[Hi_Im_Mike]

What's the best way there and back? I was thinking of taking a train there, then driving back with a rental car along the way. Planning on making this trip next month, anyone with any experience please give me some advice? Thanx in advance!

[FerrariEnzo]

fly?

renting a car from there and drop off here, wouldnt it COST a pretty penny?? maybe its different with cars.. but when i moved back here from edmonton, i ask the truck rental places and they say that if you drop off the truck in edmonton theres an extra fee... but i dont know..


train would be nice.. it good sight seeing and stuff..

[StealthFighter]

going to visit anne of green gables?

[OTG-ZR2]

renting cars is no good, top gear proved it. Just buy a 1000 dollar beater and u'll be good to go. :thumbsup:

[FerrariEnzo]

renting cars is no good, top gear proved it. Just buy a 1000 dollar beater and u'll be good to go. :thumbsup:

just hope it doesnt fail on the way there or back.. HONDA for life!

[Hi_Im_Mike]

I was thinking of taking train there with a couple of my friends...You know, hit up all the local bars and sightseeing places, Definetly thinking of train on the way there and thinking of car rental on the way back.
Any further details you guys can give me? And any places I MUST go to in between?

[slammer111]

Depends on what you want to see. Much of the good stuff is along the Trans Canada highway so a road trip is most efficient.

What kind of attractions do you want to see? Shopping? Historical? Landmarks?

[Harvey Specter]

Imagine taking a rental with unlimted km's across Canada, lol. I'm sure the rental company would happy with that. The best and quickest way would be flying, maybe you can fly half way say to Toronto and split the trip up by taking the train and picking up a rental and driving the rest of the way? Vancouver to PEI straight driving would take a long time but it would be one amazing road trip.

[chun]

Split the cost of a beater between you and your friends.

It'd be a much more memorable trip if you didn't know if you would make it (and probably end up making it) than if it was just a "fly there, fly home" dealio.

[StylinRed]

taking a train is expensive VIA Rail is $$$$

drive or fly

[Bouncing Bettys]

i took the train from halifax to vancouver 8 years ago and for me, it was an incredible experience. i had a 1 month rail pass which allowed me to take any via rail train, get on and off whenever i wanted, within the month. from toronto to winnipeg i spent more and got a lower berth (the seats were turned into a bed at night kind of like bunkbeds) along with other perks like a shower, 3 meals a day in the dining car, etc. i chose the lower birth because it had a window view while sleeping. from winnipeg to vancouver i was back in coach with regular seats to sleep on. going from a comfy bed (the train gently rocking back and forth made for one of my best sleeps), and cooked meals to trying to be comfy sleeping on seats, eating cup a noodles, and no shower sucked. i had an awesome time meeting all sorts of characters and tourists on the train or waiting in the train stations

train travel is a great way to experience Canada, that is if you have the time and the money. compared to a car, i guess if you add up fuel costs, rental costs, hotel costs, etc the differences aren't that great but paying it all at once could be shocking. commercial air travel is boring, you don't see much, you sleep through most of it, you can't get up and do much or meet other travellers, etc.

and if you wonder why the toilets on the train have signs saying to not flush when the train is stopped, its because the waste is merely flushed onto the tracks

[tacobell]

i was watching the show departures, great show by the way, they rented an RV and had a blast.

http://www.rvstabilizers.com/pictures/RV%20Stabilizers12.jpg

[josh t-1]

my advice is to take the Trans-Canada as LEAST as possible... try highway 16 instead, you see more of real Canada. Drive through the Prairies as fast as possible because, A) you can drive hella fast and B) not too much going on or to even look at, but take your time in Atlantic Canada, drive all the roads you can there.

[!Tigger]

Departures is an awesome travel show, i think i would go RV.

[InvisibleSoul]

Have you even looked at how long the drive is? It's like 6000km... it'll be like 60 hours or more of pure driving... that's a hell of a long time.

However, if you are going to do it, the shortest routes are actually going through the US, instead of driving across Canada...

http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=FXiyxQIdElY4_CnFg3_U3VJeSzGGZpL01dZoqQ%3BF Qt57wIdQIKp-CkllQ21IO6FVDEciNbXbMfgpg&q=PEI+to+Vancouver&sll=49.891235,-97.15369&sspn=40.907291,113.466797&ie=UTF8&ll=45.089036,-93.251953&spn=44.464516,113.466797&z=4&saddr=PEI&daddr=Vancouver

[no_clue]

i heard once you drive past calgary, you die of boredom all the way to toronto as it is very very flat.

