Expat's Adventure across the US: Unforgettable Road Trips and Insider Tips

Before I moved to the US, my idea of a "long drive" was crossing Singapore border-to-border, which takes about 45 minutes on a good day. In Vietnam, traffic is so chaotic that driving anywhere feels like an extreme sport. So the concept of voluntarily getting in a car and driving for eight hours through open desert for fun was genuinely foreign to me.

Then I did my first American road trip — a drive from the Bay Area to the Grand Canyon — and I understood immediately why Americans are obsessed with this. The scale of this country is something you cannot appreciate until you are driving through it. Hour after hour, the landscape keeps changing, and there is a particular kind of freedom in being on the open road with nothing but desert and sky stretching to the horizon. Sophie fell asleep in the backseat, and I remember thinking: this is a very different kind of beautiful than anything I have known.

Routes That Blew My Mind

The American Southwest

The Grand Canyon is one of those places where photos genuinely cannot do it justice. I stood at the rim and my brain could not process the scale. Monument Valley, Zion National Park, and Arches National Park are all within driving distance of each other, and the whole region feels like driving through a movie set. (Because it literally is — so many Westerns were filmed here.)

California's Pacific Coast Highway

Highway 1 along the California coast might be the most beautiful drive I have ever done. Big Sur, Monterey, Carmel-by-the-Sea — every turn reveals another jaw-dropping view. I recommend doing it northbound so the ocean is right beside you (not across the road). Take it slow. Stop often. This is not a drive you want to rush.

On My Bucket List

There are a few routes I have not driven yet but that friends keep telling me about. The Blue Ridge Parkway from Virginia to North Carolina, supposedly stunning in autumn (coming from the tropics where trees are green year-round, autumn foliage is still magical to me). The Florida Keys Overseas Highway, which looks more like flying than driving from every photo I have seen. And the Great River Road along the Mississippi — the kind of route I think would teach you more about America than any textbook could. One day.

What I Have Learned the Hard Way

After a few road trips (and a few mistakes), here is what I would tell any expat planning their first one:

Download offline maps. I cannot stress this enough. There are long stretches of the American West with zero cell signal. We lost signal for over an hour in Utah, and if I had not downloaded the Google Maps route beforehand, we would have been completely lost. In Singapore, you always have signal. In the Nevada desert, you have cacti and existential solitude.

Check your car before you go. Tires, brakes, oil — the basics. A breakdown in a city is annoying. A breakdown in the middle of the Mojave Desert is a genuine problem.

Pack more snacks and water than you think you need. Gas stations in remote areas can be few and far between. (Also, American gas station snacks are an experience in themselves — see my post on bizarre American snacks.)

Use GasBuddy. Gas prices vary wildly by location and station. This app has saved me a surprising amount of money.

Start driving early. Beat the traffic, maximize daylight, and get to your destination with enough time to actually enjoy it. I am naturally a night owl (18 years of advertising deadlines will do that to you), but road trips have turned me into a reluctant morning person.

Drive during shoulder season. Spring and fall mean better weather, fewer crowds, and lower prices. Summer in the Southwest is brutally hot — I learned this the hard way at the Grand Canyon in July. Coming from Singapore, I thought I could handle heat. Arizona heat is a different animal entirely.

Eat local. Skip the chain restaurants and find the roadside diners, the hole-in-the-wall BBQ joints, the local taco stands. Some of the best meals I have had in America were at places that looked like they might fail a health inspection but served food that was absolutely incredible. :D

Talk to people. Americans in small towns are, from my experience, genuinely friendly and curious about where you are from. Some of my best travel memories involve random conversations at gas stations and diners. It is a different energy from big-city interactions.

Stay flexible. Some of our best discoveries happened because we took a random turn or stopped at a place that was not on our itinerary. The adventure is in the journey — I know that sounds like a bumper sticker, but after driving through this country, I understand why Americans put it on their cars.

My Honest Take

Road tripping in America has been one of the most rewarding parts of my expat experience. It sounds dramatic, but these drives changed how I see this country. When you fly between cities, America feels like airports and hotels. When you drive, you see the vast spaces between, the small towns, the landscapes that shift from desert to forest to coastline, and you start to understand why Americans feel such a deep connection to their land.

If you have not done a US road trip yet — just do it. Rent a car if you do not have one, pick a direction, and go.

What is your favorite road trip route, or where are you dying to drive next? I am always looking for new ideas.

Cheers,

Chandler