Honeymoon US road trip - help me plan!!

zaffi

Hi all,

Getting married in vegas next June and my only real responsibility is sorting the honeymoon, and the kilts, but that's sorted.

Looking at 4 weeks, prob just less than 1 week in vegas then 3 or so to get back to new york to fly home.

The only parts we're going to book are hotels in boston for 4th july and new york for coming home, everything else is up for grabs

How does does this sound for just over 3 weeks - doable?

vegas to LA - bus maybe? - seems a boring drive
la to san diego - def drive
san diego to houston/austin - fly?
houston/austin to new orleans - drive?

from here it gets a bit sketchy - maybe fly to chicago then hit the north east or make our way up to washington then maybe philly?
The only definite in this is LA in that we're only going to stay one night as everyone says it's rubbish but worth seeing! The other cities i'm not going to put a length of time on.
I guess it's trying to find the balance between playing it by ear and micro managing

any thoughts, advice or tips would be awesome

cheers,
zaf

serious_saver

Hi Zaf,

I don't know if you'll be able to fit it in with your itinery but when I went travelling with my OH a few years ago the best places I went to were San Francisco and Yosemite National Park. Yosemite in particular was spectacular, it's also the place where we would like to get married!

San Diego was great - make sure you take a trip to Tijuana, it's a very surreal sort of place but worth a visit - lots of young Americans go there just to get drunk because the drinking age is 18.

If you've never travelled any distance in America before it's worth taking a bus or driving between cities at least once. It makes you appreciate the sheer size of the country! Otherwise flying would be my suggested mode of travel.

I can't say about LA, we didn't bother because everyone we met said it was awful.

Chicago was also great!

My least favourite place was Las Vegas and even though we only spent 3 days there, I was glad to leave. It might be different if you have lots of money to spend on gambling and shows though.

zaffi

we thought about san fran but we were there last year and fancied seeing more places we've not been. But yosemite is somewhere we'll be looking at when we pay this one off!!

tbh with LA it's more an ideal starting point to drive down the coast via huntington beach to san diego. Not planning on spending much time in LA. think san diego should be a laugh, same with new orleans.

yeah i loved chicago too had a few drunken nights there a few years ago we took the bus from buffalo took about 14 hours my OH hasn't been there so it's a possibility then maybe philly - with a stop off in wildwood NJ - i worked in a theme park there for a summer be cool to see the old place then boston and new york.

I love Vegas, but with everything else we want to do probably 6 nights will be the max

we're never going to fit everything in but it's trying to get the most out of it. Did you hire a car over there? was it straight forward enough?

serious_saver

We didn't hire a car but I know few people who have and it seems pretty straight forward. At the time we went, the exchange rate was fantastic - it hit $2 to £1 in our first few days over there so we mostly flew to save time as we had so many destinations squeezed in - we took a few buses too

socks_uk

I was in Las Vegas & San Diego at Easter for a volcano extended holiday with my sister who lives in San Diego.

From Las Vegas I would drive to San Diego - about 4/5 hours - call in at Calico Ghost Town on the way.

While in San Diego think very carefully if you think it is safe to go into Tijuana. We went about 10 years ago as it was a lot safer then it is now. As for the 'kids' going for nights out - some don't come back alive! (my sister's words exactly!)

I'd then do the coastal drive up to LA but don't forget to stop off at some of the beaches... it really made our trip to watch the dolphins playing in the waves. Don't know if you want to do any of the theme parks but there are plenty around.

Then take your flight to Texas from LA... you may find flights work out cheaper than San Diego.

I'll leave it there even though I have been to East Coast USA it was more the Connecticut & New York area.

My sister has taken us from her home in San Diego on a coastline holiday ending up in Eureka almost on the border with Oregon. The giant redwoods and vinyards are well worth the visit.

Good luck with your planning!

jackieblack

socks_uk wrote: »

While in San Diego think very carefully if you think it is safe to go into Tijuana.

We were in San Diego last year but were put off doing the trip over the border into Tijuana by the outbreak of dysentry they'd just had there!

Baz_2

Why not drive from Vegas up the Sierra mountains via Death valley etc to Yosemite and then on to San Fransico for a night or 2 and then drive down the cost to LA and San Diego before getting flights off to the second part of the trip. The drive up from Vegas to Yosemite is really nice by all accounts.

We thought Yosemite was one of the nicest places on the planet, well well worth the effort it is truly stunning. Carmel is also a really romantic place too, we stayed at the tickle pink inn and I organised a beach bonfire for the wife as a surprise from these guys http://www.romanticroomdesigns.com/i_room17.php. It was a highlight of the trip.

From Carmel there are loads of nice little stop offs such as Santa Barbara, hearst castle etc and the scenery is the true california road trip.

A website I found really helpful was http://www.roadtripamerica.com/forum/

cherryJ

Hi there - last year I did a 3 month road trip around Canada and USA. We hired a car in several places, it was very straight forward. We also used Greyhound buses, Peter Pan buses, trains and flights. All have their good and bad points !

