Help Planning 5 Week Trip to America

purplesmiler82 · 25 January 2009 at 5:51PM

Hi all,

Me and my partner are hoping to go on a 5 week trip to the US next Summer and need all the help and advice we can get. We have only ever been on package holidays before and know that this is going to be a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Here is what we are thinking (not decided on amout of time in each location yet)

UK to New York
New York to Niagara Falls
Niagara Falls to Chicago
Chicago to Las Vegas
Las Vegas to GrandCanyon
GrandCanyon to Los Angeles
Los Angeles to San Francisco
San Francisco to Yellowstone National Park
YellowStone National Park to New York
New York to UK

Do you have any thoughts on this? As this is a once in a lifetime trip is there anywhere that you think we should be visiting as don't want to come back thinking we should have gone other places.

Travel inside the US - Are Amtrak the only passenger train company in the US? anyone had any experience of these?? Anyone know of any cheap car hire companies in the US, ones we have looked at so far are extortionate!! Are their any airline companies that do cheap internal flights? (e.g. equivalent to our Ryanair, BMI, Easyjet etc)

Motels/Hotels/Hostels - Accomodation needs to be cheap but of reasonable quality, would consider staying in a hostel but would have to be own room/private bathroom - again any recomendations

Anyone know of any good theme parks / water parks along this route (I am a big kid at heart!! and I'm sure I could convince my other half that it would be fun!!)

As you can see any help or advice you can give would be much appreciated

Hoping this thread will become very long and that I can keep you updated on my progress

Thanks in Advance
Purple Smiler

greenface · 25 January 2009 at 6:31PM

thought about hiring a campervan (RV)
there are many many books on this journey with different twists routes to suit you and your oh (any kids on board) chicago > Los Vegas is great journey but i bet your thinking of flying this Dont you miss so much .A post only yesterday brought back to me how wonderful Oregon is esp Crater lake area. Work out the states you are traveling through then use google go onto images and then chase a picture to find out more about it. America is beautiful- vast- harsh-unforgiving-friendly-rich-poor and every one has favorites. You say Niagra and Canyon plus Yellowstone i would say 3 fantastic locations but also 3 biggest tourist tacky places too (rushmore is worse)(and area 51)Indiana Idaho Utah Arizona (try Monumental Valley if you want a breathtaking experience) what i have tried to say is find your route based on the time you have do you do shopping and stuff Is manhattan part of your plans . It has to be its unmissable the top of the rock is more tranquil than some national parks with views over a different type of jungle you will love it and i am so jealous

debsjc · 25 January 2009 at 6:43PM

I think you are trying to fit a lot into 5 weeks. That's fine if you don't mind being on the go all the time, and you aware aware you won't have time to see everything in each destination.

Personally I would go to New York, Chicago and Niagara as a separate trip, and spend your entire 5 weeks on the other places you mention.

I've been to most of the places you mention, except Yellowstone, but in several separate trips.

We spent 10 days on the drive between LA and SFO, stopping at Santa Barbrara, Pismo Beach, San Simeon, The Big Sur and Monterey. It's absolutely beautiful, but quite long distances so take a few days over it. It's a great coast for wildlife such a sealions, sea otters, dolphins and whale watching.

Were you planning on driving to the Grand Canyon from Vegas, a time saving option is to take a flight day trip instead- just make sure it's one where you get a good few hours on the ground at the canyon rim.

Whilst you are in Vegas, there are other national parks quite near, Bryce Canyon and Zion national parks in Utah are 2-3 hours drive - I did this area a couple of years ago, and they are amongst the best national parks, just stunning.

Also 2-3 hours drive from SFO is Yosemite national park, also amazing.

debsjc · 25 January 2009 at 6:52PM

Could could consider flying into San Fransisco driving south to LA, then across to Vegas. Either take a sighseeing flight to the south rim of canyon, or when you leave Vegas drive to North rim of grand canyon, then up through Utah (stopping at Bryce + Zion) and onto Yellowstone.

purplesmiler82 · 25 January 2009 at 7:14PM

Thanks for your replies so far,

Yes I think there is a lot in the time, but as I say its a once in a lifetime trip. We have got the book 'The Americas - Where to go When' which we looked through to try and give us some info about different places.

I have been on Amtrak website and its $55 for a train from New York to Niagra Falls which I think is quite reasonable.

