£364.50 each) UK£1093.50

Airport tax (UK£47 each) UK£141

Car (I4 grade) (UK£63 per week) UK£252

Because we booked directly with Northwest Fly/Drive, we received a 10% discount on the airfare and car rental. The above costs are the figures after that discount was applied, in other words what we actually paid.

Paid to Alamo in San Francisco

CDW (US$9 per day for 28 days) US$252

Vehicle licence fee for California (89c per day for 28 days) US$24.92

State tax US$27.72

The total was equivalent to UK£192.27

Insurance

Britannia Continental - Normal holiday insurance UK£135.75

TopSure - "Top Up" Insurance UK£106.20

Motel Costs

Average motel costs in the USA were US$50.66 (equivalent to UK£30.29) total for three adults per night including all taxes. We used a mixture of chain and independent motels in the USA.

Average motel costs in Canada were CDN$71.37 (equivalent of UK£30.41) total for three adults per night including all taxes (the GST sales tax was later refunded). We mainly used independent motels in Canada.

USA Car Details

The car was an almost new four door Nissan Altima (2.5 litre) rented from Alamo, with 362 miles on the clock when we picked it up.

We drove 7964 miles in four weeks.

The average petrol consumption was 36.5 miles per Imperial gallon.

The average petrol price in the USA was US$1.196 per US gallon, equivalent to UK£0.194 (19.4p) per litre.

The average petrol price in Canada was CDN$0.52565 per litre, equivalent to UK£0.2252 (22.52p) per litre.

Petrol (gas) price conversion charts

Current petrol (gas) prices

Costs

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As with all the other pages on this personal web site, all the information on this page is solely the opinion of the author, who has no connection whatsoever with any of the companies and organisations mentioned other than as an actual or potential customer.
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Most recently modified 8-Feb-01