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 2000

Introduction

In May and June 2000 we flew from Norwich to Amsterdam with KLM UK (previously called Air UK) and from Amsterdam to San Francisco with KLM, returning from San Francisco via Amsterdam, using a FlyDrive USA (previously called Northwest Fly/Drive and now called Holiday-America) package which was booked direct with them.

We spent four weeks touring northern California, Oregon, Washington State, Idaho, western Montana, western Wyoming, northern Utah and Nevada.

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.

Currency Conversion Rates

On this page currencies have been converted at rates of 1UK£ = US$1.50 and 1UK£ = CDN$2.2, which were approximately the rates applicable at the time.

Paid to Fly Drive USA

Flights (UK£344.70 each) UK£1034.10

Airport tax (UK£63.40 each) UK£190.20

Car (I4 grade for four weeks including CDW/LDW, state tax and Top-Up insurance) (UK£171.00 per week) UK£684.00

Insurance (UK£37.80 each) UK£113.40

Because we booked directly with Fly Drive USA, 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

No charge (the car rental voucher included all costs).

Motel Costs - USA

We spent 23 nights in the USA.

Average motel costs in the USA were US$49 (approximately equivalent to UK£32.75) total for three adults per night including all taxes.

The highest we paid was US$68.30 per night (approximately equivalent to UK£45.50) in San Jose, California. The lowest we paid was US$41.56 per night (approximately equivalent to UK£27.70) in Great Falls, Montana. These rates include all taxes.

We used Motel 6 for fifteen nights, Super 8 for four nights, Microtel for one night and independent motels for three nights.

Motel Costs - Canada

We spent four nights in Canada.

Average motel costs in Canada were CDN$66.40 (approximately equivalent to UK£30.20) total for three adults per night including all taxes.

The highest we paid was CDN$82.80 per night (approximately equivalent to UK£37.60) in Golden, British Columbia. The lowest we paid was CDN$51.50 per night (approximately equivalent to UK£23.40) in Pincher Creek, Alberta. These rates include all taxes.

We used Super 8 for two nights and independent motels for two nights.

USA Car Details

The car was a four door Mitsubishi Galant rented from Alamo, with 13727 miles on the clock when we picked it up.

We drove 7023 miles in four weeks.

The average petrol consumption was approximately 31 miles per US gallon.

We purchased 185 US gallons of petrol in the USA for a total cost of US$296, giving an average cost of US$1.60 per US gallon. Prices varied from US$1.24 per US gallon in Sparks, Nevada to US$2.09 per US gallon in Lee Vining, California.

We purchased 149 litres of petrol in Canada for a total cost of CDN$98, giving an average cost of CDN$0.66 per litre. Prices varied from CDN$0.64 in Pincher Creek, Alberta to CDN$0.69 per litre in Golden, British Columbia.

The overall average cost of petrol (over both the USA and Canada) was equivalent to approximately UK£0.28 per litre. This compares with a petrol price in England of about UK£0.80 per litre at the time.

Remember that these petrol prices were recorded in May and June 2000 and will very quickly become out of date. In addition there is very considerable variation in petrol prices from state to state, within each state, and to a lesser extent from one petrol station to another within each town.

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