[zulutango]

And when you finally arrive in TO, you REALLY die of boredom. :)

[twitchyzero]

if you can drive further than toronto from vancouver..i give you props

[Hehe]

I have done a road trip from Victoria to NYC, then to Montreal and back.

I took US road on the way there and CDN on the way back.

US road is more interesting IMO and shorter at the same time.

The only suggestion I have, if you are driving, get some good sleep before hitting the prairies as it's one hell of boredom. I went through almost 3 packs of smoke and coffee/redbull at every gas station I hit to keep awake.

[Greenstoner]

^ hahaha.. what a mental challenge

[Tegra_Devil]

id like to drive both ways.

[Hi_Im_Mike]

Thanx for all the great ideas. I talked with my friends and they were all like yeah we should take the train to quebec then go back and I was like wtf? Why go half way and not all the way to P.E.I...
I told them taking train till the end which is somewhere around quebec then rent a car and take that shit to P.E.I then do whatever along the way then drive back to the train and train it back to vancouver. Of course getting drunk often and do lots of stuff in the more interesting citys/towns...Places I am looking forward to see are of course Historical things. Nice views, Landmarks, old bars, you know...Anything that BC doesn't have. And yeah I believe it will be a trip of a lifetime I might not ever have a chance to do again.

[00EM1]

I drove Toronto to Vancouver once, and Vancouver to Toronto twice (back to back actually) last year for work. Great drive and great experience, but IMHO opinion look into one way car rentals. Drive one way fly one way. It takes a lot out of you traveling for that long in a car probally a week to 2 weeks one way. Its better to take your time and really stop and enjoy our entire beautiful country.
The only main piece of advice would be checking the weather, if its snowing in Calgary, take the southern road through leftbridge. If its 30 degree's in Saskatoon head through there on a northern road because it will probably be unbearable in Regina.

[00EM1]

and o yeah like everyone else said as soon as you leave Alberta just pin it ... you wont see a cop or anything interesting tell its starts raining (thats how you know your in Ontario) then follow the speed limits through Ontario its 90 km the whole way and the cops in small towns have nothing better to do than sit on the side of the road with a radar gun.

[danned]

well
land, sea, and air
3 choices

[hchang]

i was watching the show departures, great show by the way, they rented an RV and had a blast.




It's also extremely expensive.

Our family used to own an RV, and we would go on trips every 2 months or so, but we only got about 3 kms from every liter of fuel.

It's about 4,345 kms from Vancouver to PEI

4345 divided by 3 = 1448.34 Liters of Fuel Needed.

1448.34 times 1.14 gas prices = $1651.11 on Gas alone.
Plus food expenses, rental of an RV, campgrounds, would add up to lets say $2000.

It's A LOT cheaper and ideal to fly.

[Hi_Im_Mike]

Anyone know of a place that rents out RV with unlimited KM?
I think RVing across canada and dropping it off in Toronto or something and train back is the best idea i'm getting..
Either that or Train to Toronto --> Then rent an RV there to drive around eastern canada and then train back again!

[Hehe]

RV is only good if you are going with a whole bunch of ppl. Since you save a lot of money on accommodation. Otherwise the gas alone will kill any saving you have.

As for RV with unltd KM, get the yellow page and start calling around, tell them your road trip plan and amount of time, most of them can give you a all-inclusive rental quote with 1~2K KM to spare beyond your planned route. This is what my frd did when he went for a road trip cross US and sent the RV back on train (this can save you some good money if you can get the travel time under control)

Unless you don't have a fixed destination plan, unltd KM doesn't make much sense and would kill you in rental fees.

[TRDood]

i think flying is the most economical choice here.

have you looked at renting a car? are you guys over 25?
i have been looking to rent a car here in ottawa because i want to see what the city is like, it will cost about $100 a day because i'm 24!!

it only cost about $350-500 to fly to the east from Vancouver.

[tiger_handheld]

what about greyhound?

[Tegra_Devil]

^^maybe if you want your head cut off

[TouringTeg]

lol

I flew to PEI when I went. Really nice place. Sure would be a long ass drive.