Usa Escorted Tour

John259

Here's another internal flights idea: fly to Fresno, then visit Yosemite. Luckily the airport in Fresno is on the north side of town which is ideal. Here's the route, and with StreetView you can see how straightforward it is:
https://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=Fresno+Yosemite+International+Airport,+East+Clinton+Way,+Fresno,+CA,+United+States&daddr=Yosemite+Valley,+CA,+United+States&hl=en&ll=37.348326,-119.685059&spn=2.078576,4.53186&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=33.160552,72.509766&geocode=FagQMQIdsjfd-CHDzuVAqPrUbykDq6LoH1yUgDHDzuVAqPrUbw%3BFaLzPwIdfCXf-CmvY_I4_vGWgDFu4slULj8hGQ&oq=yosemite+valley&mra=ls&t=m&z=8

Here's a video on YouTube made by a German couple who did exactly that:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1QrWMsS8zU

You could also very easily combine this with a visit to Sequoia National Park.

UPDATE:
I found a timelapsed video of the drive from Fresno to Yosemite. If you start at the airport then you'll miss out the early part through the middle of the city.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmLVzxoxru8

John259

A quick summary of driving rules in the USA:

You're not allowed to pass a school bus in either direction if it's stopped, got its red light flashing, and its stop sign hinged out. This is to allow children to safely cross the road. This rule applies in all states.

At most traffic lights you can turn right on a red light provided you come to a complete stop first and give way to all other traffic. Signs indicate when this isn't allowed.

At four way stops you must come to a complete stop, then vehicles proceed in the order they arrived at the junction. Four way stops are mostly in quiet residential areas but occassionally seen on main roads.

An outline diamond symbol indicates an HOV lane (high occupancy vehicle), sometimes called a carpool lane, found on freeways in big cities. There's no need to belong to a carpool, merely to have the required number of people in the car. Sometimes these lanes are reserved for buses, usually marked RTD (rapid transit department).

I've never been clear about the rules regarding U turns. I suspect they vary from place to place. I got pulled up by a cop for doing a U turn in a town in British Coumbia (no fine, just a telling off). Anyway, in towns you can either go round the block or turn left into a business parking lot (gas station, motel, restaurant, shop, etc) and use that.

If you want, you can download the drivers' manual (the equivalent to our highway code) from each states' department of transportation web site but IMHO there really isn't any need to.

Bri1

John259 wrote: »

A quick summary of driving rules in the USA:



At most traffic lights you can turn right on a red light provided you come to a complete stop first and give way to all other traffic. Signs indicate when this isn't allowed.

& crossing pedestrians, it seems pedestrians have good rights towards traffic as car drivers always give way to them at junctions, I think there is a hefty fine if you don't

zagfles

Bri1 wrote: »

& crossing pedestrians, it seems pedestrians have good rights towards traffic as car drivers always give way to them at junctions, I think there is a hefty fine if you don't

Yes, this applies in most countries, unlike the stupid situation in the UK where at a crossroads with a pedestrian crossing, traffic in all directions has to be stopped to allow pedestrians to cross.

Wardy

Hi,

I did a tour of parts of Italy with Cosmos Tourama, and whilst it was very draining, I learnt so much that personally, I think I would have missed if we'd have done the same route on our own.

The pros of going on the tours is the knowledge of the guides, the access to the optional tours they have to different places (Vatican was one and the queue was approx half a day to get in at 9am - we queue jumped to the front), and the option to visit so many different places

The cons are - Cosmos tourama didn't promote the best hotels and the food served by those hotels was very boring (I guess in America it'll probably be much of the same wherever you go so probably won't be an issue), there wasn't much free time, and it is a very draining holiday. We packed in Rome, Assisi, Pompeii, Sorrento, Capri & Venice in a week.

Some people did take advantage of the option to add a week at the Lakes or somewhere else after to relax. Perhaps that might help it feel like more of a holiday?

I would urge people to do these, I think there is so much out there that you can't get from a guide book, and you can't beat local knowledge.

I was 30 when I did this and whilst there were quite a few elderly people, with all the walking you do, none of them are old and slow and were probably fitter than I was.

Personally I would do this again and I have discussed an American tour with my partner so it's definitely on my list to do.

Hope that's of some help:)

zagfles

Wardy wrote: »

Hi,

I did a tour of parts of Italy with Cosmos Tourama, and whilst it was very draining, I learnt so much that personally, I think I would have missed if we'd have done the same route on our own.

The pros of going on the tours is the knowledge of the guides, the access to the optional tours they have to different places (Vatican was one and the queue was approx half a day to get in at 9am - we queue jumped to the front), and the option to visit so many different places

The cons are - Cosmos tourama didn't promote the best hotels and the food served by those hotels was very boring (I guess in America it'll probably be much of the same wherever you go so probably won't be an issue), there wasn't much free time, and it is a very draining holiday. We packed in Rome, Assisi, Pompeii, Sorrento, Capri & Venice in a week.

Some people did take advantage of the option to add a week at the Lakes or somewhere else after to relax. Perhaps that might help it feel like more of a holiday?

I would urge people to do these, I think there is so much out there that you can't get from a guide book, and you can't beat local knowledge.

I was 30 when I did this and whilst there were quite a few elderly people, with all the walking you do, none of them are old and slow and were probably fitter than I was.

Personally I would do this again and I have discussed an American tour with my partner so it's definitely on my list to do.

Hope that's of some help:)

You can always do local tours even if you organise all the hotels/travel etc yourself. It's not a black and white choice of a fully organised package or doing everything with a guidebook.

We often do this, in cities walking tours are a great way to see the place and get a lot of inside knowledge and history. Most touristy places will have masses of other types of tours as well, from hour long bus/boat trips, half day/day trips, to trips lasting a few days. Usually no need to prebook, or maybe just book for the next day while you're there. Gives you greater flexibility than a rigidly planned 20 day schedule, and also likely to be far cheaper.