Originally Posted by
celticwhisper
Cool, will do. Couple points:
-Car is a 2008 Subaru Legacy with ~47K miles on it. Had no trouble so far but I'll definitely check filters and brakes. Also, what about tires? I know the penny test but I'd hate to leave the risk of a blowout to something like an eyeball evaluation - is there a way to get a mechanic to tell me straight if my tires are up for it without getting the hard sell on a new set?
I just wrote this in my initial post, but if you tell the mechanic what you are doing, they'll be glad to make appropriate service recommendations. Do you have a good mechanic/shop? I guess I trust my shop quite a bit and the tires they recommended on the last visit are great and were fairly priced.
-Re: rental cars/unlimited miles: is there a rental company that's particularly good about this? Also, if I do rent, which cars are good for long drives? I love my Subie and don't have a sports-car fixation, but if there's a certain model that just seems made for long-distance comfort, I'm open to suggestions.
I like Enterprise for the prices and the unlimited miles. As to the cars... I wish I had a recommendation; I mostly just take what they give me and so far it's worked out for me.
-Which name brand hotels should I consider, or does it matter? I don't want to blow the money on a Hilton or other high-end place but of course I don't want to get stuck in "Bob and Ethel's Snooze-A-Rama" either. Is there a good middle-of-the-road hotel chain that has clean rooms and decent rates? Also, do they take debit cards? I'd rather not put anything on a credit card if I don't have to.
I'm generally happy with the Choice hotel brands for price, cleanliness and safety and yes, the free breakfast and coffee. I'm a planner, so I usually have the hotels planned in advance so I can compare prices versus the reviews and make a decent choice that way.
I've had no issue with using a debit card for payment; this is my usual method of payment. I just used mine at a Days Inn on Friday night with no issues. As long as you don't mind that they may put a hold on a portion of your funds (some do), the hotel doesn't care if you pay with the usual branded debit cards.