UK - USA Multi City, East Coast - West Coast - Hawaii - UK

jackieblack

Murphy_The_Cat wrote: »

Try and find the time to look at the Elephant Seals on the Rookery, adjacent to the PCH.

I'll second that!

MasterPoo

I've noted all of those great suggestions - my spreadsheet is coming along nicely, THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH!

I've also now decided to explore Hawaii - The Big Island and Maui, 5 nights on each.

Will copy & paste the spreadsheet a bit later, once I've filled in some gaps.

Icequeen99

MasterPoo wrote: »

IceQueen - I want to just veg/chillout in Hawaii. Sit by the beach and do loads of water sports and possibly 2 day trips to explore? What would be your suggestion for a good stay without having to lug bags around?

I'm now researching flying from Europe to US, thanks for the suggestion.

Thanks

As someone else pointed out, technically I suppose it is against the fare rules but I picked it up from Flyertalk and plenty of people do it. The alternative is to book the London - Amsterdam last leg for a much later date in the future and actually use it.

In terms of what islands - I would suggest you do Oahu coupled with one other island. I have been to all of them - depends really on what you want. The Big Island is cool for the volcano, but you really only see that from the air or sea (unless you are very adventurous!). Maui is great - lots to do and great beaches. Kauai is beautiful but fairly small. I would suggest Oahu and Maui would fit the bill and make it easier in terms of transfers as you could fly mainland to Maui (LA to Maui for example) then taken an internal flight to Honolulu and then fly back home from Honolulu.

IQ

wondercollie

Maui if for the newlywed or nearly dead. Pretty but not my favourite island. You can do daytrips from Oahu to Hilo, car rental included to drive around the island, see the volcano and the black sand beach.

beluga

Sounds like it will be an amazing trip! In regards to Hawaii, I love the Big Island but we did spend a lot of time driving - the roads can be very slow going (low speed limits, winding roads etc). It's also not as easy to get to as Maui or Honolulu. Having said that, my DH was very keen to visit the volcano, so we drove up to the visitor's centre. We also did a helicopter flight over it, which was amazing but expensive! The island's also good for snorkelling and diving, you can swim with giant manta rays or watch them from the bar at the Sheraton hotel. If you like star gazing etc, we went on a trip up Mauna Kea to the observatories (don't drive it yourself - we tried on the first trip and the car broke down due to altitude!).
For a first visit, I'd reccommend Oahu, we spent four nights on Waikiki on our first trip. Hired a car for the day (Pearl Harbor, Dole Plantation etc) but returned it the next day as parking was expensive and a car really wasn't needed around Waikiki.
Maui is a must for me mainly for the whale watching, but it depends on the time of year you go. We also enjoyed snorkelling, driving up to Haleakala (stop at the Surfing Goat Dairy, amazing cheese!), kayaking, diving etc. On our first trip we stayed out of town by the beach and drove everywhere, on our last trip we stayed at the harbour in Lahaina, so we could walk to lots of places.
Another favourite for us was visiting the breweries, one on Maui and one in Kona on the Big Island. They do geat food if you're not big drinkers!
I love Hawaii - our first trip was supposed to be a one off, for our tenth wedding anniversary. We loved it so much we went back two years later, and are saving up to go again

harz99

For anything to do with railways (and more) consult www.seat61.com and for Hawaii (with your mum in mind) consider a cruise on NCLs Pride of America out of Honolulu.


Sounds like it will be great fun!

MasterPoo

Hi, Thank you all for your advice feedback.

The majority of people I've spoken to have all said that Atlantic City is a dump, the only reason I'd included on there is my 80 year old mom is a gambler, lol, so it's more for her edification and delight. Currently I've removed Atlantic City, thank you all for your advice/suggestions, its still very much a work in progress, the only major decision I've made is the flying out and return flights which I will be booking asap.........this is my revised itinerary:


August
1 Sa UK - Boston
2 Su Boston
3 Mo Boston - Amtrack - NY
4 Tu NY
5 We NY
6 Th NY - Amtrack - Washington DC
7 Fr Washington
8 Sa Washington - 4HR55 FLIGHT - Orlando
9 Su Orlando
10 Mo Orlando - Drive/Bus - Miami
11 Tu Miami
12 We Miami - 5HR10 FLIGHT - Vegas
13 Th Vegas
14 Fr Vegas - 1HR25 FLIGHT - San Francisco
15 Sa San Francisco
16 Su San Francisco - Santa Cruz
17 Mo Santa Cruz - Monterey - Big Sur Coastline
18 Tu Big Sur - Santa Barbara - 2HR30 DRIVE - LA
19 We LA
20 Th LA - 5HR35 FLIGHT - Hawaii
21 Fr Hawaii - Big Island
22 Sa Hawaii - Big Island
23 Su Hawaii - Big Island
24 Mo Hawaii - Big Island - Maui
25 Tu Hawaii - Maui
26 We Hawaii - Maui
27 Th Hawaii - Maui
28 Fr Hawaii - Maui
29 Sa LA - UK

MasterPoo

beluga wrote: »