We would like to drive from LA to San Fran or vice versa depending on if we change our route. Again I do not know anything about the route, any places of interest, and any ideas where we can find cheap car rental?

Any ideas what the weather will be like end of July and August?

Thanks again for your advice and suggestions

flutterbyuk25 · 25 January 2009 at 8:00PM

Hey

Your trip sounds fab, I travelled round America this summer so will tell you how I did it!

I went from NY to Washington and Washington - Boston by bus, I used Megabus - cost around $10-$20 per trip one way. You can book online and it's cheaper the further in advance you do it. NY to Washington was around 4and half hours, Washington to Boston was saround 9 hours (but it didn't feel that long!). The buses are clean, tidy, comfortable (for a bus!), better than UK Megabuses.

I then flew Boston-LA then LA-SFran. Boston- LA was around $150 and LA-SF was $90. And flew back SF to NY for £100. There are loads of good budget airline like jetblue, but also try us airways and virgin. Have a look on the US Expedia website for comparison prices.

I have also been to Niagara before but that was when on hols in Canada. I have friends who went this year, driving from NY who said is wasn't a bad drive.

When I looked at trains they were really expensive compared to flights/buses.

Accomadation wise, my 4 week trip was almost entirely spent in hostels and I felt safe in them the whole time (I spent 2 wks travelling with group of males and females, one week with just 2 females and one week on my own - I'm female). The best chain was Hostelling International, the staff are really friendly and helpful. Hostels are great as you meet loads of people who
are travelling and you get lots of tips on what to do. A bed in a dorm costs around $20 pppn, if you want a private room for the two of you I think some cost between $80 and $120 per night per room.

Weather wise it will probably be very hot! 90-100 degrees Fahrenheit!

Hope you have a fab trip

x

purplesmiler82 · 26 January 2009 at 7:53PM

Thanks for all your messages. Thought I would update you on the planning so far:

First of all there has been a slight change of plan - decided to forget Yellowstone National Park, and go to Yosemite and trying to fit in a brief trip to hawaii!!! Also I could then fly back from San Fransisco or get an internal flight from San Fran to NY and then back to the UK

So far we think we are landing in NY early day 1 and staying for 4 days before traveling to Niagara Falls via Amtrak ($55 each). 3 nights in Niagara, arrive in Chicago day 9 for 3 nights. Overnight train to Las Vegas.

Still on the hunt for reasonable accomodation

Keep all your suggestions coming
Purplesmiler

tingtong · 26 January 2009 at 8:14PM

purplesmiler82 wrote: »

Thanks for all your messages. Thought I would update you on the planning so far:

First of all there has been a slight change of plan - decided to forget Yellowstone National Park, and go to Yosemite and trying to fit in a brief trip to hawaii!!! Also I could then fly back from San Fransisco or get an internal flight from San Fran to NY and then back to the UK

So far we think we are landing in NY early day 1 and staying for 4 days before traveling to Niagara Falls via Amtrak ($55 each). 3 nights in Niagara, arrive in Chicago day 9 for 3 nights. Overnight train to Las Vegas.

Still on the hunt for reasonable accomodation

Keep all your suggestions coming
Purplesmiler

If you intend on doing a bit of driving, pay a visit to the forum on the following website for some great suggestions and advice:

https://www.roadtripamerica.com

I've used this for our last 2 trips and you will be getting ideas from locals who know the place far better than most.

purplesmiler82 · 26 January 2009 at 9:56PM

I've just found a hotel 3 miles from Maid of the Mist .... 3 nights for $160. I know its prices for this summer but shouldnt change that much

geordiescouse · 26 January 2009 at 11:06PM

Hi, I travelled America North to South (Toronto to Tampa) a few years ago on Amtrack with various stopovers - Boston, NYC, Washington, Niagra, Orlando and it was fab! Long journeys though on the train and not particulary comfortable but great experience. I managed to pick up a book, (can't remember the name and it's in the loft) which described all the journeys including distance between each station and landmarks and history bits in between which was fascinating.

The following year I did East to West by plane ie NYC to San Francisco and all the bits along the way (Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Palm Springs, Boston, Washington). This covered the miles a lot quicker but I felt I spent an awful lot of time waiting around in airport lounges.

