[cantlin]

Hiya,

I'm a Brit planning to traverse North America in the next few months. I'll be flying into Seattle at the beginning of August and with a little luck flying home a couple of months later from New York. I've been reading everything I can, but there's no substitute for some frank advice if I can get it.

My route is windy. Ideally I would like to hit San Francisco first, then head right across country along an approximation of US Route 50, diving up into Canada briefly before arriving at the big apple. As near as I can work out that's going to fall not far short of five thousand miles. Being British, the sheer scale of America is difficult for me to quite get to grips with, but I figure that would take maybe two weeks of pretty serious driving. Allowing for enough time out of the car for the thing to be worthwhile, does two months sound like an achievable period to do it in?

My biggest concern is the business of organising a vehicle and getting it all legal. Being twenty-two, hiring a car for that long would be expensive on a scale best described as "horrific". I would also much rather pick my own vehicle - I can take the reliability and comfort hit. I've seen the buying a car plan heavily discouraged on this forum, but frankly I can't see another way, so I suppose my question is whether it is even possible. Not living in the country, it's difficult to get a feel for how much of the bureaucracy is deathly serious and how much of it is relatively circumventable. Not to mention the differing regulations from state to state. So...

Licenses. I have a full British license, and will acquire an International Driving Permit before leaving the UK. I am hoping that will be sufficient as far as the US authorities are concerned...?

Buying the car. I can't see finding one being any more trouble than it would be over here, but I don't fully understand the registration processes one has to go through after picking it up. Is this going to be a hell of a stumbling block? Do I really need a permanent address, or will the address of a friend or hostel do the job? It surprises me that there doesn't seem to be any provision for foreign drivers wanting to do this. Assuming this actually can be done, can anyone estimate the timeframe?

Insurance. Should be possible but pricey, right? As a young driver I already pay extortionate car insurance over here, so I can deal with that.

Well, if anyone can shed any light on any of that I'd be exceptionally grateful. Useful links are always appreciated too. Thanks for reading!