We drove Vegas to LA, could be classed as a boring drive as it's mainly just 1 long straight road through the desert, but I found it fascinating as the scenery is just completely different to driving along a UK motorway;) It was only about a 5 hour drive if I remember correctly, and very easy so it's probably a good bet.

Don't forget to use hotwire & priceline for your accommodation, we got some amazing bargains this way!

missile

zaffi wrote: »

Hi all,

Getting married in vegas next June and my only real responsibility is sorting the honeymoon, and the kilts, but that's sorted.

Looking at 4 weeks, prob just less than 1 week in vegas then 3 or so to get back to new york to fly home.

The only parts we're going to book are hotels in boston for 4th july and new york for coming home, everything else is up for grabs

How does does this sound for just over 3 weeks - doable?

vegas to LA - bus maybe? - seems a boring drive
la to san diego - def drive
san diego to houston/austin - fly?
houston/austin to new orleans - drive?

from here it gets a bit sketchy - maybe fly to chicago then hit the north east or make our way up to washington then maybe philly?
The only definite in this is LA in that we're only going to stay one night as everyone says it's rubbish but worth seeing! The other cities i'm not going to put a length of time on.
I guess it's trying to find the balance between playing it by ear and micro managing

any thoughts, advice or tips would be awesome

cheers,
zaf

I would suggest you forget Boston and New York. They are a VERY long drive from Vegas.

I would suggest go West from Vegas. I would hire a convertible , drive to LA, San Diego and route 1 following the coast to San Francisco then home.

It will be very hot in Vegas in June. We are planning something similar for January, flying from Glasgow!

Best wishes for your wedding and have a holiday of a lifetime.

ailuro2

I'd give LA a miss too - we flew into there then onto Las Vegas but didn't stop there - it was, what we could see through the smog - very large and sprawling. People we have spoken to who went there said it was bad to drive in and the most famous places they went to see were a bit jaded and run down.

Vegas, away from the downtown bit where you need to go to get your marriage permission (license?) is a bit seedy too, but the rest of the strip is great. I'd spend about 4 or 5 days there, any longer and all those electrons start to fry you a bit (google it if you don't believe me)

I'd go to San Francisco rather than LA - but since it's on the West Coast anyway, I'd fly into there, not get a car and spend a few days in what is a very cool city. It's also quite laid back and a bit less frenetic than Vegas so a good place to lose any jet-lag.

So San Francisco, then pick up a car and drive to Yosemite, spend a good few days there, then onto Vegas. 5 days in Vegas takes it up to about two weeks.



From there I'd go to the Grand Canyon,(stop off and see Hoover Dam, Lake Mead before it dries out) treat myself to at least an overnight in the canyon - or two if money would allow (have been there, and want to go back it was so awesome) spend a couple of days touring Bryce Canyon and the other state park, can't remember the name off the top of my head Maybe base myself in Flagstaff, Arizona as it's on an escarpment so cooler than the rest of the state by a good few degrees.

Then I'd FLY to Ohio or maybe Toronto in Canada, pick up a new car and go and visit Niagara Falls, then drive down to New York (stopping at the finger lakes for a few days to rest en route?)then ditch the car and take the bus to Boston, spend a few days there and fly home from there (should be about the same price as NY)


I'd not try and drive the whole of the distance i one trip, albeit a month long - otherwise you end up like the tourists who visit Edinburgh for a couple of days and say they've 'done' Scotland. It's over 3,200 miles to go from LA to New York via Vegas and Boston.
You also need to build a couple of chilling days in here and there - a month away is a long time if you like to keep as busy as us when you're across the pond.

I'd leave the middle States to revisit as a future anniversary present.;)

p.s. Get married as far away from noon as is possible for you - DH wore his kilt when we got married there, and even though it was only March he was still boiling in it. It's going to be a wee bit warmer in June / July

Don't forget to sign up for BA miles, or whoever you end up flying with's loyalty scheme - you'll get a decent amount of points for flying that distance.:)



As an added thought - since you're over that way, Seattle is a really cool city, we were there in July - very nice people, plenty to do, and like San Fran, a nicer, more relaxed attitude.

Wish it was me - Yosemite and Flagstaff are still on the list of places we want to visit, but we have done the canyon, Las Vegas, SF, Toronto, Niagara Falls and liked them (Niagara Falls is immense, there's a cheap area that's fun, but the falls can be done in a day or two.

Congratulations - I'm off dreaming about more holidays now - love to travel, shame I don't get more holidays or more wages.:D

zaffi

Thanks guys, I had it all planned out too... so many options now!!
we have to start in vegas due to when we've booked wedding and when we can take holidays from work. getting married at half 5 outdoor at caesars palace so will be a bit toasty in a kilt!

Starting to think we may give LA a miss although we were in Sanfran last year yosemite is sounding better and better. The only palce I def need to go to is new orleans, something about it, just need to go. Also want to spend july 4th in boston. But everything else is "negotiable" :rotfl:

last year we used quikbook for our hotels but can't seem to find any value there.

flights too seem to be a bit more expensive than last year, best price i've found is £568 - that's to fly home from nyc.

The missus loves nyc so gonna have to factor that in too.

Again, so many options!!!