Sounds like it will be an amazing trip! In regards to Hawaii, I love the Big Island but we did spend a lot of time driving - the roads can be very slow going (low speed limits, winding roads etc). It's also not as easy to get to as Maui or Honolulu. Having said that, my DH was very keen to visit the volcano, so we drove up to the visitor's centre. We also did a helicopter flight over it, which was amazing but expensive! The island's also good for snorkelling and diving, you can swim with giant manta rays or watch them from the bar at the Sheraton hotel. If you like star gazing etc, we went on a trip up Mauna Kea to the observatories (don't drive it yourself - we tried on the first trip and the car broke down due to altitude!).
For a first visit, I'd reccommend Oahu, we spent four nights on Waikiki on our first trip. Hired a car for the day (Pearl Harbor, Dole Plantation etc) but returned it the next day as parking was expensive and a car really wasn't needed around Waikiki.
Maui is a must for me mainly for the whale watching, but it depends on the time of year you go. We also enjoyed snorkelling, driving up to Haleakala (stop at the Surfing Goat Dairy, amazing cheese!), kayaking, diving etc. On our first trip we stayed out of town by the beach and drove everywhere, on our last trip we stayed at the harbour in Lahaina, so we could walk to lots of places.
Another favourite for us was visiting the breweries, one on Maui and one in Kona on the Big Island. They do geat food if you're not big drinkers!
I love Hawaii - our first trip was supposed to be a one off, for our tenth wedding anniversary. We loved it so much we went back two years later, and are saving up to go again

We are only doing the Big Island to see the Volcano, can it be done as a day trip or 1 nighted from one of the other Islands, possibly I think, will need to think about that. We are really big on watersport, so snorkelling, jet skies, etc. etc. etc. Thanks

MasterPoo

harz99 wrote: »

For anything to do with railways (and more) consult www.seat61.com and for Hawaii (with your mum in mind) consider a cruise on NCLs Pride of America out of Honolulu.


Sounds like it will be great fun!

We LOVE LOVE cruising, unfortunately my mom doesn't! If we were just the 3 of us going, I'd do a cruise. The last cruise we did was in the Caribbean, Hawaii (USA in general) is on our bucket list, slowly working our way around the world!

blindman

MasterPoo wrote: »

Hi, Thank you all for your advice feedback.

The majority of people I've spoken to have all said that Atlantic City is a dump, the only reason I'd included on there is my 80 year old mom is a gambler, lol, so it's more for her edification and delight. Currently I've removed Atlantic City, thank you all for your advice/suggestions, its still very much a work in progress, the only major decision I've made is the flying out and return flights which I will be booking asap.........this is my revised itinerary:


August
1 Sa UK - Boston
2 Su Boston
3 Mo Boston - Amtrack - NY
4 Tu NY
5 We NY
6 Th NY - Amtrack - Washington DC
7 Fr Washington
8 Sa Washington - 4HR55 FLIGHT - Orlando
9 Su Orlando
10 Mo Orlando - Drive/Bus - Miami
11 Tu Miami
12 We Miami - 5HR10 FLIGHT - Vegas
13 Th Vegas
14 Fr Vegas - 1HR25 FLIGHT - San Francisco
15 Sa San Francisco
16 Su San Francisco - Santa Cruz
17 Mo Santa Cruz - Monterey - Big Sur Coastline
18 Tu Big Sur - Santa Barbara - 2HR30 DRIVE - LA
19 We LA
20 Th LA - 5HR35 FLIGHT - Hawaii
21 Fr Hawaii - Big Island
22 Sa Hawaii - Big Island
23 Su Hawaii - Big Island
24 Mo Hawaii - Big Island - Maui
25 Tu Hawaii - Maui
26 We Hawaii - Maui
27 Th Hawaii - Maui
28 Fr Hawaii - Maui
29 Sa LA - UK

Looks like a good plan to me :T

Not sure why you are booking flights a.s.a.p as you are going in 31 July 2015 so nearly a year to get it right.

You would need an open Jaw flight
BHX (or LHR) -BOS then OGG-LHR

Business class:
The return leg would be the longest so maybe go for Business class for yuor Mum on this one.
Outbound to BOS would be a (shortish) day flight so maybe premium economy for Mum as opposed to the full business seat?

Personally I would research which airline gives the biggest bang for the $ in both premium Econ and Business and can fly you into BOS and out of OGG
Maybe even look at free stopovers-Flying into NYC first-stopover then get a a free flight to BOS?
Routing may be awkward though.
If this part of the trip is important you have the time to get it right.
Whichever airline you go with, sign up to their FF scheme-It's free and you may get some miles to spend in Europe when you get back.


Amtrak:- There used to be frequent discount codes for train travel. Worth finding them to save $$

How are you doing the internal flights ?

Quite a few LCC in USA who have cheap one way flights-if you buy early.
If you have any AVIOS you can get cheap one way flights usign them

No avios? sign up to BA Amex card for initial bonus or other CC

Don't forget the ESTA's!

accomodation:
VRBO can be better\cheaper than hotels for 4 adults.
Priceline can be good for top end hotels in NYC\BOS\WAS. Though room size may be an issue. Hotwire is an alternative.