John Cletheroe's
USA and Canada Holiday Hints

Summary of Costs of a Fly/Drive Holiday from the UK to the USA in the Summer of 1999

In May and June 1999 we flew from Norwich to Amsterdam with KLM UK (previously called Air UK) and from Amsterdam to Los Angeles with KLM/Northwest, returning from San Francisco via Amsterdam, 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 southern California, southern Nevada, southern Utah, northwestern New Mexico, western Colorado, western Wyoming, southern Idaho, southern Washington State, the Oregon coast and northern California.

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 may vary considerably depending on your lifestyle.

Paid to Northwest Fly/Drive

Flights (UK£346.50 each) UK£1039.50

Airport tax (UK£47 each) UK£141.00

Car (I4 grade) (UK£59.40 per week) UK£237.60

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 Los Angeles

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

Vehicle licence fee for California (70c per day for 28 days) US$19.60

State tax US$29.04

Insurance

Britannia Continental - personal holiday insurance (UK£51.05 each) UK£153.15

TopSure - "Top Up" Insurance UK£106.20

Motel Costs

Average motel costs in the USA were US$50.48 (equivalent to UK£31.86) total for three adults per night including all taxes.

The highest we paid was US$70.30 per night (equivalent to UK£44.37) in Seaside, Oregon. The lowest we paid was US$38.51 per night (equivalent to UK£24.31) in Twentynine Palms, California. These rates include all taxes.

We used a mixture of chain and independent motels.

USA Car Details

The car was a four door Chevrolet Malibu rented from Alamo, with 7302 miles on the clock when we picked it up.

We drove 7096 miles in four weeks.

The average petrol consumption was 31.4 miles per US gallon.

The average price we paid for petrol in the USA was US$1.286 per US gallon, equivalent to UK£0.209 (20.9p) per litre.

The lowest price we paid for petrol was US$1.11 per US gallon in Rock Springs, Wyoming.

The highest price we paid for petrol was US$1.67 per US gallon near San Francisco International Airport, California. Excluding this, the highest was US$1.49 per US gallon in Fortuna, in northern California (just south of Eureka).

The average price we paid per US gallon in each state was as follows:

California US$1.40
Colorado US$1.16
Idaho US$1.23
New Mexico US$1.27
Nevada US$1.25
Oregon US$1.35
Utah US$1.26
Washington State US$1.26
Wyoming US$1.11
Remember that these prices were recorded in May and June 1999 and will very quickly become out of date. In addition there can be considerable variation in petrol prices within each state, and some variation from one petrol station to another within each town.

Petrol (gas) price conversion charts

Current petrol (gas) prices

Big Mac Price

In the summer of 1999 the price in the USA of that universal world-wide measure of the cost of living and inflation, the Big Mac, was US$2.28. This is the price for the sandwich alone, not a meal.
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