June 27, 2006
Road Trip – Charlotte to Miami Beach
I practice what I preach. On the my recent road trip I planned the trip in the manner I described in a previous blog. Distance 750 miles each way. Duration two days each way plus several days in Miami.
Preparing for the Trip
1 I did not do to much to study areas to visit as I have made this trip before..
2. I obtained maps/driving directions from the internet. In this case Charlotte to Savannah, Savannah to St. Augustine, St. Augustine to Daytona Beach , and Daytona Beach to Miami Beach. I get maps/directions in sections (instead of the whole route) so I know the route to get off the highway to the attractions. If I am going to a specific set of attractions within a city I will get driving directions/maps to each in the order I intend to see them.
3. Checked for room rates on the big three travel sites for St Augustine and Daytona Beach the places I would likely break for the night. I did not worry about the return trip as I would do any planning at my destination. The best room rates I got were $60 for St. Augustine and $60 for Daytona Beach considering only oceanfront hotels. I only checked one of the big three because, I have been having trouble accessing one of them and another was chugging away for too long. I took with me the telephone numbers for all three, just in case I wanted to use them for reservations.
To Savannah:
I left at about 6:00 AM. When I entered South Carolina after about 40 minutes, I didn’t stop at the visitor center because it was closed. Traveling in South Carolina, I hit a number of miles of fog. The fog slowed me down, but was only briefly severe. I then remembered this had happened on a previous trip through this area. We stopped at the Georgia Visitors Center upon entering the state and picked up the three hotel discount coupon books and other tourist information. We reached the Savanna area and I followed directions to Savanna using Route 17 which goes about 10 miles sort of parallel to route 95. We arrived at Savanna and stopped at the Savanna visitors center. We obtained local maps and discount books and got directions to the riverfront. We drove there and parked by meters along the waterfront.
The waterfront has been developed and has restaurants and shops (boutique, tourist, quaint) depending on your point of view. We walked around for a half hour. We skipped the rest of Savanna because we had been here before and found our way back to Route 95.
We stopped at the Florida Visitors Center upon entering the state and picked up the three hotel discount coupon books and other tourist information. We studied the hotel books and decided the best bets were $44.95 for a motel in St. Augustine and $36 for a beachfront motel in Daytona Beach. Because the $36 Daytona Beach beachfront motel was an outlier – we noted two other beachfronts at $44.95. We decided that we wanted to be on the ocean and would spend the night at Daytona Beach.
To St. Augustine:
Exited for St. Augustine and went to the outlet mall right next to the highway. We then proceeded to St. Augustine and parked by Castillo de San Marcos where there was public metered parking (parking lot gets shut and car has to be removed before 5:30 pm when it closes).
St Augustine was founded by the Spanish in 1565 and is the oldest city in America. The Castillo de San Marcos is an old fort that can be toured and that we had seen on a previous trip. We walked from Castillo de San Marcos to St George Street which is a pedestrian only street going 4-5 blocks. Along the street are very old houses now used for boutique/quaint/tourist oriented stores.
We spent about an hour in St. Augustine until 5:00 pm.
To Daytona Beach:
We returned to Route 95 the way we came and drove to Daytona Beach. We exited as directed and again followed Route 17 parallel to Route 95 for about 10 miles. We left turned and went over a bridge to Daytona Beach.
We found the $36 Thunderbird Motel and asked to see a room before signing in (we always do this with road trip motels). Even though the location was good being near the center of Daytona Beach, we didn’t like the rooms so we proceeded to the next choice. The Daytona Beach Club was about 3 blocks further from the center. It turned out to be a 7 story Condo building that had daily rentals managed by a front desk. We checked the ocean view kitchenette and found it nice. Note: they considered the room we had that was along the side of the hotel to be “ocean view” while those directly along the ocean as “ocean front”. We had a balcony on the 6th. Floor and great views of the coean , beach, and town. After settling in we went down to the beach. I found the ocean water a little cold for my taste, but went swimming in the oceanfront pool.
To Miami Beach
We left the next day and proceeded to Route 95 via International Speedway Blvd. Passing the famous Daytona International Speedway car racetrack and proceeded the remaining roughly 260 miles to Miami Beach. We stayed in Miami Beach several days with family for a family event.
Sounds fun indeed. Nothing like a road trip in the south. Lots of sights to see during the trip. The best part? The beaches.
Posted on Dec 8, 2011 2:58:52 AM by phuket holidays