SwissBread

Hi everybody

This is the plan: We (2 adults and 3 children) will fly to Toronto, stay with family for couple of weeks, buy car and travel trailer (second hand) and organize insurances during that time and then drive from Toronto to Vancouver, where we will start our new life in Canada.

Has any of you done this trip before? Did you take the route through Canada or the U.S.? Any recommendations, tipps? We have only done one RV holiday before. From Vancouver to Calgary and back, with temperatues reaching -25C and snow everywhere (it was end of March!!). It was a fun experience, but wouldn't really want to do that again! We will come to Canada in June, so the weather will hopefully be a bit better (what about insects?).

Might a road trip with car only, staying in Motels on the way, be better, i.e. more comfortable?

Any feedback and thoughts about our (unrealistic?) plan is highly appreciated.

Kristina

dbd33

How are you going to insure the car?

hellcats

Would it not be cheaper to just fly that way and buy a car in Vancouver. I am sorry if you think I am a spoil sport But I believe that it does get very boring going through the prairies. I have done the RV through the rockies and it was fab but I think it is quite ambitious.

I have no doubt that other more informed people will be along soon.

Have a great time with what ever you are doing. And have a great new life/

snowshoveller

your family will want to go back before you get to saskatoon - its a pretty dull way to spend a week!

If you are hell bent on this you might be better doing a one way rental, as I would imagine it will get complicated with regards insurance, licencing car etc.

If you want to do a road trip, you could head south, pick up the old route 66 to LA and then up the pacific coast highway to washington state, up the olympic peninsula, ferry from port angeles to vancouver island,

rivingtonpike

If you want to do a road trip, you could head south, pick up the old route 66 to LA and then up the pacific coast highway to washington state, up the olympic peninsula, ferry from port angeles to vancouver island,[/QUOTE]

We did this trip in an RV over about a month and it was fantastic. We toured a lot of Western Canada over a 3 month period. Mind you, that was pre-kids.

hellcats

sound fab. That would be a great cultural adventure for the kids

Simon Legree

There is very little of the original Route 66, or Mother Road, left. I travel in that direction twice a year on my 3,700 mile trek from Nova Scotia to AZ. The longest remaining stretch is probably that between Ash Fork, which is just west of Flagstaff AZ, and Kingman AZ. It's a much nicer drive than I 40. There is very little traffic and you can stop for a meal at The Road Kill Cafe ! It's quite a place.

There are a couple of pictures of it in my photo gallery.

dbd33

How so?

hellcats

Whats not cultural about Route 66.

dbd33

It's just America, they're going to get exactly the same in Vancouver.

Much as I love the southwest, and I was recently a guest at the Wig Wam motel, it's the physical beauty that's interesting, culturally you might as well be in Mississauga.

Wolfie and Will

we did a similar trip last april-june. We hired a car in Toronto and drove across the states, crossing back into Canada in Montana and driving up to Calgary, on to Banff, Jasper, Edmonton, Saskatoon, Winnipeg and back to Toronto. It was the best thing I have ever done! The road between Winnipeg- Toronto is rather dull in places (expect a lot of pine!) and I am so glad we went through the states as it allowed up to go to yellowstone and montana was stunning. The trip was much cheaper going through the states than back across Canada. If you go to Saskatoon, there is a great city run campsite which provides a bit of peaceful respite after long days on the road!

Very jealous!

SwissBread

Thank you all for your infos and feedback. As it seems quite a few of you have already done this and it makes it sound a lot less crazy than we thought.

We are now seriously thinking about a long road trip through the States (thank you rivingtonpike! ). I think there is quite a difference between RV holidays in NorthAmerica and in Europe (which honestly always has put us a bit off here; small roads, small trailers, quite expensive).

As we have the Summer off and don't have to be in Vancouver before August, I think we should just seize the chance and do it (might not have the time and strength again!).

We've visited B.C. & Alberta, Ontario & Quebec before and we thought it would be nice to do the TransCanada Highway, but what I've read so far, the Prairies are not that exciting to drive through. (we lived in Sweden, so have seen enough pines for a while ). Sorry, hope I am not offending anyone!

Any road suggestions are most welcome. Wage route so far: Toronto, New York, across the U.S. (Route 66 or not?), Arizona, California and up to Vancouver. I might start a new thread in the U.S. section....

Can anyone please tell me, what we need to have to cross the land border Canada/USA and back with a Swiss passport and TWP? I am sure there is some info in the wikis, but I am having trouble finding the info. Cheers!

Thanks again for your help!

Kristina

SwissBread

Having checked some online quotes, it seems that to have a Canadian issued driver licences makes all the difference (pricewise). It also seems quite easy to exchange a full UK driver's licence to a full G licence. It may turn out to be much more of a hassle, once we are there!

snowshoveller

each province issues its own licence, so if you are landing in one province and swapping your licence you will need to swap again at your final destination, you may need to show an address (for them to mail the licence to) for the initial swap.

If you rent you can do this with your uk/euro licence with no hassle, although you may need to pay extra for one way trip.

interestingly google maps suggests a route south of the border from toronto to vancouver, and it doesnt add much to it to call in at some cool places en route

dbd33

I think it will. I think that insuring a car in Canada without having an address in Canada will be difficult and that renting a car will be simpler. Expensive, but simpler.