On both occasions I only booked the first few nights accomodation and just got something when I arrived at my destination. This was pretty hit and miss for eg. Orlando was great loads of pplaces to stay and good quality, San Francisco very poor as there was a convention or something on and everywhere full so ended up in Bates' Motel (or at least very simillar!!)

Sounds like a fab trip, hope you enjoy lots and the £ gets stronger against the $.

blindman · 27 January 2009 at 1:04PM

First off I suggest you look at a map of the USA. Your proposed trip from Las Vegas backtracks a bit :rolleyes:

All the Q's you have asked are on this forum so do a search:
Here's a page with lots of links.
Travel
Airfares
Look at the cost\availability of OPEN JAW tickets and ones where you can STOP OVER en route.(for little extra if not free).
Kayak is a good airfare screen scraper.
Fares from May-Sept usually expensive.(£400+?)

Probably too late but look at getting some Frequent Flyer miles for free using credit cards. Can then use them for "free" one way trips inside the USA.

Airlines
Budget Airlines
Notably JetBlue, Southwest
Bus
China Buses Or BoltBus, Megabus, Greyhound.

Though can have some "dodgy" characters and the depots can be in some even dodgier areas of town!
Car hire
Watch out for the one way drop off fee as this can be huge! Usually no one way drop off fee between CA, AZ, NV
From Netflights

Please Note - There is no fee for one way rentals within the states of Florida and California, or for one way rentals between the states of California, Arizona and Nevada.

Autodriveaway Maybe an option
Amtrak
There are discount codes out there and the earlier you book the cheaper the fare. Reasonable journey (IMHO)if less than 4 hours.

Accomodation
Priceline or Hotwire But only get mega savings in big cities and 4-5*
Also no refunds or changes.

Sign up to credit cards to get Hotel reward points
Best one is Holiday Inn gets you at least one free night, two if you are lucky.
Hilton is less so.
TIP: Sign up, get the points, cancel then repeat about 2 months later…

Money
Get a Nationwide Current account and also their Credit card.
(No I don 't know if the $ v £ will get better\worse)

Travel Insurance Loads of thread about the cheapest some polices extend to 60 days
Passport\ESTA Make sure they are up to date
Home insurance Make sure you can leave you house empty for that long….

Routes
Byways
Road Trip America
American Southwest

Forums Fodors

When to go

Las Vegas MSE thread
Cheaper hotels during the week
Cheaper during July August (as its HOT!)
Do not need a car if staying in Vegas. Traffic awful, strip walkable(ish).

Yosemite
Inside the park gets booked up 9-12 months in advance!
Expect to pay £100 per night!
Busy at the weekend
Outside the park cheaper but usually a long drive to get into the park + you are with LOTS of other traffic.

Grand Canyon
Expensive to stay near here.
Cheaper at Kingman\Williams etc but 60 miles away.
Long day trip from Vegas.

New York MSE thread
Rarely cheap at any time!
Do NOT need a car! Traffic awful Parking expensive

San Francisco Various MSE threads
Fisherman's Wharf is tacky
Do Not need a car in the city. (as per NYC).

Los Angeles
Huge city-not pretty in places!
Need a car to get around BUT Traffic is awful.
Various theme parks.

A million ways you could do this but here's a quick idea.

Open Jaw ticket LHR-SFO with a stopover in New York for say 4 nights. No car
Stay in San Francisco for3- 4 nights (no car)
Pick up car
Drive San Fran-Yosemite-Los Angeles Las Vegas (day trip to Grand Canyon either by your self (need to stop over at Kingman\Williams on Route 66).
Drop off the car in Vegas.(No drop off fee)
Bus\Train to Chicago
Fly Chicago -LHR.

Accomodation
New York Priceline
San Francisco Priceline
Yosemite Inside the park 3 nights
Los Angeles Priceline 3 nights (near a theme park?)
Las Vegas Do NOT use Priceline but look at this thread for tips
Drive your self to GC (stopover on Route 66)-Long drive 4-5 hours each way!
OR Organise a day trip. Not cheap but quicker!

Places to go\see in your itinerary
Hearst Castle
Alcatraz
"Big Sur"
The Venetian, Bellagio Fountains

Some places that I would suggest
Monument Valley
Canyonlands (Dead Horse point-)

Help Planning 5 Week Trip to America

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