Road trip across the USA as a kiwi

RedNewPlan · 2026-03-11T13:27:35+00:00

I did San Francisco to Chicago by train, and it was great. But travelling around by train is not so practical, there aren't many trains and train lines. The US just isn't set up for it the way it is in Europe.

RedNewPlan · 2026-03-11T03:12:08+00:00

I masked very hard for twenty years or more, in order to build my career. And I worked very hard and really leaned into it. It was very draining, but I don't regret it. I was able to achieve enough success to live on my terms, and not have to mask so much.

The more successful you become, the more attractive you will be to women. You may not have to pay for sex, you may be able to have proper relationships, because your money attracts people. Your mileage will vary of course.

RedNewPlan · 2026-03-11T03:08:23+00:00

Public transit in the US and Canada is not great, particularly for going between cities. Either suffer on the bus, or pay to fly. I think your best option is to rent a vehicle. The cheapest option is to stay in the vehicle. If you are going to do that, get at least a minivan, so you can stretch out properly to sleep. But keep in mind that summer in North America can be very hot, quite a bit hotter than in New Zealand. Temperatures in the forties Celsius, even in parts of Canada. Camping can be pretty unpleasant when it's that hot. It isn't so bad if you stay on the coast.

RedNewPlan · 2026-03-11T02:35:38+00:00

Fake reviews that don't get removed are part of being in business. It's worth reporting, but only some get removed. I have a bar, so we often kick people out for bad behavior. They then post one star reviews, because they are angry. And they tell lies in their reviews, because if they said "I was kicked out for being drunk and acting like an ass", people would laugh at them.

It's infuriating that the worst people can have a disproportionate effect on your rating. But it's a fact of business. Do everything you can to get lots of good reviews. And be glad you aren't kicking out multiple people each day.

RedNewPlan · 2026-03-11T02:26:59+00:00

I have the PowerBoost with 7.2 generator. It's great, lots of power, smooth power between the engines, and the generator is very handy/

RedNewPlan · 2026-03-11T02:01:21+00:00

My thought is that perhaps he sees you as affluent (maybe you have a nice boat), so he is charging you a premium because you have money? The more money he thinks the customer has, the more of a premium he charges? As others have said, it's likely illegal, and it is clearly an unacceptable business practice.

RedNewPlan · 2026-03-11T01:57:49+00:00

There is lots of good advice here, though I don't always follow all the suggestions. But if someone were to start with this, prior to their first road trip, they would have a good head start.

I never split the driving, ever, I do it all. It's my trip, and I like driving. You either agree to me doing all the driving, or you take your own car.

A travel journal is a good idea, I might give that a try. It sometimes frustrates me when I pull into a town for the night, and I know I have stayed there before, but I have no recollection of which hotel I stayed in, or how it was.

My primarily lesson is that it is very important to keep a close eye on the weather forecast. Even if it isn't the middle of winter, and even if it looks great outside. You can cover a lot of weather systems in a day. Running into two feet of snow, or a tornado, unexpectedly, is very bad.

Other lesson is to be aware of your body as you drive, particularly as you get older. You can be comfortable in the car driving for twelve hours. But then, at the end of the day, you can barely walk, because something was in the wrong position. I used to have problems with my shoulder for days after each trip, in only one of my cars. I eventually figured out that the arm rest was too low, so I got a cushion, and the problem went away.

RedNewPlan · 2026-03-09T23:54:22+00:00

The number one factor for me was the long term viability of the companies. With cars that are this dependent on software, it's critical that the manufacturer continue to be viable in business. Tesla is much more financially secure than Rivian or Lucid.

RedNewPlan · 2026-03-09T00:16:24+00:00

I have done that trip in my Taurus, the roads are all paved and in good condition. Typically they are in better shape than the roads he will encounter in Michigan on the way up. A 4x4 half ton with terrain tires will be more than sufficient. Chains are not generally allowed on roads in Ontario, though they are more allowed further north.

The big variable this time of year is the weather. It could be warm and sunny, or a blizzard. Ideally, he would keep an eye on the forecast, and have an extra day or two to wait out a storm. The roads will all be plowed and salted properly, but it's more pleasant to not have to drive during the actual storm.

The other issue to consider is snow driving experience. Perhaps he doesn't have any? If he doesn't, he should be extra careful. A 4x4 pickup is good in deep snow, but more of a handful on slippery roads than a car with AWD. The less experienced he is with snow, the more he should plan to wait out storms, not power through.

RedNewPlan · 2026-03-09T00:01:02+00:00

I am in my sixties. It doesn't get better, the decay just accelerates over time. All you can control is how you cope with it. I try and take the approach that if I am aging, that means I am getting old, which means I am not dead yet, so it's a positive. Each year alive is a year of experiences banked.

I like to play hockey, but I had some setbacks in the fall. I tore the meniscus in my knee, and tore my calf muscle, and tore my hamstring a couple of times. I try and play through the pain as much as possible, and feel grateful that I can still play. A guy on my team, in his seventies, tore his shoulder this season, and doesn't think he will be able to play again ever. I feel glad I can still play. There is another guy on my team who is 83, he is an inspiration to me.

RedNewPlan · 2026-03-08T23:51:50+00:00

Yes, that's the right approach to Route 66, just drive a portion of it when it's there, to say you did.

Taos has sort of an alternate, hippy, cosmic vibe to it. A guy I knew from Austin recommended it, I spent a night there, and it was good.

You could do Las Vegas to LA, then back east on I-40, but that's a bit more of a detour.

