driving from atlanta to Iselin, NJ (Hampton: coupon, hotels, buy)

[studentoflife]

I am planning to drive atlanta to Iselin, NJ around the memorial day. We plan to leave on 24th May noon and come back by Tuesday We have two kids (3 year old and 17 months) so we do plan to stay overnight at some hotel. Which is the best place to stay overnight or take a break (somewhere in the middle)

this is our first road trip so thoughts/ideas/tips are welcome.

thanks
PSA

[BobKovacs]

I moved down to Atlanta from Iselin, so I know the route well. We took 78 into Pennsylvania to 81 South all the way to 40 in Tennessee, and then got on 75 South all the way to Atlanta. It was a total of about 13 hours, staying right around 10 mph over the speed limit.

My sister did the same drive a few years ago, and despite my advice on the route, she took 95 down toward DC, and it was a disaster. It took her around 18 hours.

[flyonpa]

Are you planning on taking I81 Route or I95 route?

When I go up I do I81, and stop in Charlotte, But I also don't start my trip till after work. So the 4-6hrs to Charlotte is a good stoping point for me. Also past charlotte, on I77/I81 routing there are not allot of hotels. I stay at the Comfurt in/Suites Charlotte hotels - Comfort Suites Northlake hotel in Charlotte, NC Also when I go N/South in winter is a good point to head up i77/i81 or i85/i95 depending on the weather.

Just looking at the map, Richmond Va would be about 1/2 way. But have never stopped there on I85/95 route.

[RoslynHolcomb]

A couple years ago we drove from here to New Hampshire, some of the best advice I got was to stop at the rest area in the states you plan to stay in and get a hotel discount coupon book. Those things are a lifesaver! I estimate it saved us several hundred dollars. Also be sure to stay at hotels with a pool. After a long day in the car our then five year old was ready for some R&R. It's a lot easier to get a tired kid into a quick shower after a dip in the pool, or at least that's the case with our kid. The best advice I can give with kids is bring lots of snacks, a roll of paper towels and plastic bags to dispose of trash. And bottled water for drinking and clean ups. I also had a large container of wet ones. On the way up to New Hampshire we took easy stages. Leaving on a Friday, we spent the night with relatives in NC, near Charlotte. From there, even making frequent stops, we made it across PA and stayed in that area Saturday night and we made it to New Hampshire around noon on Sunday.

Traveling with a baby in diapers I put down the back seat of our van and set up a diaper changing area. I put all the supplies in a small laundry basket (I buy tons of those little baskets at the dollar store) diapers, wipes, sanitizer and a couple changes of clothes in case it gets ugly. (Keep changes for the older kid too. Sometimes they get their clothes crazy messy, and if you're like me, you like to keep them looking at least marginally decent.) I like to stand behind the van and use the back like a changing table. In another small basket I stash snacks, and in a third I keep entertainment stuff. That way on a long trip it's easier to find stuff and keep organized.

I imagine you can do something similar with a car, just put stuff you know you'll be using in bags for easy in and out.

[BobKovacs]

Originally Posted by flyonpa

Are you planning on taking I81 Route or I95 route?

When I go up I do I81, and stop in Charlotte, But I also don't start my trip till after work. So the 4-6hrs to Charlotte is a good stoping point for me. Also past charlotte, on I77/I81 routing there are not allot of hotels. I stay at the Comfurt in/Suites Charlotte hotels - Comfort Suites Northlake hotel in Charlotte, NC Also when I go N/South in winter is a good point to head up i77/i81 or i85/i95 depending on the weather.

Just looking at the map, Richmond Va would be about 1/2 way. But have never stopped there on I85/95 route.

When did I-81 get moved to run through Charlotte?? I think you mean I-85? Or are you saying you take 85 to 77 to 81, rather than 75 to 40 to 81?

I guess it depends on which side of the city you're starting from whether you'd run 85 through Charlotte or 75 through Tennessee.

[njkate]

Originally Posted by BobKovacs

I moved down to Atlanta from Iselin, so I know the route well. We took 78 into Pennsylvania to 81 South all the way to 40 in Tennessee, and then got on 75 South all the way to Atlanta. It was a total of about 13 hours, staying right around 10 mph over the speed limit.My sister did the same drive a few years ago, and despite my advice on the route, she took 95 down toward DC, and it was a disaster. It took her around 18 hours.

Best route and very pretty through Virginia..not sure of the halfway point but I would assume somewhere in Southern VA or right after you cross into TN

[BobKovacs]

Originally Posted by njkate

Best route and very pretty through Virginia..not sure of the halfway point but I would assume somewhere in Southern VA or right after you cross into TN

Definitely in Virginia. We stopped in Knoxville, which was 10 hours, leaving only 3 to get to the northern Atlanta suburbs. We would have gone straight through, but my wife and mother had the kids in a separate car, and they were running 2 hours behind us due to 4 women in a car = potty breaks every 30 minutes.....lol

[studentoflife]

Originally Posted by flyonpa

Are you planning on taking I81 Route or I95 route?

When I go up I do I81, and stop in Charlotte, But I also don't start my trip till after work. So the 4-6hrs to Charlotte is a good stoping point for me. Also past charlotte, on I77/I81 routing there are not allot of hotels. I stay at the Comfurt in/Suites Charlotte hotels - Comfort Suites Northlake hotel in Charlotte, NC

yes that was one school of thought which i have but the other thing that i think is that if kids are sleeping in the night me and my wife can drive throughout and cover a lot of distance which again can make us very sleepy during the day then

[Mattie]

As Roslyn mentioned, stop at the rest stops and pick up the coupon books. I may have made that suggestion to her a while back, we do it all the time, and it saves plenty. It also usually will let you know which places are either new or refurbished in their advertisements. The Holiday Inn Express chain and Hampton Inns have been very reliable on I-81.

We don't book ahead. It made more sense to keep driving as far as we were alert and comfortable doing, then just calling ahead to one of the places in the book to see if they had a room. We've never had to drive more than an additional 15 miles or so to find a place if the first one we called was full.

[brook2ga]

We did the I85 route and it took 14 hrs. We stayed over in Colonial Hts VA at the Holiday Inn. Next time we'll try Bob's scenic route