my favorite way to do a shop hop is to take a bus. Some shops rent a bus that you can sign up for. We've paid $45, which included lunch, snacks, drinks, games and cool prizes (fg''s, fat 1/8 bundles, etc).
When you consider the price of gas, it was well worth it and we found that the time allotted at each shop was more than enough for us and quite often we were back on the bus before most of the other ladies. It was so much fun to sit back, relax and let the driver take us to each location.