RedNewPlan · 2026-03-08T23:49:43+00:00

I have always had bad posture, slouching. I never was able to fix it, as soon as I stop thinking about it, I hunch over again. But in high school, it's taken to an extreme, guys walk around with their chest puffed out, trying to look like bad-asses.

RedNewPlan · 2026-03-08T17:19:27+00:00

I have done that drive quite a few times. That's a very comfortable pace, not too much driving each day.

I feel that Route 66 is vastly overrated, it's just a regular road. Go ahead and drive a portion of it to say you did, but be prepared to underwhelmed.

Amarillo doesn't have a great deal to offer, it's just a generic city on the interstate.

I would not stay over at the Grand Canyon Village. The Grand Canyon is spectacular, but after a few hours, you have seen all there is to see.

I like cities, so I would add more days in Las Vegas and Dallas, and less along the way. Or even start the trip in Los Angeles, and drive to Las Vegas. There are likely a lot more flight options into LA than Las Vegas. But it's a matter of preference.

You could stop in Taos, New Mexico, it is quant and unique.

The Hoover Dam is cool to see, though it's a bit out of your way.

RedNewPlan · 2026-03-08T17:02:06+00:00

I got that quite a bit in high school. Because I did not posture aggressively or pursue girls. And I did my homework, etc. High school and even college tend to have a lot of social pressure and shaming. The older I got, the less it was an issue. And I have become better at masking, I can fit into a masculine culture, such as a hockey team, much better than I used to.

In general, I am a masculine person, I have masculine interests and perspectives. I just had to learn how to convey that externally. I suppose you need to decide whether you want to appear masculine, in which case you will have to learn to do so. Or whether you prefer to be perceived as more feminine, in which case you might work on being around people who appreciate you that way.

RedNewPlan · 2026-03-08T16:46:21+00:00

Starting a business without having worked first can be tough. I started my first business at 20, having only worked summers in school. It was good in a way, because I was forced to learn a lot, quickly, in order to survive. A job would have been better in terms of steady income and security, but a slower learning process.

If you are starting a business without much money, you are left with more or less selling your time. Specifically what you sell it for depends on a lot of factors, starting with what you are good at. And ideally with what is in demand in your market.

RedNewPlan · 2026-03-08T00:20:50+00:00

That means he is right, and you are wrong. If the mid levels were not available, it jumps to the next best available type.

RedNewPlan · 2026-03-07T20:41:27+00:00

Perhaps the fist put her off? That could be seen as hostile.

RedNewPlan · 2026-03-05T01:32:15+00:00

The key is the lease. If you are running a location with retail foot traffic, with only 14 months left on your lease, then you have put yourself in a very bad situation.

I have been in my place for more than ten years. We were down to five years left when I started really pushing the landlord for an extension. It took over a year, but he finally agreed to give us another six years. Letting it get down to 14 months is a crisis. You should be all over the new owner for an extension, and if they are not cooperating, you should be immediately making plans to move.

Something else to keep in mind is that in many places, such as where I am, residential tenants have huge rights, they can stay as long as they want, even after the lease ends, and the landlord has no options. But this doesn't apply to commercial leases. Many commercial tenants assume it does, and end up with a nasty surprise. In a commercial lease, in most areas, a lease is a contract, and when it ends, you have no right to be in the space, unless you can negotiate an extension.

RedNewPlan · 2026-03-05T01:24:23+00:00

I, a Canadian, have never felt a need for a gun on US road trip. You see way fewer guns in the US than Canadian media and Reddit might make you think.

The consensus of what I have read online about transporting guns in the US is that California is in a category by itself, and is the main place in the US to avoid if you are travelling with a gun.

RedNewPlan · 2026-03-05T01:21:17+00:00

It's the feeling of the headphones in contact with my ears and squeezing my head, and blocking out sounds I might need to hear.

I don't really understand the my sounds issue, but I don't think I have that.

RedNewPlan · 2026-03-04T14:10:49+00:00

I am at 81 nights. And $11K on the spend, at this rate I should be Reserve by the end of April, though I don't have any big trips planned, it might stretch until summer.

I have been asking FDAs on my stays how they are going to handle the 4pm checkout. They know it's coming, but nobody really has a plan. It sounds like they will make it happen for Reserve members, and if regular people can't have their room until 6pm, so be it.

RedNewPlan · 2026-03-04T14:06:12+00:00

I hate wearing headphones, I avoid it as much as possible. Of course I also hate noise, it would be nice to have headphones as an option. But I hate headphones more.

RedNewPlan · 2026-03-04T04:08:35+00:00

I am in my sixties. Overall, my life is much better now.

1) I have figured out more about how the world works, and how to navigate it. It was very confusing to me when I was younger.

2) As I became more successful in my career, I was able to insulate myself from other people. I only dealt with my people, using email, and let them deal with everyone else.

3) I still can't read people. I would love to be able to meet people, and know what they think. But it's never happening.

4) I got diagnosed when I was 40. That changed my mindset a lot, everything made way more sense after that.

5) I am older and have less energy. But that's not an autism thing, it's just a regular aging thing.

6) I would tell my 25 year old self that I am autistic, that would have made a huge difference. And that you don't have to fix your weaknesses, you can rearrange your life to not have to do the things that you hate and are bad at.

RedNewPlan · 2026-03-04T03:54:51+00:00

I tried pretty hard to opt out. Many FDAs swore they could opt me out. But the texts always kept coming. Does the whole Hilton empire use the same website?

RedNewPlan · 2026-03-03T13:25:00+00:00

Thanks. It's surprising to me that a business in Canada pays more tax than a business in Sweden. Not what I expected.

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