Thinking about travelling across Canada by car... Pros/Cons?
 

Im hoping to hear the general RS consensus on something like this. Thought about doing this a while ago... and then saw this trailer...

http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=eOaYQTHNTrc

I'm thinking about doing this with 5 friends and a rental for ten days. Allows us to see some of the big cities and small ones across the country. Between this and a trip to Mexico, one of the big pros I'm considering is originality, the go with the flow attitude, and really exploring this country. Has anyone does this before, even if on a smaller scale?

I'm also struggling with calculating costs... over or under a grand is the big question...

10 days?

Srsly?

you'd need far more than 10 days to see half of Canada in any decent fashion, unless you just want to drive through city after city without stopping.

ah, i was under the impression its a 2-3 day drive... perhaps not all the way across but to Toronto tho...

which would work for the 10 days?

its 10hrs to get from here to calgary. thats just 1 provinced over. i think u need more than just 3 days, unless ur zombie driving all the way there.

i heard you might find it better to head down the states, then cut across til u hit NY, then cut back up into canada. the highways in the states are better, plus this way, ur not doing the same highway twice.

If you ditch the rental and fly back on the 10th day, you can get across the country and see a lot of sights.

Well google shows the trip as about 2 days 15 hours (aka. 63 hours of CONSTANT NON-STOP driving) from coast to coast. 6400km

If you want to visit cities, it's probably going to be at least +1 day per city you check out...and probably +$150/200 for each day for food and hotel, but I guess you could split hotel expenses. gas shouldn't be too much since you're splitting it 5 ways, probably $100-$150 each for the entire trip

10 days might work lol

But to do it properly, since your purpose is to actually explore and not just rocket down the highways to cover the distance, I think you should give yourself more time, especially since it's probably going to be a once in a lifetime kind of trip. I can't imagine anyone ever wanting to get back in their car and do it again after the first time lol, so you might as well do it up the first time

Make sure you take LOTS of pictures lol :D

Take me.

To optimize time, don't bother stopping in Saskatchewan or Manitoba :D

sights are definitely a PRO :thumbsup:

I heard someone did it in 7 hours :D lol

5 years ago, I drove across Canada and then the East Coast of the U.S. and back all the way across the bottom of the U.S.... 16,000kms in 22 days.

Use a rental car, AVIS does unlimited mileage over 3 days. You'll thank me later.

I drove pretty much straight through many days by myself and on the part across Canada I stopped for the night in: Jasper, Medicine Hat, Winnipeg, Thunder Bay and then Toronto before heading to Montreal so it took 5 nights although I took it easy on the Calgary parts and I went to Jasper first for scenery.

Not gonna happen under 10 days unless you're doing non-stop sightseeing... "Hey look it's a waterfall... (5 sec)... bye waterfall!" and under a grand is unlikely too, if you have a bigger car and stop for food etc. Gas by itself is going to be fairly pricey. Assuming 6400km/600-700km per tank (this is assuming a larger vehicle such as a minivan/SUV that can seat 5 or more comfortably, as you've indicated 6 people - my Odyssey does about that on the highway on longer trips) with maybe 70+ litres per tank... at a conservative 80 cents a litre that's $56 per stop, maybe more. With roughly 10 stops gas is already $500.

Add in rental cost, food, and lodging if you're not driving through the night.

It'll go past $1k easy.

Pros: you get to visit many diff cities/ towns
Cons: incredibly boring drive between all the cities and towns

i heard its pretty tought to drive thru prairies, you see nothing but endless road. You get pretty bored at some point, but also heard you can see thunder like 50 miles away, because there is no tall tress or moutains to block your views.

Quit your job.
Buy a school bus.
Smoke pot.
Sell apples that you've stolen from some farmer in Kelowna.
Turn school bus into bang bus.
Profit.

----

Seriously, you will gain a bit of insight on the different geographical areas of Canada. I've never driven across the country but I have driven across many segments including the prairies (where the only reason for turns in the highways is to keep you awake :D).

You will probably want more than ten days though... if you can stand your friends that long.

I have to agree here... when I did it... the highlights to me were driving across B.C. and then the pass between Jasper and Banff... those were nice... the parts between Calgary and Toronto I would have rather forgotten... particularly ONTARIO... Ontario is such a slog and its ugly as fuck... plus all the speed limits are 80km/h... no joke... middle of nowhere and you have to dog 80 the whole time and there's quite a few speedtraps I went through too!! Ridiculous. Thunder Bay and Sudbury are gigantic shitholes.

My parents drove across Canada with me when I was 12 years old. It took about a week to drive to Toronto. We stopped at major cities for the night. Back then I wasnt interested in sight seeing of Canada so I don't recall much of the scenic route. However... beware of the Prairies.

Took a nap seeing gold/purple fields of wheat and crops. Woke up to more gold/purple fields of wheat and crop. Total flat lands of endless road.
Quebec is worth staying awake to see and you must eat the most food in the Maritimes. Seafood galore~

It has always been on my bucket list. This country is so big and magnificent...... so much to see....... so much history. OMG, you need to do this.

If I die before I get to do this, it would be a supreme rip off.


DO IT! DO IT!

i drove from toronto thru thunder bay, winnipeg, regina, calgary then to vancouver in 4 days. all by myself. i was in a hurry to get home so i didn't stop at the touristy places.
drove 12hrs (around 1100kms) per day and only stopped for gas, piss and sleep.

I thot about that too, but it seems too boring

^ it's not boring when you're with friends and some awesome road trip music

I did Lethbridge in 10 hours including stopping for food and gas. I have no doubt 7 hours to Calgary would be possible.. In the middle of the night I think even 6 hours would be possible.

Me and my buddy are planning a Montreal and Toronto trip this summer. I'm hoping to make it from Calgary to Montreal in a day and a half.

Not gonna make it - Google says 1d16h driving non-stop.

Unless it's like a Cannonball run...