hi

for a starters you need to get guide books about US and Canada- used one are OK - this will give you an idea about the regional differences and will help you concentrate on which part you want to see since 4 months will not cover everything.

The recommendations are always to see the northern part in May to Sept and work your way south for the summer.

look at length of stays allowed - Canada is easier being part of Commonwealth

Look at CanadianAffair.uk for car hire Pick up and drop off a vehicle across the border is expensive. Flying to some destinations is sometimes cheaper than driving and having to drop off a vehicle.

Read TA for a few months to get a feel of what is involved.

Spent 2 months in an RV driving around the country 6 or so years ago March/April and LOVED it! If you can take time off work, I highly recommend going off-season-- March/April even beginning of May are ideal except perhaps during a winter like this one when March was quite snowy. Also know folks who went September to November which worked great too. HUGE cost and planning advantage to going off season-- many RV rentals are significantly more during summer months and we never had to make a campground reservation more than 10 hours in advance-- definitely not the case in the summer-- the best campgrounds can book up months in advance. State and National Parks have very low rates. We drove in and out of Canada with no problem (other than selecting the narrowest border crossing lane and not quite fitting).

We covered 10,000 miles in 2 months and didn't feel rushed--saw so much that was spectacular every single day. I highly recommend such a trip-- it's an amazing way to see North America. We did not go into Mexico, but friends of ours did and had no issues there. Only place not allowed by the rental agency was Montreal-- apparently it was a high theft area of RVs.

Get a big cork board and a big map and start filling in push pins of what you want to see-- at least that's my preference over an online version :) HAVE FUN

Do you camp or RV at all? While you can certainly learn on the road, there are some aspects to camping that you need to learn, so ironing out some of these bugs before you go will be helpful. There's also good online sources on "how to camp" or "how to RV" that can help with some of the mechanics and equipment.

If you can afford the capital, buying an RV and selling it at the end would probably work out the cheapest, however it is a bit of a gamble if something breaks down. With a rental, if something breaks down, it doesn't cost you anything extra. Something to think about.

While you can certainly drive across Canada in a couple of months, personally, I wouldn't take that approach. I would look at spending a month in BC and Alberta, then flying to somewhere like Halifax and doing another month from there. RV travel is meant to be a little slower and you need to have more time to get from place to place and setting up camp takes time. As such, you really need to plan to be in one place for several nights at a time so that you can tour around that place and see it, and you also need time for things like laundry and shopping.

With only two of you, I would plan to take a smaller RV or van conversion to minimize the cost and maximize the options for where you can go. I've heard fair reports from Wicked Campers here in BC. They are cheap, and you get what you pay for, but if you are looking to camp for as little as possible, you might want to look into them.

Hi Jade C, start here. If you click on the blue link below you’ll find a TripAdvisor Traveler Article which will give you some general information about renting RVs in the USA.

At the bottom of the article, you'll find more blue links for further information, including costs, names of several reliable rental companies, types of RVs, how to locate RV parks and campgrounds and much more!

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Travel-g28926-c187230/California:United-States:Rv.Rental.Is.It.Right.For.Us.html

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Buying any kind of vehicle is *very* difficult unless you have a permanent address in the USA. Might be easier in Canada, I don't know.

You might have visa problems if you drive in and out of the U.S. based on what I've read on this forum. So understand the U.S. visa requirements and rules and plan your trip accordingly.

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