Travel tips: What's the cheapest way to road trip from Vancouver to New York?

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This was published 7 years ago

Travel tips: What's the cheapest way to road trip from Vancouver to New York?

By Michael Gebicki
Joining a loyalty program with the car hire company could be an option.

Joining a loyalty program with the car hire company could be an option. Credit: iStock

FOUR LADIES PLANNING A FIVE TO SIX-WEEK ROAD TRIP, VANCOUVER TO NEW YORK. RATHER THAN A HUGE VEHICLE RELOCATION FEE WE HEARD ONE TRAVELLER HIRING IN THE FIRST STATE, RETURNING THE CAR AT THE BORDER AND IMMEDIATELY REHIRING IT IN THE NEXT STATE. IS THIS FEASIBLE? ALSO, POSSIBLE TO CRUISE THE INSIDE PASSAGE USING LOCAL FERRIES TO DO THE SAME TRIP AS THE CRUISE SHOPS? J. BERN, GOSNELLS

Your car hire plan is not going to work. There are several reasons but just one, since you're not returning your vehicle at the same place you hire it from you'd pay a one-way drop off fee for each hire, and that would be a mammoth hit by the time you got to New York. Short answer, this is way more trouble than it's worth, pay the one-way fee, and if you join the loyalty program of your car hirer you might get a discount. Since you plan to return the vehicle in New York, hiring from Seattle would probably be cheaper than from Vancouver.

The State of Alaska Marine Highway Ferry System operates from Washington State to Haines, Alaska. In summer the ferries travel north as far as Whittier. While the ferries will get you from one town to another, these settlements are hardly the best reason to visit Alaska. The ferries work to a schedule, they don't linger at the face of calving glaciers, nor can they afford to putter about when a pod of orcas is sighted, or deploy zodiacs for a closer look at a grizzly bear with cubs foraging along the shoreline, all fond memories from my own small-ship cruise through Alaska. Take a look at Alaskan Dream Cruises, alaskandreamcruises.com, American Cruise Lines, americancruiselines.com and UnCruise Adventures, uncruise.com.

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