Help/Advice needed BIG USA!

bridge5785

I finish university in May 2011 and was hoping to go travelling around America with my fianc!e. We wanted to visit LA, San Francisco and Las Vegas then fly down to Orlando and travel around there seeing Tampa, Daytona and the keys then from here up to NY and travel around there for a while.

The time scale for this would be around 2-3 months and we were hoping to save enough money for all of this, we were thinking about working for 11 months so travelling around April/May/June 2013. Hopefully we would like to have £10,000 each for the whole trip.

I would like any information/ advice about planning, flights, expenses, trips, travel tips, anything would be appreciated.

Thank-you in advance,
Gareth and Lauren

trets77

well first things first.

3 months = around or above 90 days which is the Maximum permitted stay under Visa Waiver program ( for which you now apply online in form of a ESTA )

after that you will need a Visa , pretty sure will require a interview at the Embassy , who will want proof and reassurances you intend not to work in the USA and you plan to return home . book well in advance as there is a waiting list

if you want to do LA , SF and LV , LA flights will probably be cheaper than SF and almost certainly cheaper than LV . more choice of flights and better flights ( well much better than the LV flight ) if flying with Virgin . you should be able to get car hire without drop off penalty between LA and LV if you search about . be warned though you will pay extra for car hire if you are under 25 . pop over to the Las Vegas thread if you want to ask about car hire and getting a good deal on a hotel on the strip .

other advice .

don't rush the Pacific coast highway between LA and SF . far too many fun places to stop off at .

SF and LA both have no go areas ... real no go areas ( read Compton and Watts for LA and the Tenderlion in SF + others ) . do some research about where you might want to stay before hand . you cannot beat a cheap second hand Rough guide . other than that cheap motels are ten a penny in USA . trust your instincts , and don't go too cheap and down market . you will need to book your first nights stay in USA in advance to get past immigration .


http://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=1314736917&searchurl=bsi%3D90%26bt.x%3D38%26bt.y%3D8%26tn%3Drough%2Bguide%2Bcalifornia

book Alcatraz in advance in SF

Death Valley should be on your list of must do places to visit .( 3 hours from Vegas .well worth a night of anyones trip)

try to do the whole Unchained America thing . it's tough. really really tough but loads of fun

stevie11

A few tips to start you off regarding travel.

- Don't fly during the school hols i.e. Easter and Whit. Be flexible with your dates to get cheaper flights.

- Some airlines let you book multi stops which work out cheaper than booking internal flights seperately. Schedules and prices probably wont be available yet, sometimes only a year in advance. Use a price comparison site such as Kayak. You can set up flight alert e-mails with them.

- A multi-trip greyhound type coach ticket or train ticket may be better value than flights.

Good luck

cubegame

Your biggest problem will be that if you're under 25 (presuming you are if you've just finished Uni) hiring a car (which is honestly pretty much a necessity in the States) will incur a stupidly high extra insurance charge.

hackedoffagain_2

trets77 wrote: »

3 months .......after that you will need a Visa

Pre 9/11 chances are the visa may have been given, nowadays chances are it won't.

krycek985

My girlfriend and I cycled from one end of Cuba to another at the end of Dec till end of Jan.

My biggest bit of advice is spend loads of time planning where you want to visit in each city and where your going to stay.

Might be a bit much but if you get a schedules for what your doing everyday and for how long it will make the whole trip alot smoother.

malkie76

One thing the price-comparison sites won't pick up are the 'vistor passes' that various airline groups offer. For example consider the 'Visit North America' deal with oneworld carriers ( http://www.oneworld.com/ow/air-travel-options/single-continent-fares/visit-north-america ) which can save you considerable amounts of money and hassle.

dzug1

hackedoffagain wrote: »

Pre 9/11 chances are the visa may have been given, nowadays chances are it won't.

Are you saying that these days the majority of visa applications by UK citizens are refused?

Sounds a bit implausible. The criteria for being granted one - or for refusing one - haven't changed.

Got any figures?